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    <title>Configuration</title>
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    <section name="Content">
      <macro name="toc">
        <param name="fromDepth" value="1"/>
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    </section>

    <section name="Overview">
      <p>
        A Checkstyle configuration specifies which <em>modules</em> to
        plug in and apply to Java source files. Modules are structured
        in a tree whose root is the <em>Checker</em> module. The next
        level of modules contains:
      </p>

      <ul>

        <li><em>FileSetChecks</em> - modules that take a set of input
        files and fire error messages.</li>

        <li><em>Filters</em>

        - modules that filter audit events,
        including error messages, for acceptance.</li>

        <li><em>AuditListeners</em> - modules that report accepted events.</li>

      </ul>

      <p>
        Many checks are submodules of the <em>TreeWalker</em>
        FileSetCheck module. The TreeWalker operates by separately
        transforming each of the Java source files into an abstract
        syntax tree and then handing the result over to each of its
        submodules which in turn have a look at certain aspects of the
        tree.
      </p>

      <p>
        Checkstyle obtains a configuration from an XML document whose
        elements specify the configuration's hierarchy of modules and
        their properties. You provide a file that contains the
        configuration document when you invoke Checkstyle at the <a
        href="cmdline.html">command line</a>, and when you run a <a
        href="anttask.html">Checkstyle task</a> in ant. The
        documentation directory of the Checkstyle distribution contains
        a sample configuration file <em>sun_checks.xml</em> which
        configures Checkstyle to check for the Sun coding conventions.
      </p>
    </section>

    <section name="Modules">
      <p>
        A <code>module</code> element in the configuration
        XML document specifies a module identified by the element's
        <code>name</code> attribute.
      </p>

      <p>
        Here is a fragment of a typical configuration document:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
    &lt;module name=&quot;JavadocPackage&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
        &lt;module name=&quot;AvoidStarImport&quot;/&gt;
        &lt;module name=&quot;ConstantName&quot;/&gt;
        &lt;module name=&quot;EmptyBlock&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;/module&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        In this configuration:
      </p>

      <ul>
        <li>
          Root module <code>Checker</code> has child
          FileSetChecks <code>JavadocPackage</code> and <code>TreeWalker</code>. (Module <a
          href="config_javadoc.html"> <code>JavadocPackage</code></a> checks that all packages
          have package documentation.)
        </li>
        <li>
          Module <code>TreeWalker</code> has submodules
          <code>AvoidStarImport</code>, <code>ConstantName</code>, and <code>EmptyBlock</code>.  (Modules <a
          href="config_imports.html"><code>AvoidStarImport</code></a>, <a
          href="config_naming.html"><code>ConstantName</code></a>, and <a
          href="config_blocks.html"><code>EmptyBlock</code></a> check that a Java source
          file has no star imports, has valid constant names, and has no
          empty blocks, respectively.)
        </li>
      </ul>

      <p>
        For each configuration module, Checkstyle loads a class
        identified by the <code>name</code> attribute of
        the <code>module</code>.  There are several rules
        for loading a module's class:
      </p>

      <ol>
        <li>
          Load a class directly according to a package-qualified <code>name</code>, such as loading class <code>com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.TreeWalker</code>
          for element:

          <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.TreeWalker&quot;/&gt;
          </source>

          This is useful for plugging third-party modules into a configuration.
        </li>

        <li>
          Load a class of a pre-specified package, such as loading class
          <code>com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.AvoidStarImport</code>
          for element
          <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;AvoidStarImport&quot;/&gt;
          </source>

          Checkstyle applies packages <code>
          com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle</code>, <code>
          com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.filters</code>, and <code> com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks</code>
          and its sub-packages (only those included in the Checkstyle
          distribution). You can specify other packages in a <a
          href="#Packages"><em>package names XML document</em></a>
          when you invoke Checkstyle at the <a
          href="cmdline.html">command line</a>, and when you run a <a
          href="anttask.html">Checkstyle task</a> in ant.
        </li>

