doc8
doc8 is an opinionated style checker for rst (with basic support for plain text) styles of documentation.
Quick start
pip install doc8
To run doc8, just invoke it against any documentation directory:
$ doc8 cool-project/docs
Usage
$ doc8 -h
usage: doc8 [-h] [--config path] [--allow-long-titles] [--ignore code]
[--no-sphinx] [--ignore-path path] [--ignore-path-errors path]
[--default-extension extension] [--file-encoding encoding]
[--max-line-length int] [-e extension] [-v] [--version]
[path [path ...]]
Check documentation for simple style requirements.
What is checked:
- invalid RST format - D000
- lines should not be longer than 79 characters - D001
- RST exception: line with no whitespace except in the beginning
- RST exception: lines with http or https urls
- RST exception: literal blocks
- RST exception: rst target directives
- no trailing whitespace - D002
- no tabulation for indentation - D003
- no carriage returns (use unix newlines) - D004
- no newline at end of file - D005
positional arguments:
path Path to scan for doc files (default: current
directory).
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--config path user config file location (default: .config/doc8.ini, doc8.ini, tox.ini,
pep8.ini, setup.cfg).
--allow-long-titles allow long section titles (default: false).
--ignore code ignore the given error code(s).
--no-sphinx do not ignore sphinx specific false positives.
--ignore-path path ignore the given directory or file (globs are
supported).
--ignore-path-errors path
ignore the given specific errors in the provided file.
--default-extension extension
default file extension to use when a file is found
without a file extension.
--file-encoding encoding
set input files text encoding
--max-line-length int
maximum allowed line length (default: 79).
-e extension, --extension extension
check file extensions of the given type (default:
.rst, .txt).
-q, --quiet only print violations
-v, --verbose run in verbose mode.
--version show the version and exit.
INI file usage
Instead of using the CLI for options the following files will also be examined for [doc8] sections that can also provide the same set of options. If the --config path option is used, these files will not be scanned for the current working directory and that configuration path will be used instead.
$CWD/doc8.ini
$CWD/.config/doc8.ini
$CWD/tox.ini
$CWD/pep8.ini
$CWD/setup.cfg
$CWD/pyproject.toml
An example section that can be placed into one of these files:
[doc8] ignore-path=/tmp/stuff,/tmp/other_stuff max-line-length=99 verbose=1 ignore-path-errors=/tmp/other_thing.rst;D001;D002
An example for the pyproject.toml file:
[tool.doc8] ignore = ["D001"] allow-long-titles = true
Note: The option names are the same as the command line ones (with the only variation of this being the no-sphinx option which from the configuration file will be sphinx instead).
Option conflict resolution
When the same option is passed on the command line and also via configuration files the following strategies are applied to resolve these types of conflicts.
Option |
Overrides |
Merges |
|---|---|---|
allow-long-titles |
Yes |
No |
ignore-path-errors |
No |
Yes |
default-extension |
Yes |
No |
extension |
No |
Yes |
ignore-path |
No |
Yes |
ignore |
No |
Yes |
max-line-length |
Yes |
No |
file-encoding |
Yes |
No |
sphinx |
Yes |
No |
Note: In the above table the configuration file option when specified as overrides will replace the same option given via the command line. When merges is stated then the option will be combined with the command line option (for example by becoming a larger list or set of values that contains the values passed on the command line and the values passed via configuration).
API
It is also possible to use doc8 programmatically. To call doc8 from a Python project, use:
from doc8 import doc8 result = doc8(allow_long_titles=True, max_line_length=99)
The returned result will have the following attributes and methods:
result.files_selected - number of files selected
result.files_ignored - number of files ignored
result.error_counts - dict of {check_name: error_count}
result.total_errors - total number of errors found
result.errors - list of (check_name, filename, line_num, code, message) tuples
result.report() - returns a human-readable report as a string
The doc8 method accepts the same arguments as the executable. Simply replace hyphens with underscores.
Note: Calling doc8 in this way will not write to stdout, so the quiet and verbose options are ignored.
3 maintainers
Release files for doc8 2.0.0
For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.
Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| doc8-2.0.0.tar.gz | 28.4 kB | Details |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| doc8-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details |
Total release size: 54.3 kB
Release files / doc8-2.0.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | doc8-2.0.0.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 28.4 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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Transparency logRelease files / doc8-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
| Download URL | doc8-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl |
|---|---|
| Size | 25.9 kB |
| Tags | Python 3 |
|
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
9862710027f793c25f9b1899150660e4bf1d4c9a6738742e71f32011e2e3f590
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| Upload date | |
|
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing? |
Yes |
| Uploaded via |
twine/6.1.0 CPython/3.12.9
|
Provenance
Provenance describes where a file came from. On PyPI, provenance is shared via attestations, which provide a verifiable record of the build or publishing details. View details, limitations and caveats.
PyPI Publish Attestation
PyPI verified that this artifact, at this checksum, originated from the publisher listed below.
Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Jun 13, 2025.
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