Nonstandard Method Signature
ID |
go.nonstandard_method_sig |
Severity |
low |
Remediation Complexity |
simple |
Remediation Risk |
medium |
Remediation Effort |
low |
Resource |
Reliability |
Language |
Go |
Tags |
reliability |
Description
Reports a method whose name belongs to a well-known Go interface but whose signature does not match the one that interface requires.
Rationale
String() string (fmt.Stringer) and Error() string (error) both take no parameters and
return a single string. A method named String or Error with a different shape silently
fails to satisfy the interface, so the value will not print or format as intended and the bug is
easy to miss. The checked names and their expected result types are configurable.
// Bad
func (t T) String(x int) string { return "" } // FLAW — must take no parameters
func (t T) Error() int { return 0 } // FLAW — must return a string
// Good
func (t T) String() string { return "" } // OK
func (t T) Error() string { return "" } // OKRemediation
Match the standard signature: String() string and Error() string, taking no parameters and
returning a single string.