        <li>
          Apply the above rules to <code>name</code>
          concatenated with <code>&quot;Check&quot;</code>,
          such as loading class <code>com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.ConstantNameCheck</code>
          for element
          <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;ConstantName&quot;/&gt;
          </source>
        </li>
      </ol>
    </section>

    <section name="Properties">
      <p>
        Properties of a module control how the module performs its task.
        Each module property has a default value, and you are not
        required to define a property in the configuration document if
        the default value is satisfactory.  To assign a non-default
        value to a module's property, define a child <code>property</code> element of the <code>module</code> element in the configuration XML
        document. Also provide appropriate <code>name</code> and <code>value</code>
        attributes for the <code>property</code> element.
        For example, property <code>max</code> of module
        <code>MethodLength</code> specifies the maximum
        allowable number of lines in a method or constructor, and has
        default value <code>150</code>.  Here is a
        configuration of module <code>MethodLength</code>
        so that the check reports methods and constructors with more
        than <code>60</code> lines:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;MethodLength&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;max&quot; value=&quot;60&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        <a href="cmdline.html">Command line</a> properties and ant <a
        href="anttask.html">Checkstyle task</a> properties apply to the
        root <code>Checker</code> module. Also, properties
        are inherited in the module hierarchy. These features make it
        easy to define one property value that applies to many
        modules. For example, the following configuration fragment
        specifies that a <code>tabWidth</code> of <code>4</code> applies to <code>TreeWalker</code> and its submodules:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
    &lt;module name=&quot;JavadocPackage&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
        &lt;property name=&quot;tabWidth&quot; value=&quot;4&quot;/&gt;
        &lt;module name=&quot;AvoidStarImport&quot;/&gt;
        &lt;module name=&quot;ConstantName&quot;/&gt;
        ...
    &lt;/module&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        The value of a module property can be specified through
        <em>property expansion</em> with the <code>${<em>property_name</em>}</code> notation, where
        <code><em>property_name</em></code> is a <a
        href="cmdline.html">command line</a> property or an ant <a
        href="anttask.html">Checkstyle task</a> property.  For example,
        the following configuration document element gives property
        <code>headerFile</code> the value of command line
        property <code>checkstyle.header.file</code>:
     </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;Header&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;headerFile&quot; value=&quot;${checkstyle.header.file}&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        You can use property expansion to re-specify a module property
        value without changing the configuration document.
      </p>

      <p>
        The property element provides an optional <code>default</code> attribute which is used when a
        property in the value cannot be resolved. For example this
        configuration snippet from a central configuration file checks
        that methods have javadoc, but allows individual projects to
        override the severity by specifying their desired value in the
        command line property <code>checkstyle.javadoc.severity</code>:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;JavadocMethod&quot;&gt;
  &lt;property name=&quot;severity&quot;
               value=&quot;${checkstyle.javadoc.severity}&quot;
               default=&quot;error&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        This feature is a great help when setting up a centralized
        configuration file (e.g. one file for the whole company) to
        lower configuration maintenance costs.  Projects that are happy
        with the default can simply use that configuration file as is,
        but individual projects with special needs have the flexibility
        to adjust a few settings to fit their needs without having to
        copy and maintain the whole configuration.
      </p>

      <p>
        You can find information about property types on
        <a href="property_types.html">Property Types</a> page.
      </p>

    </section>

    <section name="Checker">
      <subsection name="Description">
        <p>Since Checkstyle 3.0</p>
        <p>
          All configurations have root module <code>Checker</code>.  <code>Checker</code>
          contains:
        </p>

        <ul>
          <li><em>FileSetCheck</em> children: modules that check sets of
          files.</li>
          <li><em>Filter</em> children: modules that filter audit
          events.</li>
          <li><em>FileFilter</em> children: modules that filter files
          for Checkstyle to process.</li>
          <li><em>AuditListener</em> children: modules that report
          filtered events.</li>
        </ul>

        <p>
          <code>Checker</code> also defines properties that are
          inherited by all other modules of a configuration.
        </p>
      </subsection>

