## Code style
-_Black_ reformats entire files in place. Style configuration options are deliberately
-limited and rarely added. It doesn't take previous formatting into account, except for
-the magic trailing comma and preserving newlines. It doesn't reformat blocks that start
-with `# fmt: off` and end with `# fmt: on`, or lines that ends with `# fmt: skip`.
-`# fmt: on/off` have to be on the same level of indentation. It also recognizes
+_Black_ aims for consistency, generality, readability and reducing git diffs. Similar
+language constructs are formatted with similar rules. Style configuration options are
+deliberately limited and rarely added. Previous formatting is taken into account as
+little as possible, with rare exceptions like the magic trailing comma. The coding style
+used by _Black_ can be viewed as a strict subset of PEP 8.
+
+_Black_ reformats entire files in place. It doesn't reformat lines that end with
+`# fmt: skip` or blocks that start with `# fmt: off` and end with `# fmt: on`.
+`# fmt: on/off` must be on the same level of indentation and in the same block, meaning
+no unindents beyond the initial indentation level between them. It also recognizes
[YAPF](https://github.com/google/yapf)'s block comments to the same effect, as a
courtesy for straddling code.
_Black_ ignores previous formatting and applies uniform horizontal and vertical
whitespace to your code. The rules for horizontal whitespace can be summarized as: do
-whatever makes `pycodestyle` happy. The coding style used by _Black_ can be viewed as a
-strict subset of PEP 8.
+whatever makes `pycodestyle` happy.
As for vertical whitespace, _Black_ tries to render one full expression or simple
statement per line. If this fits the allotted line length, great.
...
```
+If a data structure literal (tuple, list, set, dict) or a line of "from" imports cannot
+fit in the allotted length, it's always split into one element per line. This minimizes
+diffs as well as enables readers of code to find which commit introduced a particular
+entry. This also makes _Black_ compatible with
+[isort](../guides/using_black_with_other_tools.md#isort) with the ready-made `black`
+profile or manual configuration.
+
+You might have noticed that closing brackets are always dedented and that a trailing
+comma is always added. Such formatting produces smaller diffs; when you add or remove an
+element, it's always just one line. Also, having the closing bracket dedented provides a
+clear delimiter between two distinct sections of the code that otherwise share the same
+indentation level (like the arguments list and the docstring in the example above).
+
(labels/why-no-backslashes)=
_Black_ prefers parentheses over backslashes, and will remove backslashes if found.
slightly refactor your code. I hope some of the examples above show you that there are
many ways in which you can do it.
-You might have noticed that closing brackets are always dedented and that a trailing
-comma is always added. Such formatting produces smaller diffs; when you add or remove an
-element, it's always just one line. Also, having the closing bracket dedented provides a
-clear delimiter between two distinct sections of the code that otherwise share the same
-indentation level (like the arguments list and the docstring in the example above).
-
-If a data structure literal (tuple, list, set, dict) or a line of "from" imports cannot
-fit in the allotted length, it's always split into one element per line. This minimizes
-diffs as well as enables readers of code to find which commit introduced a particular
-entry. This also makes _Black_ compatible with
-[isort](../guides/using_black_with_other_tools.md#isort) with the ready-made `black`
-profile or manual configuration.
-
### Line length
You probably noticed the peculiar default line length. _Black_ defaults to 88 characters
_Black_ enforces the above rules. There are additional guidelines for formatting `.pyi`
file that are not enforced yet but might be in a future version of the formatter:
-- all function bodies should be empty (contain `...` instead of the body);
-- do not use docstrings;
- prefer `...` over `pass`;
-- for arguments with a default, use `...` instead of the actual default;
- avoid using string literals in type annotations, stub files support forward references
natively (like Python 3.7 code with `from __future__ import annotations`);
- use variable annotations instead of type comments, even for stubs that target older
- versions of Python;
-- for arguments that default to `None`, use `Optional[]` explicitly;
-- use `float` instead of `Union[int, float]`.
+ versions of Python.
## Pragmatism