CodeQL documentation

Maybe missing ‘self’ in comparison

ID: py/comparison-missing-self
Kind: problem
Security severity: 
Severity: warning
Precision: very-high
Tags:
   - reliability
   - maintainability
   - external/cwe/cwe-570
   - external/cwe/cwe-571
Query suites:
   - python-security-and-quality.qls

Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository

When two identical expressions are compared it is typically an indication of a mistake, since the Boolean value of the comparison will always be the same. Often, it can indicate that self has been omitted.

Recommendation

It is never good practice to compare a value with itself. If self has been omitted, then insert it. If the constant behavior is indeed required, use the Boolean literals True or False, rather than encoding them obscurely as x == x or similar.

Example


class Customer:

    def __init__(self, data):
        self.data = data

    def check_data(self, data):
        if data != data:  # Forgotten 'self'
            raise Exception("Invalid data!")

#Fixed version

class Customer:

    def __init__(self, data):
        self.data = data

    def check_data(self, data):
        if self.data != data:
            raise Exception("Invalid data!")

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