Fix rules

[bhirsz]

Meta ticket for rules that can have fixes.

The tables below contain a brief overview of every rule: whether an automatic fix is possible, how difficult and how
safe it would be, whether an existing formatter already covers the rewrite, and the current implementation status.

Legend

Column	Values
Fix	✅ possible / ❌ not possible (needs manual intervention, usually a bigger refactor)
Difficulty	easy / mid / hard
Safety	safe / unsafe (fix may change the behaviour, would need UNSAFE applicability)
Status	✅ implemented / 🔄 in progress / ⬜ to do / ➖ not planned

Scope of check --fix vs robocop format

robocop format focuses on whitespace, alignment and optional one-time housekeeping. It should not replace
deprecated syntax or solve single issues that are already fully covered by a rule - such formatters are being
deprecated (NormalizeComments in #1845, RemoveEmptySettings in #1849, ReplaceEmptyValues in #1853,
ReplaceRunKeywordIf in #1899, NormalizeAssignments in #1904, DiscardEmptySections in #1905) in favour
of a rule fix.
Whitespace/alignment formatters (NormalizeSeparators, NormalizeNewLines, Align*, SplitTooLongLine) stay,
and corresponding rules should document when robocop format fixes them. A rule fix is still appropriate when malformed
syntax prevents Robot Framework from producing an AST that formatters can process.
Rules with an existing formatter counterpart are marked in the Notes column - implementing the fix may allow us to
deprecate the formatter (as it happened with RemoveEmptySettings).

ANN

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
ANN01	missing-section-variable-type	❌	-	unsafe	➖	could be derived from the value, but unsafe
ANN02	missing-argument-type	❌	-	-	➖
ANN03	missing-for-loop-variable-type	❌	-	-	➖

ARG

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
ARG01	unused-argument	✅	easy	unsafe	➖	extremely unsafe
ARG02	argument-overwritten-before-usage	❌	-	unsafe	➖	unclear what the fix should be
ARG03	undefined-argument-default	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1852, adds ${EMPTY}
ARG04	undefined-argument-value	✅	easy	unsafe	⬜
ARG05	invalid-argument	❌	-	-	➖
ARG06	duplicated-argument-name	❌	-	-	➖
ARG07	arguments-per-line	✅	mid	safe	⬜	split into multiple lines
ARG09	missing-argument-name	✅	-	safe	✅	#1837

COM

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
COM01	todo-in-comment	❌	-	-	➖
COM02	missing-space-after-comment	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1844, SOMETIMES (##comment not fixed); replaces NormalizeComments (removed in #1845)
COM03	invalid-comment	❌	-	-	➖
COM04	ignored-data	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1844, SOMETIMES (data with the language: header not fixed)
COM05	bom-encoding-in-file	❌	-	-	➖	not worth the effort
COM06	commented-out-code	❌	-	-	➖

DEPR

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
DEPR01	if-can-be-used	✅	mid	safe	⬜	superseded by deprecated-run-keyword-if (DEPR08); ReplaceRunKeywordIf formatter removed in #1899
DEPR02	deprecated-statement	✅	mid	safe	⬜	rule needs to be split first
DEPR03	deprecated-with-name	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1843
DEPR04	deprecated-singular-header	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1843
DEPR05	replace-set-variable-with-var	✅	mid	safe	⬜	ReplaceWithVAR
DEPR06	replace-create-with-var	✅	mid	safe	⬜	ReplaceWithVAR
DEPR07	deprecated-force-tags	✅	mid	safe	✅
DEPR08	deprecated-run-keyword-if	✅	mid	safe	✅	#1898, SOMETIMES (only body keyword calls are fixed); replaces ReplaceRunKeywordIf (removed in #1899)
DEPR10	deprecated-return-keyword	✅	mid	safe	✅
DEPR11	deprecated-return-setting	✅	mid	safe	✅

DOC

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
DOC01	missing-doc-keyword	❌	-	-	➖
DOC02	missing-doc-test-case	❌	-	-	➖
DOC03	missing-doc-suite	❌	-	-	➖
DOC04	missing-doc-resource-file	❌	-	-	➖
DOC05	variable-in-documentation	❌	-	unsafe	➖	escaping changes intentional interpolation; intentionally non-fixable (#1866)

DUP

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
DUP01	duplicated-test-case	❌	-	-	➖
DUP02	duplicated-keyword	❌	-	-	➖
DUP03	duplicated-variable	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1857, removes the ignored (second) value
DUP04	duplicated-resource	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1848
DUP05	duplicated-library	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1848
DUP06	duplicated-metadata	✅	mid	unsafe	⬜	hard to decide which one to keep
DUP07	duplicated-variables-import	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1848
DUP08	section-already-defined	✅	hard	safe	⬜	merging whole sections, MergeAndOrderSections
DUP09	both-tests-and-tasks	❌	-	-	➖
DUP10	duplicated-setting	✅	easy	unsafe	⬜

ERR

All ERR* rules report parsing/syntax errors and cannot be fixed automatically: ERR01, ERR03, ERR04, ERR05, ERR08,
ERR09, ERR12, ERR13, ERR14, ERR15, ERR16, ERR17.

