Unused named argument in formatting call¶
ID: py/str-format/surplus-named-argument
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: warning
Precision: very-high
Tags:
- maintainability
- useless-code
Query suites:
- python-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
A formatting expression, that is an expression of the form the_format.format(args) or format(the_format, args) can have keyword arguments of any name, as long as all the required names are provided. However, surplus keyword arguments, those with names that are not in the format, are redundant. These surplus arguments clutter the code, making it harder to read.
It is also possible that surplus keyword arguments indicate a mistake in the format string.
Recommendation¶
Check that the format string is correct and then remove any surplus keyword arguments.
Example¶
In the following example, the comment indicates that the chips keyword argument is no longer required and should be deleted.
def surplus_argument():
the_format = "{spam} {eggs}" # Used to be "{spam} {eggs} {chips}"
return the_format.format(spam = "spam", eggs="eggs", chips="chips")
References¶
Python Library Reference: String Formatting.