      <subsection name="Properties">
        <table>
          <tr>
            <th>name</th>
            <th>description</th>
            <th>type</th>
            <th>default value</th>
            <th>since</th>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>basedir</td>
            <td>base directory name; stripped off in messages about files</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#string">string</a></td>
            <td><code>null</code></td>
            <td>3.0</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>cacheFile</td>
            <td>caches information about files that have checked OK; used
                to avoid repeated checks of the same files</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#string">string</a></td>
            <td><code>null</code> (no cache file)</td>
            <td>6.16</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>localeCountry</td>
            <td>locale country for messages</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#string">string</a>: either
            the empty string or an uppercase ISO 3166 2-letter code</td>
            <td>default locale country for the Java Virtual Machine</td>
            <td>3.0</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>localeLanguage</td>
            <td>locale language for messages</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#string">string</a>: either
            the empty string or a lowercase ISO 639 code</td>
            <td>default locale language for the Java Virtual Machine</td>
            <td>3.0</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>charset</td>
            <td>name of the file charset</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#string">String</a></td>
            <td>System property &quot;file.encoding&quot;</td>
            <td>5.0</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>fileExtensions</td>
            <td>file extensions that are accepted</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#stringSet">String Set</a></td>
            <td><code>null</code></td>
            <td>6.3</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>severity</td>
            <td>the default severity level of all violations</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#severity">Severity</a></td>
            <td><code>error</code></td>
            <td>3.1</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>haltOnException</td>
            <td>whether to stop execution of Checkstyle if a single file produces any kind of
            exception during verification</td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#boolean">Boolean</a></td>
            <td><code>true</code></td>
            <td>7.4</td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </subsection>

      <subsection name="Examples">
        <p>
          For example, the following configuration fragment specifies base
          directory <code>src/checkstyle</code>, cache file <code>target/cachefile</code> and German
          locale for all modules:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;basedir&quot; value=&quot;src/checkstyle&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;cacheFile&quot; value=&quot;target/cachefile&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;localeCountry&quot; value=&quot;DE&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;localeLanguage&quot; value=&quot;de&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;module name=&quot;JavadocPackage&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
          ...
      &lt;/module&gt;
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          To configure a <code>Checker</code> so that it
          handles files with the <code>UTF-8</code> charset:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;charset&quot; value=&quot;UTF-8&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          To configure a <code>Checker</code> so that it
          handles files with the <code>java, xml, properties</code> extensions:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;java, xml, properties&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          To configure a <code>Checker</code> so that it doesn't stop execution on an
          <code>Exception</code> and instead prints it as a violation:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;haltOnException&quot; value=&quot;false&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          To configure a <code>Checker</code> so that it
          handles files with any extension:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;null&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>
          <p>OR</p>
        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

      </subsection>
    </section>

    <section name="TreeWalker">
      <subsection name="Description">
        <p>Since Checkstyle 3.0</p>
        <p>
          FileSetCheck <code>TreeWalker</code> checks
          individual Java source files and defines properties that are
          applicable to checking such files.
        </p>
      </subsection>

      <subsection name="Properties">
        <table>
          <tr>
            <th>name</th>
            <th>description</th>
            <th>type</th>
            <th>default value</th>
            <th>since</th>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>tabWidth</td>
            <td>number of expanded spaces for a tab character (<code>'\t'</code>); used in messages and Checks that
            require a tab width, such as <a
            href="config_sizes.html#LineLength"><code>LineLength</code></a></td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#integer">Integer</a></td>
            <td><code>8</code></td>
            <td>3.0</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>fileExtensions</td>
            <td>file type extension to identify Java files. Setting this
            property is typically only required if your Java source code
            is preprocessed before compilation and the original files do
            not have the extension <code>.java</code></td>
            <td><a href="property_types.html#stringSet">String Set</a></td>
            <td><code>java</code></td>
            <td>3.0</td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </subsection>

