E126 hanging indent is too strict

[methane]

from os import(
        path,
        listdir)

This cause "E126 continuation line over-indented for hanging indent".
But below code is OK. from ... import ( should be handled like that.

# More indentation included to distinguish this from the rest.
def long_function_name(
        var_one, var_two, var_three,
        var_four):
    print(var_one)

[florentx]

Thank you for your feedback.

AFAICT, the first example does not trigger any warning with the pep8 tool.

For the second example, this was a deliberate choice of the E12 checks on issue #64 (@samv proposal). The PEP-8 itself advocates for "Use 4 spaces per indentation level." without excluding continuation lines indentation from this rule.
The spirit of the E12 check is to enforce PEP-8 for continuation lines, and to avoid inconsistent indentations through the code.

Of course each check can be ignored with --ignore E12 for example.

[methane]

I'm sorry about wrong first example.
What I want to say is:

from os import(
        path,
        listdir,
        )

This cause "E126 continuation line over-indented for hanging indent" and
"E123 closing bracket does not match indentation of opening bracket's line".

[sigmavirus24]

@methane an alternate way of writing that is:

from os import (path, foo, bar, bogus, #etc
                listdir, unlink, #etc,
                )

[myint]

@methane, you have one too many indents.

from os import (
    path,
    listdir,
)

[methane]

@myint That rule isn't applied to hanging indent.

[florentx]

Well, the PEP 8 recommends "Use 4 spaces per indentation level."
And there's no objective reason to apply a different rule for continuation line indentation.

The purpose of these E12* rules is to conform to PEP 8 and enforce some consistency for the indentation.

[methane]

"per level" means indent for block.
It's not for continuation line.

[florentx]

"per level" means indent for block.
It's not for continuation line.

This is your interpretation of PEP 8.
If you want to be creative about your indentation, you can disable the E12 checks in the configuration.

[methane]

This is your interpretation of PEP 8.

pep8 says:

there should be no arguments on the first line and further indentation should be used to clearly distinguish itself as a continuation line.
...
Optional:

# Extra indentation is not necessary.
foo = long_function_name(
  var_one, var_two,
  var_three, var_four)

http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#indentation

I believe no one can interpret this to "hanging indent should be 1-level 4-space indent."

If you want to be creative about your indentation, you can disable the E12 checks in the configuration.

Yes, I already disabled it. But I think too strict default hurts new users.

[basepi]

I have a similar "too strict" issue with E126.

cmd = 'git archive{prefix}{fmt} -o {output} {rev}'.format(
        rev = rev,
        output = output,
        fmt = ' --format={0}'.format(fmt) if fmt else '',
        prefix = ' --prefix="{0}"'.format(prefix if prefix else basename)
)

triggers E126, but I think this should be allowed to distinguish from an actual new indent level. Pulling the last ) onto the line above makes no difference.

[myint]

@basepi, --ignore=E126. (The whole point of E126 is to complain about indentation greater than 4 spaces.)

[basepi]

@myint Heh, thanks for this. I was just wondering if we wanted to try to bring it in line with PEP8. =)

[myint]

I think 4 is the most used convention in the Python code base. The following will show lines that end with ( and the line that immediately follows it.

locate .py | grep '\.py$' | grep python3.3 | xargs grep -A1 '($'

So in terms of following a convention, I think E126 is the way to go. If one prefers 8 instead 4, then I think --ignore=E126 is probably the best option.

[basepi]

Cool! Thanks for the quick reply.

[methane]

@myint Thank you. I agree E126 is not too strict for now.

[gotgenes]

@methane said

I believe no one can interpret this to "hanging indent should be 1-level 4-space indent."

The 4aec4d180429 revision of PEP-8, updated 2014-05-20, explicitly aligns with @methane's assertion:

The 4-space rule is optional for continuation lines.

Optional:

# Hanging indents *may* be indented to other than 4 spaces.
foo = long_function_name(
  var_one, var_two,
  var_three, var_four)

pep8 needs to revise its hanging indent rules. The number of spaces within a hanging indent needs only to be consistent; 2 spaces, 4 spaces, 8 spaces – all are valid amounts of space for hanging indents.

[sigmavirus24]

@gotgenes I disagree that pep8 needs a fix because in the Yes section (which you helpfully omitted) it says:

# Hanging indents should add a level.
foo = long_function_name(
    var_one, var_two,
    var_three, var_four)

And the example level it uses is 4 spaces. In other words, pep8 is still correct, and the ability to turn off this check keeps with the PEP's understanding of optional.