autopep8

Automatically format Python code to PEP 8 style

TLDR

Format a Python file in place

$ autopep8 --in-place [file.py]

Format with aggressive fixes (repeat -a for more aggression)

$ autopep8 --in-place --aggressive --aggressive [file.py]

Show diff instead of modifying the file

$ autopep8 --diff [file.py]

Format all Python files in a directory recursively

$ autopep8 --in-place --recursive [directory/]

Fix only specific error codes

$ autopep8 --select E501,W293 --in-place [file.py]

Format using multiple parallel jobs

$ autopep8 --in-place --recursive --jobs 4 [directory/]

Set a custom maximum line length

$ autopep8 --max-line-length 120 --in-place [file.py]

SYNOPSIS

autopep8 [--in-place] [--aggressive] [options] files

autopep8 automatically formats Python code to conform to the PEP 8 style guide. It fixes issues like whitespace, indentation, and line length while preserving code semantics.The tool integrates with editors and CI pipelines to enforce consistent Python style. It uses pycodestyle to detect style violations and applies fixes accordingly.

PARAMETERS

-i, --in-place

Modify files in place.

-d, --diff

Print the unified diff of changes instead of modifying the file.

-r, --recursive

Process directories recursively. Requires `--in-place` or `--diff`.

-a, --aggressive

Enable more aggressive fixes beyond whitespace. Repeatable for increasing aggressiveness (e.g., -aa).

-j n, --jobs n

Number of parallel jobs. Values less than 1 use all available CPUs.

--select errors

Fix only the specified error codes (e.g., E501,W293).

--ignore errors

Ignore the specified error codes (default: E226,E24,W50,W690).

--max-line-length n

Maximum allowed line length (default: 79).

--range start end

Only fix errors on lines within the specified range.

--exclude patterns

Exclude files and directories matching the specified comma-separated glob patterns.

--experimental

Enable experimental code-shortening features.

--list-fixes

List available error codes that can be used with `--select` and `--ignore`.

-v, --verbose

Print verbose messages. Can be repeated for more verbosity.

-p n, --pep8-passes n

Maximum number of additional formatting passes (default: infinite until no more changes).

--hang-closing

Hang the closing bracket instead of matching indentation of the opening line.

--exit-code

Return exit code 2 when changes were made with `--diff` or `--in-place`.

--global-config filename

Specify a custom global configuration file for pycodestyle rules.

--ignore-local-config

Skip reading local configuration files.

--version

Show version number and exit.

--help

Display help information.

CONFIGURATION

setup.cfg

Project-level configuration under `[pycodestyle]` section.

pyproject.toml

Project-level configuration under `[tool.autopep8]` section.

~/.config/pycodestyle

User-level default configuration for pycodestyle rules.

ERROR CODES

Based on PEP 8:- E: Errors (e.g., E501 line too long, E302 expected blank lines)- W: Warnings (e.g., W291 trailing whitespace, W293 whitespace before a comment)

CAVEATS

May conflict with other formatters like black. Aggressive mode can change code logic in rare cases; review changes before committing. For opinionated formatting, black is now more widely adopted.

HISTORY

autopep8 was created by Hideo Hattori to provide automatic PEP 8 compliance, released around 2010.