      <subsection name="Examples">
        <p>
          For example, the following configuration fragment specifies
          <code>TreeWalker</code> a <code>tabWidth</code> of <code>4</code>:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
          &lt;property name=&quot;tabWidth&quot; value=&quot;4&quot;/&gt;
          ...
      &lt;/module&gt;
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          <!--
            thanks to Paul King for this example, see
            https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=865610&group_id=29721&atid=397078
          -->
          To integrate Checkstyle with BEA Weblogic Workshop 8.1:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;Checker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
          &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;java,ejb,jpf&quot;/&gt;
          ...
      &lt;/module&gt;
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          To configure <code>TreeWalker</code> so that it
          handles files with the <code>java</code> extension:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;java&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>

        <p>
          To configure <code>TreeWalker</code> so that it
          handles files with any extension:
        </p>

        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;null&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>
          <p>OR</p>
        <source>
  &lt;module name=&quot;TreeWalker&quot;&gt;
      &lt;property name=&quot;fileExtensions&quot; value=&quot;&quot;/&gt;
      ...
  &lt;/module&gt;
        </source>
      </subsection>
    </section>

    <section name="TreeWalker Checks">

      <p>
        The <code>TreeWalker</code> module creates a syntax
        tree for a Java source file and invokes its submodules, called
        <em>Checks</em>, during a walk, or traversal, of the nodes of
        the tree.  Every node of the syntax tree has a token. A visit to
        a node during the traversal triggers all Checks that are
        configured for its token.  For example, if Check <code>MethodLength</code> has been configured as a
        submodule of <code>TreeWalker</code>, then a visit
        to a node with a method or a constructor definition token
        triggers <code>MethodLength</code> to check the
        number of lines of the node's code block.
      </p>

      <p>
        Some Checks, such as <code>FileLength</code> and
        <code>LineLength</code>, apply directly to the
        source file and do not involve tokens of the syntax tree.  Other
        Checks are associated with configurable sets of tokens that
        trigger the Checks.  For example, this element configures Check
        <code>MethodLength</code>:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;MethodLength&quot;/&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        The default token set for <code>MethodLength</code>
        is <code>{METHOD_DEF, CTOR_DEF}</code>, method
        definition and constructor definition tokens, so <code>TreeWalker</code> invokes <code>MethodLength</code> whenever it visits a node with
        a <code>METHOD_DEF</code> or a <code>CTOR_DEF</code> token.
      </p>

      <p>
        You specify the trigger tokens for a Check with property <code>tokens</code>.  The value of <code>tokens</code> is a list that denotes a subset of
        the Check's tokens, as in the following element that configures
        Check <code>MethodLength</code> to check the number
        of lines of methods only:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;MethodLength&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;tokens&quot; value=&quot;METHOD_DEF&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        To apply particular properties to different subsets of tokens
        for a Check, repeat the Check.  For example, to check that the
        length of each method is at most 150 lines (the default value of
        <code>MethodLength</code> property <code>max</code>) and the length of each constructor is
        at most 60 lines, include the following in the <code>TreeWalker</code> configuration:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;MethodLength&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;tokens&quot; value=&quot;METHOD_DEF&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
&lt;module name=&quot;MethodLength&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;tokens&quot; value=&quot;CTOR_DEF&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;max&quot; value=&quot;60&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Configurations of the Checks are specified in the pages under <a
        href="checks.html">here</a>.
      </p>

    </section>

    <section name="Severity">
      <p>
        Each check has a <a
        href="property_types.html#severity">severity</a> property that a
        Checkstyle audit assigns to all violations of the check. The
        default severity level of a check is <code>error</code>.
      </p>

      <p>
        You can use the severity property to control the output of the
        plain formatter for the <a href="cmdline.html">command line
        tool</a> and the <a href="anttask.html">ANT task</a>. The plain
        formatter does not report violations with severity level <code>ignore</code>, and notes violations with
        severity level <code>warning</code>. For
        example, according to the following configuration fragment, the
        plain formatter outputs warnings for translation violations:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;Translation&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;severity&quot; value=&quot;warning&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        The XML formatter reports the severity level of every violation
        as an attribute of the violation's <code>error</code> element.
      </p>
    </section>

