==========
Clang-Tidy
==========

.. contents::

See also:

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1

   The list of clang-tidy checks <checks/list>
   Clang-tidy IDE/Editor Integrations <Integrations>
   Getting Involved <Contributing>

:program:`clang-tidy` is a clang-based C++ "linter" tool. Its purpose is to
provide an extensible framework for diagnosing and fixing typical programming
errors, like style violations, interface misuse, or bugs that can be deduced via
static analysis. :program:`clang-tidy` is modular and provides a convenient
interface for writing new checks.


Using clang-tidy
================

:program:`clang-tidy` is a `LibTooling`_-based tool, and it's easier to work
with if you set up a compile command database for your project (for an example
of how to do this see `How To Setup Tooling For LLVM`_). You can also specify
compilation options on the command line after ``--``:

.. code-block:: console

  $ clang-tidy test.cpp -- -Imy_project/include -DMY_DEFINES ...

:program:`clang-tidy` has its own checks and can also run Clang static analyzer
checks. Each check has a name and the checks to run can be chosen using the
``-checks=`` option, which specifies a comma-separated list of positive and
negative (prefixed with ``-``) globs. Positive globs add subsets of checks,
negative globs remove them. For example,

.. code-block:: console

  $ clang-tidy test.cpp -checks=-*,clang-analyzer-*,-clang-analyzer-cplusplus*

will disable all default checks (``-*``) and enable all ``clang-analyzer-*``
checks except for ``clang-analyzer-cplusplus*`` ones.

The ``-list-checks`` option lists all the enabled checks. When used without
``-checks=``, it shows checks enabled by default. Use ``-checks=*`` to see all
available checks or with any other value of ``-checks=`` to see which checks are
enabled by this value.

.. _checks-groups-table:

There are currently the following groups of checks:

====================== =========================================================
Name prefix            Description
====================== =========================================================
``abseil-``            Checks related to Abseil library.
``altera-``            Checks related to OpenCL programming for FPGAs.
``android-``           Checks related to Android.
``boost-``             Checks related to Boost library.
``bugprone-``          Checks that target bugprone code constructs.
``cert-``              Checks related to CERT Secure Coding Guidelines.
``clang-analyzer-``    Clang Static Analyzer checks.
``concurrency-``       Checks related to concurrent programming (including
                       threads, fibers, coroutines, etc.).
``cppcoreguidelines-`` Checks related to C++ Core Guidelines.
``darwin-``            Checks related to Darwin coding conventions.
``fuchsia-``           Checks related to Fuchsia coding conventions.
``google-``            Checks related to Google coding conventions.
``hicpp-``             Checks related to High Integrity C++ Coding Standard.
``linuxkernel-``       Checks related to the Linux Kernel coding conventions.
``llvm-``              Checks related to the LLVM coding conventions.
``llvmlibc-``          Checks related to the LLVM-libc coding standards.
``misc-``              Checks that we didn't have a better category for.
``modernize-``         Checks that advocate usage of modern (currently "modern"
                       means "C++11") language constructs.
``mpi-``               Checks related to MPI (Message Passing Interface).
``objc-``              Checks related to Objective-C coding conventions.
``openmp-``            Checks related to OpenMP API.
``performance-``       Checks that target performance-related issues.
``portability-``       Checks that target portability-related issues that don't
                       relate to any particular coding style.
``readability-``       Checks that target readability-related issues that don't
                       relate to any particular coding style.
``zircon-``            Checks related to Zircon kernel coding conventions.
====================== =========================================================

Clang diagnostics are treated in a similar way as check diagnostics. Clang
diagnostics are displayed by :program:`clang-tidy` and can be filtered out using
``-checks=`` option. However, the ``-checks=`` option does not affect
compilation arguments, so it cannot turn on Clang warnings which are not
already turned on in build configuration. The ``-warnings-as-errors=`` option
upgrades any warnings emitted under the ``-checks=`` flag to errors (but it
does not enable any checks itself).

