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Black

Black is a highly popular and powerful code formatting tool for Python that automatically reformats Python code to comply with a standardized style guide, known as PEP 8. Developed with the goal of promoting code consistency and readability, Black eliminates the need for developers to manually adhere to formatting conventions, making the codebase visually consistent and more maintainable. The name “Black” is an acronym for “Blackened,” emphasizing its approach of taking input Python code and producing output with a consistent and unambiguous style.

The operation of Black is straightforward: it parses Python code and rewrites it in a clean, standardized format. Unlike some other formatting tools, Black does not engage in discussions about formatting choices; it enforces a single, opinionated style, and users are encouraged to embrace it without configuration. This simplicity contributes to Black’s popularity and its adoption across a wide range of projects.

Example

Look at the code below. It has some formatting issues including unwarranted blank spaces and blank lines.

def   calculate_total_price( quantity,price ):

 total_price =0
  for i in range(quantity ):
 total_price +=price
    return total_price
def calculate_total_price_with_tax( quantity,price,tax_rate):
    total_price   =0
    for i in range( quantity):
        total_price+= price+ (price*tax_rate)
    return total_price

Now, if we apply black to it, observe how the formatting is perfected:

def calculate_total_price(quantity, price):
    total_price = 0
    for i in range(quantity):
        total_price += price
    return total_price

def calculate_total_price_with_tax(quantity, price, tax_rate):
    total_price = 0
    for i in range(quantity):
        total_price += price + (price * tax_rate)
    return total_price

All the unnecessary spaces and lines are removed.

Important

It is expected that the contributors use black on their code before pushing it to the GitHub repo. Otherwise the checks will fail and the PR cannot be merged.

By integrating Black into the development workflow, teams can achieve a more streamlined and efficient process for maintaining consistent code formatting. It is often used in conjunction with version control systems and integrated into Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines to automatically format code contributions during the development process, ensuring that the entire codebase adheres to a uniform style and minimizing formatting-related code reviews.