    <section name="Custom messages">
      <p>
        As of Checkstyle 5 all checks can be configured to report
        custom, configuration specific messages instead of the
        Checkstyle default messages.  This can be useful in cases where
        the check message should reference corresponding sections in a
        coding style document or the default is too generic for
        developers to understand.
      </p>

      <p>An example usage is:</p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;MemberName&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;format&quot; value=&quot;^m[a-zA-Z0-9]*$&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;message key=&quot;name.invalidPattern&quot;
             value=&quot;Member ''{0}'' must start with a lowercase ''m'' (checked pattern ''{1}'').&quot;
             /&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Each check configuration element can have zero or more <code>message</code> elements. Every check uses one or
        more distinct message keys to log violations. If you want to
        customize a certain message you need to specify the message key
        in the <code>key</code> attribute of the <code>message</code> element.
      </p>

      <p>
        The <code>value</code> attribute specifies the
        custom message pattern, as shown in the example above.
        Placeholders used in the default message can also be used in the
        custom message.  Note that the message pattern must be a valid
        <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/text/MessageFormat.html">java.text.MessageFormat</a>
        style pattern,
        so be careful about curly braces outside a placeholder
        definition.
      </p>

      <p>
        The obvious question is how do you know which message keys a
        Check uses, so that you can override them? You can examine all
        keys in the check's specific <a href="checks.html">configuration
        documentation</a>. Each check has a section called 'Error Messages'.
        This section lists every key the check uses and links to the default
        message used by checkstyle.
      </p>
    </section>

    <section name="Filters">

      <p>
        A Checker module has a set of Filter submodules to filter audit
        events, including the error messages fired by Checks.  A Filter
        can accept or reject an audit event. If all Filters accept an
        audit event, then the Checker reports the event.  If any Filter
        rejects an event, then the Checker does not report the
        event. For more information please visit
        <a href="config_filters.html">filters page</a>.
      </p>

    </section>

    <section name="Before Execution File Filters">

      <p>
        A Checker module has a Before Execution File Filter submodule to filter
        files from being processed by the utility. A Before Execution File Filter
        can accept or reject a file by its name. If all Before Execution File Filters
        accept a file, then Checker will process and validate the file.
        If any Before Execution File Filter rejects an file, then Checker skips over
        the file and acts like it does not exist.
        For more information, please visit the <a href="config_filefilters.html">file filters page</a>.
      </p>

    </section>

    <section name="AuditListeners">

      <p>
        In addition to an audit reporter for text or XML output, a
        Checker can have <a href="writinglisteners.html">custom
        AuditListeners</a> that handle audit events. In order to use a
        custom listener, add a <code>Checker</code> submodule for the
        listener and its properties.  For example, to configure a <code>Checker</code> so that it uses custom listener <a
        href="writinglisteners.html#Writing_Listeners">VerboseListener</a> to
        print audit messages to a file named &quot;audit.txt&quot;,
        include the following module in the configuration file:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;com.mycompany.listeners.VerboseListener&quot;&gt;
    &lt;property name=&quot;file&quot; value=&quot;audit.txt&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/module&gt;
      </source>

    </section>

    <section name="Packages">
      <p>
        Checkstyle loads a module class according to the <code>name</code> of a <code>module</code>
        element, and automatically appends pre-specified package
        prefixes to that <code>name</code> in its search
        for a loadable class.  By default, Checkstyle applies packages
        <code> com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle</code>,
        <code>
        com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.filters</code>, and <code> com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks</code> as
        well as any sub-packages of <code>com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks</code> that
        are distributed with Checkstyle. However standard checkstyle modules are loaded
        with the help of inner map of their names to fully qualified names.
      </p>
      <p>
        To specify other packages to apply,
        create a <em>package names XML document</em> in a file
        named <code>checkstyle_packages.xml</code>,
        and provide that file in the root of the .jar containing your
        custom checks.
      </p>
      <p>
        Note that the support for providing a <em>package names XML document</em>
        via <a href="cmdline.html">command line</a> option or as a attribute
        of an <a href="anttask.html">ant Checkstyle task</a> has been dropped
        with Checkstyle 5.0.
      </p>

