How to run Pylint with PyCharm

I want to configure Pylint as an external tool in my entire project directory for a Python project that I'm working on. I've tried to use the repository as a module with __init__.py and without, and it's not working either way.

I'm having difficulty setting up Pylint to run with PyCharm. I know that I should be running it as an external tool, however the settings confuse me.

The authoritative source on their documentation is broken, so I can't check that up either.

Solution 1:

You can set up Pylint to work with PyCharm by following the following steps:

1. Install pylint:

    $ pip install pylint
   

2. Locate your pylint installation folder:

    $ which pylint         # MacOS/Linux
    /usr/local/bin/pylint  # This is just a possible output - check yours
   
   <!-->
   
    $ where pylint         # Windows
    %LocalAppData%\Programs\Python\Python36-32\Scripts\pylint.exe  # Possible location
   

3. Open the PyCharm settings window with menu File → Settings, then navigate to menu Tools → External Tools in the sidebar. (Or search "external tools")

   

4. Set up an external tool by clicking on the + sign and filling in the fields accordingly. In Program use the path you got when running which pylint. For the other values, you can use the same from the image.

   

5. Run pylint from menu Tools → External Tools → pylint:

   

6. Look at your output in the PyCharm terminal

   

For more details, refer to Pylinting with PyCharm.

If you want to use Pylint to check your whole project or a particular file or directory, you can right click on your project root, file or directory, then activate External Tools → pylint as shown below.

Solution 2:

Because I didn't find a working ready-made setup, these are the settings I use in PyCharm CE 2018.1 on macOS:

1 - pip install pylint in your project virtualenv or globally

2 - Add new external tool and configure:

Program: pylint
Arguments: "--msg-template='{abspath}:{line:5d},{column:2d}: {msg} ({symbol})'" --output-format=colorized "$FilePath$"
Working directory: $ProjectFileDir$
Output filters: $FILE_PATH$:\s*$LINE$\,\s*$COLUMN$:

Notice the required double quotes for the msg-template, and the escape chars for the output filters. The output filter allows to click on the file path and open the location in the IDE source editor.

Only missing feature would be the output filters to plot the lint descriptions directly into the source view, as is done with the builtin linter. No such feature at this time though.