IMP

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
IMP01	wrong-import-order	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1856
IMP02	builtin-imports-not-sorted	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1856
IMP03	non-builtin-imports-not-sorted	✅	mid	unsafe	⬜	import order may matter
IMP04	resources-imports-not-sorted	✅	mid	unsafe	⬜	import order may matter

KW

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
KW01	sleep-keyword-used	❌	-	-	➖
KW02	not-allowed-keyword	❌	-	-	➖
KW03	no-embedded-keyword-arguments	❌	-	-	➖
KW07	missing-keyword-prefix	✅	-	safe	✅	#1838

LEN

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
LEN01	too-long-keyword	❌	-	-	➖
LEN02	too-few-calls-in-keyword	❌	-	-	➖
LEN03	too-many-calls-in-keyword	❌	-	-	➖
LEN04	too-long-test-case	❌	-	-	➖
LEN05	too-few-calls-in-test-case	❌	-	-	➖
LEN06	too-many-calls-in-test-case	❌	-	-	➖
LEN07	too-many-arguments	❌	-	-	➖
LEN08	line-too-long	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (SplitTooLongLine)
LEN09	empty-section	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1841, SOMETIMES (sections with comments are not fixed); replaces DiscardEmptySections, removed in #1905 (its allow_only_comments=False option is dropped)
LEN10	number-of-returned-values	❌	-	-	➖
LEN11-LEN26	empty-* settings	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1840, RemoveEmptySettings removed in #1849
LEN27	too-many-test-cases	❌	-	-	➖
LEN28	file-too-long	❌	-	-	➖
LEN29	empty-test-template	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1840
LEN30	empty-template	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1840
LEN31	empty-keyword-tags	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1840
LEN32	too-long-variable-name	❌	-	-	➖

Note on the empty settings: the empty test case settings that can overwrite a suite setting ([Setup], [Teardown],
[Timeout], [Template]) are not removed but replaced with an explicit NONE, since the suite setting can also
come from the parent __init__.robot.

MISC

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
MISC01	keyword-after-return	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	reordering statements may change the behaviour
MISC02	empty-return	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1846
MISC03	nested-for-loop	❌	hard	unsafe	➖
MISC04	inconsistent-assignment	✅	mid	safe	✅	#1901, ALWAYS; extended to the VAR syntax in #1902; NormalizeAssignments removed in #1904
MISC05	inconsistent-assignment-in-variables	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1859; together with MISC04 (#1901, #1902) it replaces NormalizeAssignments, removed in #1904
MISC06	can-be-resource-file	❌	mid	unsafe	➖	requires renaming the file
MISC07	if-can-be-merged	✅	mid	safe	⬜
MISC08	statement-outside-loop	❌	hard	unsafe	➖
MISC09	inline-if-can-be-used	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1900, SOMETIMES (inline IF over the line limit is not fixed); InlineIf stays (does more: bidirectional, ELSE/ELSE IF and assignments)
MISC10	unreachable-code	✅	mid	safe	⬜	mechanical removal
MISC11	multiline-inline-if	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (InlineIf), documented in #1859
MISC13	expression-can-be-simplified	✅	mid	safe	⬜
MISC14	misplaced-negative-condition	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1859, SOMETIMES (double negation is not fixed)
MISC15	unused-disabler	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1855, SOMETIMES (only standalone directives are removed)

NAME

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
NAME01	not-allowed-char-in-name	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	renaming needs human judgement
NAME02	wrong-case-in-keyword-name	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1860, SOMETIMES (configured pattern is not fixed)
NAME03	keyword-name-is-reserved-word	❌	hard	unsafe	➖
NAME04	underscore-in-keyword-name	✅	easy	safe	⬜	RenameKeywords
NAME05	setting-name-not-in-title-case	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1858, NormalizeSettingName stays (does more than the rule)
NAME06	section-name-invalid	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1858, NormalizeSectionHeaderName stays (does more than the rule)
NAME07	not-capitalized-test-case-title	❌	mid	unsafe	➖	RenameTestCases, test names are identifiers
NAME08	section-variable-not-uppercase	✅	easy	safe	⬜	RenameVariables
NAME09	else-not-upper-case	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1854
NAME10	keyword-name-is-empty	❌	-	-	➖
NAME11	test-case-name-is-empty	❌	-	-	➖
NAME12	empty-library-alias	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1847, SOMETIMES (multiline imports are not fixed)
NAME13	duplicated-library-alias	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1847, SOMETIMES (multiline imports are not fixed)
NAME14	bdd-without-keyword-call	❌	mid	unsafe	➖
NAME15	not-allowed-char-in-filename	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	requires renaming the file
NAME16	invalid-section	❌	mid	unsafe	➖
NAME17	mixed-task-test-settings	❌	mid	unsafe	➖
NAME18	wrong-case-in-keyword-call	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1860, SOMETIMES (configured pattern is not fixed)

