Rename symbol also rename in docstrings

[MartinBernstorff]

Would love for VSCode's "rename symbol (F2)" to also rename in Python docstrings. Would make refactoring much easier!

[judej]

Moving this issue to discussion as an enhancement request for comments and upvotes.

[starball5]

Related on Stack Overflow: How can I make VS Code also rename symbols in Python docstrings when refactoring?

[heejaechang]

Once we complete our new Python docstring parser, we might be able to build on that to support this. However, since Python docstrings do not have an official method for referencing other Python symbols within the docstring, it will be, at best, optional and based on heuristics for us to determine how to match text in a Python docstring to an actual symbol.

for example, if doc string refers DataFrame, and if we see DataFrame type in package this module belong to, but also see DataFrame in pandas or some other packages this module imports, then we need to figure out what DataFrame symbol it actually refers to.

[starball5]

The API for renaming things should have the option to provide checkboxes. the cpptools extension uses that mechanisms to handle potential matches in string literals and comments.

[heejaechang]

ya, I know a few tools do that. that said, current language server protocol doesn't support that functionality. so if we do this, we either need to add that support for vscode, language server protocol first or we need to create our custom UX.