Robot Framework Find Unused

Find unused parts of your Robot Framework project.

Robocop is great at finding unused parts in a single file. Find unused finds unused parts across all your project files.

Allows you to find unused:

• Keywords
• Keyword arguments
• Keyword return statements
• Global variables
• Files

Installation

Install with pip

pip install robotframework-find-unused

How to use

This is a command-line tool.

1. Open a command line in your Robot Framework project

2. Run the following command to show available options:

   robotunused --help
   

Find unused keywords

Walk through your .robot, .resource, and .py files. In those files, count how often each keyword is used (called). Keywords with 0 uses are logged.

robotunused keywords

Please note that there are limitations. For an overview of current limitations, run the following command:

robotunused keywords --help

Available options

flag	option	default	description
-c, --show-count			Output usage count for all keywords instead of only unused keywords
-f, --filter			Only output keywords who's name match the glob pattern. Match without library prefix
-d, --deprecated	include / exclude / only	include	How to output deprecated keywords
-p, --private	include / exclude / only	include	How to output private keywords
-l, --library	include / exclude / only	exclude	How to output keywords from downloaded libraries
-u, --unused-library	include / exclude	exclude	How to output unused keywords from downloaded libraries
-v, --verbose			Show more log output. When provided twice: Show even more log output

Find unused keyword arguments

Walk through your .robot, .resource, and .py files. In those files, count how often each argument is used during a keyword call. Arguments with 0 uses are logged.

By default, will ignore arguments from unused keywords.

robotunused arguments

Please note that there are limitations. For an overview of current limitations, run the following command:

robotunused arguments --help

Available options

flag	option	default	description
-c, --show-count			Show usage count for all arguments instead of only unused arguments
-f, --filter			Only output keywords who's name match the glob pattern. Match without library prefix
-d, --deprecated	include / exclude / only	include	How to output deprecated keywords
-p, --private	include / exclude / only	include	How to output private keywords
-l, --library	include / exclude / only	exclude	How to output keywords from downloaded libraries
-u, --unused	include / exclude / only	exclude	How to output unused keywords
-v, --verbose			Show more log output. When provided twice: Show even more log output

Find unused keyword return statements

Walk through your .robot, .resource, and .py files. In those files, count how often each keyword return value is used (assigned to a variable). Keywords whose return value is never useds are logged.

By default, will ignore arguments from unused keywords.

robotunused returns

Please note that there are limitations. For an overview of current limitations, run the following command:

robotunused returns --help

Available options

flag	option	default	description
-c, --show-count			Output usage count for all keywords instead of only keywords with unused returns
-f, --filter			Only output keywords who's name match the glob pattern. Match without library prefix
-d, --deprecated	include / exclude / only	include	How to output deprecated keywords
-p, --private	include / exclude / only	include	How to output private keywords
-l, --library	include / exclude / only	exclude	How to output keywords from downloaded libraries
-u, --unused	include / exclude / only	exclude	How to output unused keywords
-v, --verbose			Show more log output. When provided twice: Show even more log output

Find unused variables

Walk through your .robot and .resource files. In those files, count how often each variable is used. Variables defined in a variables section or variable file with 0 uses are logged.

robotunused variables

Please note that there are limitations. For an overview of current limitations, run the following command:

robotunused variables --help

Available options

flag	option	default	description
-c, --show-count			Show usage count for all variables instead of only unused variables
-f, --filter			Only show variables who's name match the glob pattern. Matching without {brackets} and $@&% prefixes
--pythonpath			Same as --pythonpath in Robotframework: Additional locations (directories, ZIPs) where to search libraries and other extensions when they are imported. Multiple paths can be given by separating them with a colon (:) or by using this option several times. Given path can also be a glob pattern matching multiple paths.
-v, --verbose			Show more log output. When provided twice: Show even more log output

Find unused files

For each of your .robot files, follow the full chain of imports. Files that are never (indirectly) imported by a .robot file are logged.

robotunused files

Please note that there are limitations. For an overview of current limitations, run the following command:

robotunused files --help

Available options

flag	option	default	description
-c, --show-count			Output usage count for all files instead of only unused files
-t, --show-tree			Output file import trees for every .robot file
--tree-max-depth	Positive integer (x>=0)	0	Only applies when using --show-tree. Maximum tree depth.
--tree-max-height	Positive integer (x>=0)	0	Only applies when using --show-tree. Maximum tree height.
-f, --filter			Only output files who's path match the glob pattern
-r, --resource	include / exclude / only	include	How to output resource file imports
-l, --library	include / exclude / only	include	How to output (custom) library file imports
-V, --variable	include / exclude / only	include	How to output variable file imports
-u, --unused	include / exclude / only	include	How to output unused file imports
--pythonpath			Same as --pythonpath in Robotframework: Additional locations (directories, ZIPs) where to search libraries and other extensions when they are imported. Multiple paths can be given by separating them with a colon (:) or by using this option several times. Given path can also be a glob pattern matching multiple paths.
-v, --verbose			Show more log output. When provided twice: Show even more log output

Limitations

Every command has limitations. To see an up-to-date list of limitations for each command, use the --help flag. Every limitation also has a Github issue. If you find a limitation without issue, it's a bug or knowledge gap. Please open an issue so it can be addressed.

The following is a list of generic limitations. These limitations apply to all commands.

Generic limitation 1: Less used filetypes are ignored

Find Unused supports .robot, .resource, and .py files. It also supports .json, .yaml, and .py variables files.

Anything else is unsupported. This includes older filetypes (like .html and .tsv) and less used filetypes (like .rst and rbt).

Generic limitation 2: No localization

Robot Framework supports localization. Find unused does not support it. Any language other than English will produce unexpected results.

Contributing

I'm open to contributions. Please contact me in the issues.

When contributing, you'll need uv to manage dependencies.

Linting

You can't merge with lint issues. This is enforced by the pipeline.

To run the linter, use the following command:

uv run ruff check

Testing

You can't merge with failing tests. This is enforced by the pipeline.

To run all tests, use the following command:

uv run pytest -n auto

Tasks

To manage various things, we use Invoke as a task runner.

To get a full list of available tasks, run:

uv run invoke --list

To run a task, run:

uv run invoke build