ORD

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
ORD01	test-case-section-out-of-order	✅	easy	safe	⬜	OrderSettings
ORD02	keyword-section-out-of-order	✅	easy	safe	⬜	OrderSettings
ORD03	section-out-of-order	✅	mid	safe	⬜	MergeAndOrderSections

SPC

Whitespace and alignment stay the responsibility of robocop format when Robot Framework can parse the statement.
Rules for malformed merged cells remain fixable because AST formatters cannot see those statements.

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
SPC01	trailing-whitespace	✅	easy	safe	✅	already implemented
SPC02	missing-trailing-blank-line	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC03	empty-lines-between-sections	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC04	empty-lines-between-test-cases	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC05	empty-lines-between-keywords	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC06	mixed-tabs-and-spaces	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeSeparators)
SPC08	bad-indent	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeSeparators)
SPC09	empty-line-after-section	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC10	too-many-trailing-blank-lines	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC11	misaligned-continuation	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeSeparators)
SPC12	consecutive-empty-lines	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC13	empty-lines-in-statement	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeNewLines)
SPC14	variable-not-left-aligned	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (AlignVariablesSection)
SPC15	misaligned-continuation-row	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeSeparators)
SPC16	suite-setting-not-left-aligned	➖	-	-	➖	no formatter fix; malformed input has no usable AST
SPC17	bad-block-indent	➖	-	-	➖	handled by robocop format (NormalizeSeparators)
SPC18	first-argument-in-new-line	➖	-	-	➖	no formatter fix; malformed input has no usable AST
SPC19	not-enough-whitespace-after-setting	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1862; formatter cannot parse merged cells
SPC20	not-enough-whitespace-after-newline-marker	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1862; formatter cannot parse merged cells
SPC21	not-enough-whitespace-after-variable	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1862; formatter cannot parse merged cells
SPC22	not-enough-whitespace-after-suite-setting	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1862; formatter cannot parse merged cells
SPC23	empty-line-in-test-template	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1865; removes ignored empty template data rows

TAG

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
TAG01	tag-with-space	✅	mid	unsafe	⬜	changing the tag text can break tag selection
TAG02	tag-with-or-and	✅	easy	safe	⬜	NormalizeTags (case normalization)
TAG03	tag-with-reserved-word	❌	hard	unsafe	➖
TAG05	could-be-test-tags	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	multi-location refactor
TAG06	tag-already-set-in-test-tags	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1851
TAG07	unnecessary-default-tags	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1850
TAG08	empty-tags	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1842
TAG09	duplicated-tags	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1851, NormalizeTags stays (case normalization)
TAG10	could-be-keyword-tags	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	multi-location refactor
TAG11	tag-already-set-in-keyword-tags	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1851
TAG12	redundant-continue-on-failure	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1868; unwraps redundant BuiltIn wrapper when effective tags preserve behavior

VAR

Rule	Name	Fix	Difficulty	Safety	Status	Notes
VAR01	empty-variable	✅	easy	safe	✅	#1852, ReplaceEmptyValues removed in #1853
VAR02	unused-variable	❌	hard	unsafe	➖
VAR03	variable-overwritten-before-usage	✅	mid	safe	⬜	replace the unused assignment with ${_}
VAR04	no-global-variable	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	ReplaceWithVAR partially covers it
VAR05	no-suite-variable	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	ReplaceWithVAR partially covers it
VAR06	no-test-variable	❌	hard	unsafe	➖	ReplaceWithVAR partially covers it
VAR07	non-local-variables-should-be-uppercase	✅	easy	safe	⬜	RenameVariables
VAR08	possible-variable-overwriting	✅	mid	unsafe	⬜	RenameVariables
VAR09	hyphen-in-variable-name	✅	easy	unsafe	⬜	renaming changes the variable name
VAR10	inconsistent-variable-name	✅	mid	unsafe	⬜	RenameVariables
VAR11	overwriting-reserved-variable	❌	hard	unsafe	➖
VAR12	duplicated-assigned-var-name	✅	easy	safe	⬜
VAR13	automatic-variable-not-available	❌	-	-	➖	requires choosing a replacement or moving code based on intent; no safe automatic fix (#1867)