Clang diagnostics have check names starting with ``clang-diagnostic-``.
Diagnostics which have a corresponding warning option, are named
``clang-diagnostic-<warning-option>``, e.g. Clang warning controlled by
``-Wliteral-conversion`` will be reported with check name
``clang-diagnostic-literal-conversion``.

The ``-fix`` flag instructs :program:`clang-tidy` to fix found errors if
supported by corresponding checks.

An overview of all the command-line options:

.. code-block:: console

  $ clang-tidy --help
  USAGE: clang-tidy [options] <source0> [... <sourceN>]

  OPTIONS:

  Generic Options:

    --help                         - Display available options (--help-hidden for more)
    --help-list                    - Display list of available options (--help-list-hidden for more)
    --version                      - Display the version of this program

  clang-tidy options:

    --checks=<string>              -
                                     Comma-separated list of globs with optional '-'
                                     prefix. Globs are processed in order of
                                     appearance in the list. Globs without '-'
                                     prefix add checks with matching names to the
                                     set, globs with the '-' prefix remove checks
                                     with matching names from the set of enabled
                                     checks. This option's value is appended to the
                                     value of the 'Checks' option in .clang-tidy
                                     file, if any.
    --config=<string>              -
                                     Specifies a configuration in YAML/JSON format:
                                       -config="{Checks: '*',
                                                 CheckOptions: [{key: x,
                                                                 value: y}]}"
                                     When the value is empty, clang-tidy will
                                     attempt to find a file named .clang-tidy for
                                     each source file in its parent directories.
    --dump-config                  -
                                     Dumps configuration in the YAML format to
                                     stdout. This option can be used along with a
                                     file name (and '--' if the file is outside of a
                                     project with configured compilation database).
                                     The configuration used for this file will be
                                     printed.
                                     Use along with -checks=* to include
                                     configuration of all checks.
    --enable-check-profile         -
                                     Enable per-check timing profiles, and print a
                                     report to stderr.
    --explain-config               -
                                     For each enabled check explains, where it is
                                     enabled, i.e. in clang-tidy binary, command
                                     line or a specific configuration file.
    --export-fixes=<filename>      -
                                     YAML file to store suggested fixes in. The
                                     stored fixes can be applied to the input source
                                     code with clang-apply-replacements.
    --extra-arg=<string>           - Additional argument to append to the compiler command line
                                     Can be used several times.
    --extra-arg-before=<string>    - Additional argument to prepend to the compiler command line
                                     Can be used several times.
    --fix                          -
                                     Apply suggested fixes. Without -fix-errors
                                     clang-tidy will bail out if any compilation
                                     errors were found.
    --fix-errors                   -
                                     Apply suggested fixes even if compilation
                                     errors were found. If compiler errors have
                                     attached fix-its, clang-tidy will apply them as
                                     well.
    --fix-notes                    -
                                     If a warning has no fix, but a single fix can
                                     be found through an associated diagnostic note,
                                     apply the fix.
                                     Specifying this flag will implicitly enable the
                                     '--fix' flag.
    --format-style=<string>        -
                                     Style for formatting code around applied fixes:
                                       - 'none' (default) turns off formatting
                                       - 'file' (literally 'file', not a placeholder)
                                         uses .clang-format file in the closest parent
                                         directory
                                       - '{ <json> }' specifies options inline, e.g.
                                         -format-style='{BasedOnStyle: llvm, IndentWidth: 8}'
                                       - 'llvm', 'google', 'webkit', 'mozilla'
                                     See clang-format documentation for the up-to-date
                                     information about formatting styles and options.
                                     This option overrides the 'FormatStyle` option in
                                     .clang-tidy file, if any.
    --header-filter=<string>       -
                                     Regular expression matching the names of the
                                     headers to output diagnostics from. Diagnostics
                                     from the main file of each translation unit are
                                     always displayed.
                                     Can be used together with -line-filter.
                                     This option overrides the 'HeaderFilterRegex'
                                     option in .clang-tidy file, if any.
    --line-filter=<string>         -
                                     List of files with line ranges to filter the
                                     warnings. Can be used together with
                                     -header-filter. The format of the list is a
                                     JSON array of objects:
                                       [
                                         {"name":"file1.cpp","lines":[[1,3],[5,7]]},
                                         {"name":"file2.h"}
                                       ]
    --list-checks                  -
                                     List all enabled checks and exit. Use with
                                     -checks=* to list all available checks.
    -p=<string>                    - Build path
    --quiet                        -
                                     Run clang-tidy in quiet mode. This suppresses
                                     printing statistics about ignored warnings and
                                     warnings treated as errors if the respective
                                     options are specified.
    --store-check-profile=<prefix> -
                                     By default reports are printed in tabulated
                                     format to stderr. When this option is passed,
                                     these per-TU profiles are instead stored as JSON.
    --system-headers               - Display the errors from system headers.
    --vfsoverlay=<filename>        -
                                     Overlay the virtual filesystem described by file
                                     over the real file system.
    --warnings-as-errors=<string>  -
                                     Upgrades warnings to errors. Same format as
                                     '-checks'.
                                     This option's value is appended to the value of
                                     the 'WarningsAsErrors' option in .clang-tidy
                                     file, if any.

