Question

I’m using Sphinxdoc to generate api documentation, and I’ve run into a problem with pep8 conformance when writing a docstring.

As you can see below, the link to the OWASP site ends at column 105, far past what pep8 dictates maximum-line-length

def handle_csrf(...):
    """The general recommendation by people in the know [OWASP]_, is
       'to implement the Synchronizer Token Pattern (STP_)'.

       .. [OWASP] The Open Web Application Security Project
          (https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross-Site_Request_Forgery_(CSRF)_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet)
       .. _STP: http://www.corej2eepatterns.com/Design/PresoDesign.htm

    """

Is there a way to wrap the url while still keeping it an url in the generated docs?

Inserting a backslash didn’t work.

Answer 1

A backslash \ does the job, but messes up the pretty indentation.

def handle_csrf():
    """The general recommendation by people in the know [OWASP]_, is
       'to implement the Synchronizer Token Pattern (STP_)'.

       .. [OWASP] The Open Web Application Security Project
          (https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross-\
Site_Request_Forgery_(CSRF)_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet)
       .. _STP: http://www.corej2eepatterns.com/Design/PresoDesign.htm

    """

The result (the same is for the long line):

>>> print handle_csrf.__doc__
The general recommendation by people in the know [OWASP]_, is
       'to implement the Synchronizer Token Pattern (STP_)'.

       .. [OWASP] The Open Web Application Security Project
          (https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross-Site_Request_Forgery_(CSRF)_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet)
       .. _STP: http://www.corej2eepatterns.com/Design/PresoDesign.htm

Also, PEP8 is a guide, not a law – this seems a (rare) case where it’s ok to ignore it.