rust-lang / rust-lang/rust-clippy

`cognitive_complexity` lint includes code expanded from macro in calculated complexity

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C-bug I-false-positive
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Summary

Code expanded from macros should not count towards cognitive complexity. Instead, a macro call should have the same cognitive complexity as a function call.

Lint Name

cognitive_complexity

Reproducer

I tried this code:

#![warn(clippy::cognitive_complexity)]

// exact content of the macro is not important
macro_rules! create_4d_vec {
    ( $dim_1:literal, $dim_2:literal, $dim_3:literal, $dim_4:literal) => {
        let mut vec = vec![vec![vec![vec![0; $dim_4]; $dim_3]; $dim_2]; $dim_1];
        for a in 0..$dim_1 {
            for b in 0..$dim_2 {
                for c in 0..$dim_3 {
                    for d in 0..$dim_4 {
                        vec[a][b][c][d] = a + b + c + d;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    };
}

fn foo() {
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
    create_4d_vec!(1, 2, 3, 4);
}

I saw this happen:

warning: the function has a cognitive complexity of (29/25)
  --> src/main.rs:18:4
   |
18 | fn foo() {
   |    ^^^
   |
   = help: you could split it up into multiple smaller functions
   = help: for further information visit https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-clippy/master/index.html#cognitive_complexity

I expected to see this happen:

Lint does not trigger.

Version
rustc 1.87.0-nightly (ecade534c 2025-03-14)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: ecade534c66478c51c5d3c1d3682dc4beb0ac972
commit-date: 2025-03-14
host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
release: 1.87.0-nightly
LLVM version: 20.1.0
Additional Labels

@rustbot label +L-nursery

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the cognitive_complexity lint implementation and run the provided macro reproducer to trace how expanded macro code contributes to the calculation. Done means a macro invocation contributes like a function call, the reproducer no longer triggers the lint, and existing cognitive-complexity behavior remains intact.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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