  -p <build-path> is used to read a compile command database.

          For example, it can be a CMake build directory in which a file named
          compile_commands.json exists (use -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON
          CMake option to get this output). When no build path is specified,
          a search for compile_commands.json will be attempted through all
          parent paths of the first input file . See:
          https://clang.llvm.org/docs/HowToSetupToolingForLLVM.html for an
          example of setting up Clang Tooling on a source tree.

  <source0> ... specify the paths of source files. These paths are
          looked up in the compile command database. If the path of a file is
          absolute, it needs to point into CMake's source tree. If the path is
          relative, the current working directory needs to be in the CMake
          source tree and the file must be in a subdirectory of the current
          working directory. "./" prefixes in the relative files will be
          automatically removed, but the rest of a relative path must be a
          suffix of a path in the compile command database.


  Configuration files:
    clang-tidy attempts to read configuration for each source file from a
    .clang-tidy file located in the closest parent directory of the source
    file. If InheritParentConfig is true in a config file, the configuration file
    in the parent directory (if any exists) will be taken and current config file
    will be applied on top of the parent one. If any configuration options have
    a corresponding command-line option, command-line option takes precedence.
    The effective configuration can be inspected using -dump-config:

      $ clang-tidy -dump-config
      ---
      Checks:              '-*,some-check'
      WarningsAsErrors:    ''
      HeaderFilterRegex:   ''
      FormatStyle:         none
      InheritParentConfig: true
      User:                user
      CheckOptions:
        - key:             some-check.SomeOption
          value:           'some value'
      ...

.. _clang-tidy-nolint:

Suppressing Undesired Diagnostics
=================================

:program:`clang-tidy` diagnostics are intended to call out code that does not
adhere to a coding standard, or is otherwise problematic in some way. However,
if the code is known to be correct, it may be useful to silence the warning.
Some clang-tidy checks provide a check-specific way to silence the diagnostics,
e.g. `bugprone-use-after-move <checks/bugprone-use-after-move.html>`_ can be
silenced by re-initializing the variable after it has been moved out,
`bugprone-string-integer-assignment
<checks/bugprone-string-integer-assignment.html>`_ can be suppressed by
explicitly casting the integer to ``char``,
`readability-implicit-bool-conversion
<checks/readability-implicit-bool-conversion.html>`_ can also be suppressed by
using explicit casts, etc.

If a specific suppression mechanism is not available for a certain warning, or
its use is not desired for some reason, :program:`clang-tidy` has a generic
mechanism to suppress diagnostics using ``NOLINT``, ``NOLINTNEXTLINE``, and
``NOLINTBEGIN`` ... ``NOLINTEND`` comments.

