# Flake8-plus
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[](https://codecov.io/gh/sorenlind/flake8-plus)
[](https://github.com/sorenlind/flake8-plus/blob/main/LICENSE)
[](https://pypi.org/project/flake8-plus/)
[](https://github.com/psf/black)
Flake8-plus is a plugin for [Flake8](https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8) that detects
incorrect amounts of vertical whitespace before the first toplevel `import` statement,
before `return` statements and before `except`. The plugin can be configured to expect
any number of blank lines. By default, the plugin expects no blank lines before both the
`import` and `return` statements, and the `except` keyword.
## Installation
Flake8-plus can be installed from PyPI using `pip`:
```shell
$ pip install flake8-plus
```
You can verify that it has been installed as follows (the version numbers you see may
vary):
```shell
$ flake8 --version
5.0.4 (flake8-plus: 0.1.0, mccabe: 0.7.0, pycodestyle: 2.9.1, pyflakes: 2.5.0)
```
## Configuration
You can set the required number of blank lines before the first `import` as well as the
number of blank lines required before a `return` and before `except`. This can be done
from the command line:
```shell
$ flake8 --blanks-before-imports 1 --blanks-before-return 1 --blanks-before-except 1
```
Or from one of the `setup.cfg`, `tox.ini`, or `.flake8` files:
```ini
[flake8]
blanks-before-imports=1
blanks-before-return=1
blanks-before-except=1
```
## Why no blank lines?
### Before `import`
Neither [Black](https://github.com/psf/black), [Flake8](https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8)
nor [Pylint](https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint) enforces a specific number of blank lines
preceding the first `import` and consequently there seems to be no consensus or
standard. The table below shows the frequency of the number of blank lines before the
first toplevel `import` statement in the code bases for Black, Flake8 and Pylint (as of
October 2022).
| Package | Total files | 0 blanks | 1 blank | 2 blanks | Folder |
| ------- | ----------: | -------: | ------: | -------: | ------------- |
| Black | 33 | 21 | 12 | 0 | `src` |
| Flake8 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 0 | `src/flake8/` |
| Pylint | 177 | 3 | 170 | 4 | `pylint` |
Clearly, there is no real consensus. Black seems undecided, Flake8 consistently uses 0
blanks, and Pylint seems to prefer 1 blank line. However, it's worth noting that the
Pylint code does not consistently include module docstrings (thereby breaking
`pylint(missing-module-docstring)`). For that reason, and also because this is a Flake8
plugin, the plugin follows the style of Flake8 as the default.
### Before `return`
Neither Black, Flake8 nor Pylint enforces a specific number of blank lines preceding
`return`. However, they all use zero blank lines more frequently than they use any
other number of blanks. The table below shows the frequency of the number of blank
lines before a `return` statement in the code bases for Black, Flake8 and Pylint (as of
October 2022).
| Package | Total `return`s | 0 blanks | 1 blank | 2 blanks | Folder |
| ------- | --------------: | -------: | ------: | -------: | ------------- |
| Black | 618 | 544 | 74 | 0 | `src` |
| Flake8 | 174 | 155 | 19 | 0 | `src/flake8/` |
| Pylint | 1941 | 1852 | 89 | 0 | `pylint` |
Since zero blank lines is the style used most frequently, Flake8-plus uses that as that
as the default.
### Before `except`
Neither Black, Flake8 nor Pylint enforces a specific number of blank lines preceding
`except`. However, they all use zero blank lines more frequently than they use any other
number of blanks. The table below shows the frequency of the number of blank lines
before an `except` statement in the code bases for Black, Flake8 and Pylint (as of
October 2022).
| Package | Total `except`s | 0 blanks | 1 blank | 2 blanks | Folder |
| ------- | --------------: | -------: | ------: | -------: | ------------- |
| Black | 71 | 64 | 7 | 0 | `src` |
| Flake8 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 0 | `src/flake8/` |
| Pylint | 285 | 283 | 2 | 0 | `pylint` |
Since zero blank lines is the style used most frequently, Flake8-plus uses that as that
as the default.
## Reported problems
| Code | Description |
| ------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| PLU001 | "expected {} blank lines before first import, found {}" |
| PLU002 | "expected {} blank lines before return statement, found {}" |
| PLU003 | "expected {} blank lines before except, found {}" |