Description

Notes

In default configuration, if header is not specified, the default value of header is set to null and the check does not rise any violations.

Properties

Examples

To configure the check such that no violations arise. Default values of properties are used.

<module name="Checker">
  <module name="Header"/>
</module>
        

Example1:

package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.header.header;
// OK, as by default there is not specific header defined to validate it presence
public class Example1 { }
        

To configure the check to use header file "java.header" and ignore lines 2, 3, and 4 and only process Java files. 'ignoreLines' property is very useful for supporting headers that contain copyright dates or other content that slightly different in some files:

<module name="Checker">
  <module name="Header">
    <property name="headerFile" value="${config.folder}/java.header"/>
    <property name="ignoreLines" value="2, 3, 4"/>
    <property name="fileExtensions" value="java"/>
  </module>
</module>
        

content of "java.header" file:

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// checkstyle: Checks Java source code and other text files for adherence to a set of rules.
// Copyright (C) 20XX-20XX the original author or authors.
//
// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
// modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
// version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
//
// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
// Lesser General Public License for more details.
//
// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
// Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        

Example2:

package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.header.header;
/* violation on first line 'Line does not match expected header line of' */
// because headerFile is bigger then target java file
public class Example2 { }
        

Without the need for an external header file:

<module name="Checker">
  <module name="Header">
    <property name="header"
      value="// Copyright (C) 2004 MyCompany\n// All rights reserved"/>
  </module>
</module>
        

Example3:

package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.header.header;
/* violation on first line 'Line does not match expected header' */
public class Example3 { }
        

In case target file is less in size than header file:

<module name="Checker">
  <module name="Header">
    <property name="headerFile" value="${config.folder}/java.header"/>
    <property name="ignoreLines" value="2, 3, 4"/>
    <property name="fileExtensions" value="java"/>
  </module>
</module>
        

Example:

package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.header.header;
/* violation on first line 'Missing a header - not enough lines in file' */
// because content defined in 'headerFile' is bigger then target java file
public class Example4 { }
        

Example of Usage

• Checkstyle Style

Violation Messages

• header.mismatch
• header.missing

All messages can be customized if the default message doesn't suit you. Please see the documentation to learn how to.

Package

com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.header

Parent Module

Checker