The ``NOLINT`` comment instructs :program:`clang-tidy` to ignore warnings on the
*same line* (it doesn't apply to a function, a block of code or any other
language construct; it applies to the line of code it is on). If introducing the
comment in the same line would change the formatting in an undesired way, the
``NOLINTNEXTLINE`` comment allows to suppress clang-tidy warnings on the *next
line*. The ``NOLINTBEGIN`` and ``NOLINTEND`` comments allow suppressing
clang-tidy warnings on *multiple lines* (affecting all lines between the two
comments).

All comments can be followed by an optional list of check names in parentheses
(see below for the formal syntax). The list of check names supports globbing,
with the same format and semantics as for enabling checks. Note: negative globs
are ignored here, as they would effectively re-activate the warning.

For example:

.. code-block:: c++

  class Foo {
    // Suppress all the diagnostics for the line
    Foo(int param); // NOLINT

    // Consider explaining the motivation to suppress the warning.
    Foo(char param); // NOLINT: Allow implicit conversion from `char`, because <some valid reason>.

    // Silence only the specified checks for the line
    Foo(double param); // NOLINT(google-explicit-constructor, google-runtime-int)

    // Silence all checks from the `google` module
    Foo(bool param); // NOLINT(google*)

    // Silence all checks ending with `-avoid-c-arrays`
    int array[10]; // NOLINT(*-avoid-c-arrays)

    // Silence only the specified diagnostics for the next line
    // NOLINTNEXTLINE(google-explicit-constructor, google-runtime-int)
    Foo(bool param);

    // Silence all checks from the `google` module for the next line
    // NOLINTNEXTLINE(google*)
    Foo(bool param);

    // Silence all checks ending with `-avoid-c-arrays` for the next line
    // NOLINTNEXTLINE(*-avoid-c-arrays)
    int array[10];

    // Silence only the specified checks for all lines between the BEGIN and END
    // NOLINTBEGIN(google-explicit-constructor, google-runtime-int)
    Foo(short param);
    Foo(long param);
    // NOLINTEND(google-explicit-constructor, google-runtime-int)

    // Silence all checks from the `google` module for all lines between the BEGIN and END
    // NOLINTBEGIN(google*)
    Foo(bool param);
    // NOLINTEND(google*)

    // Silence all checks ending with `-avoid-c-arrays` for all lines between the BEGIN and END
    // NOLINTBEGIN(*-avoid-c-arrays)
    int array[10];
    // NOLINTEND(*-avoid-c-arrays)
  };

The formal syntax of ``NOLINT``, ``NOLINTNEXTLINE``, and ``NOLINTBEGIN`` ...
``NOLINTEND`` is the following:

.. parsed-literal::

  lint-comment:
    lint-command
    lint-command lint-args

  lint-args:
    **(** check-name-list **)**

  check-name-list:
    *check-name*
    check-name-list **,** *check-name*

  lint-command:
    **NOLINT**
    **NOLINTNEXTLINE**
    **NOLINTBEGIN**
    **NOLINTEND**

Note that whitespaces between
``NOLINT``/``NOLINTNEXTLINE``/``NOLINTBEGIN``/``NOLINTEND`` and the opening
parenthesis are not allowed (in this case the comment will be treated just as
``NOLINT``/``NOLINTNEXTLINE``/``NOLINTBEGIN``/``NOLINTEND``), whereas in the
check names list (inside the parentheses), whitespaces can be used and will be
ignored.

All ``NOLINTBEGIN`` comments must be paired by an equal number of ``NOLINTEND``
comments. Moreover, a pair of comments must have matching arguments -- for
example, ``NOLINTBEGIN(check-name)`` can be paired with
``NOLINTEND(check-name)`` but not with ``NOLINTEND`` `(zero arguments)`.
:program:`clang-tidy` will generate a ``clang-tidy-nolint`` error diagnostic if
any ``NOLINTBEGIN``/``NOLINTEND`` comment violates these requirements.

.. _LibTooling: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/LibTooling.html
.. _How To Setup Tooling For LLVM: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/HowToSetupToolingForLLVM.html
