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section-not-over-indented (D214)#

Derived from the pydocstyle linter.

Fix is always available.

What it does#

Checks for over-indented sections in docstrings.

Why is this bad?#

Multi-line docstrings are typically composed of a summary line, followed by a blank line, followed by a series of sections, each with a section header and a section body.

Each section should use consistent indentation, with the section headers matching the indentation of the docstring's opening quotes, and the section bodies being indented one level further.

Example#

def calculate_speed(distance: float, time: float) -> float:
    """Calculate speed as distance divided by time.

        Args:
            distance: Distance traveled.
            time: Time spent traveling.

    Returns:
        Speed as distance divided by time.

    Raises:
        FasterThanLightError: If speed is greater than the speed of light.
    """
    try:
        return distance / time
    except ZeroDivisionError as exc:
        raise FasterThanLightError from exc

Use instead:

def calculate_speed(distance: float, time: float) -> float:
    """Calculate speed as distance divided by time.

    Args:
        distance: Distance traveled.
        time: Time spent traveling.

    Returns:
        Speed as distance divided by time.

    Raises:
        FasterThanLightError: If speed is greater than the speed of light.
    """
    try:
        return distance / time
    except ZeroDivisionError as exc:
        raise FasterThanLightError from exc

Options#

References#