      <p>
        A <em>package names XML document</em> specifies a list of
        package names. Here is a sample package names XML document for
        packages <code>
        com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle</code> and <code>
        com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks</code>:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;checkstyle-packages&gt;
  &lt;package name=&quot;com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle&quot;&gt;
    &lt;package name=&quot;checks&quot;/&gt;
  &lt;/package&gt;
&lt;/checkstyle-packages&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Notice that the packages are specified recursively - a child
        <code>package</code> element is a subpackage of its
        parent <code>package</code> element.
      </p>

      <p>
        For example, to incorporate modules from package <code>com.mycompany.checks</code> with Checkstyle
        modules, create the XML file below and put this file into the
        <b>root of the jar</b> file which contains your custom check modules.
        The XML file must be named exactly <code>checkstyle_packages.xml</code>:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;

    &lt;!DOCTYPE checkstyle-packages PUBLIC
    &quot;-//Puppy Crawl//DTD Package Names 1.0//EN&quot;
    &quot;http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/dtds/packages_1_0.dtd&quot;&gt;

&lt;checkstyle-packages&gt;
  &lt;package name=&quot;com.mycompany.checks&quot;/&gt;
&lt;/checkstyle-packages&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Now you can configure a module of package <code>com.mycompany.checks</code>, say <code>com.mycompany.checks.MethodLimitCheck</code>, with
        a shortened <code>module</code> element in the
        configuration document:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;module name=&quot;MethodLimit&quot;/&gt;
      </source>

      <div class="tip">
        <b>Note</b>
        <p>
          As of Checkstyle 5.0 it is unnecessary to repeat the
          <code>package</code> elements for Checkstyle's packages in
          your custom <code>checkstyle_packages.xml</code> file.
        </p>
      </div>

    </section>

    <section name="XML Structure">

      <b>Configuration XML Document</b>
      <p>
        The following DTD for a configuration XML document specifies the
        hierarchy of modules and their properties:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;

&lt;!ELEMENT module (module|property)*&gt;
&lt;!ATTLIST module name NMTOKEN #REQUIRED&gt;

&lt;!ELEMENT property EMPTY&gt;
&lt;!ATTLIST property
        name NMTOKEN #REQUIRED
        value CDATA #REQUIRED
&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Checkstyle validates a configuration XML document when it loads
        the document.  To validate against the above configuration DTD,
        include the following document type declaration in your
        configuration XML document:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;!DOCTYPE module PUBLIC
    &quot;-//Puppy Crawl//DTD Check Configuration 1.3//EN&quot;
    &quot;http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/dtds/configuration_1_3.dtd&quot;&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Checkstyle also strictly enforces the encoding attribute of an
        XML declaration.  If Checkstyle rejects your configuration
        document's encoding, correct the value of the encoding
        attribute, or remove the encoding attribute entirely.
      </p>

      <p>
        For a complete example of a configuration XML document, examine
        file <code>docs/sun_checks.xml</code> that checks the Sun coding
        conventions.
      </p>

      <b>Package Names XML Document</b>
      <p>
        This is a DTD for a package names XML document:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;

&lt;!ELEMENT checkstyle-packages (package)*&gt;

&lt;!ELEMENT package (package)*&gt;
&lt;!ATTLIST package name NMTOKEN #REQUIRED&gt;
      </source>

      <p>
        Checkstyle also validates a package names XML document when it
        loads the document.  To validate against the above package names
        DTD, include the following document type declaration in your
        package names XML document:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;!DOCTYPE checkstyle-packages PUBLIC
&quot;-//Puppy Crawl//DTD Package Names 1.1//EN&quot;
&quot;http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/dtds/packages_1_1.dtd&quot;&gt;
      </source>

      <b>Suppressions XML Document</b>
      <p>
        This is a DTD for a suppressions XML document:
      </p>

      <source>
&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;

&lt;!ELEMENT suppressions (suppress*)&gt;

&lt;!ELEMENT suppress EMPTY&gt;
&lt;!ATTLIST suppress files CDATA #IMPLIED
                   checks CDATA #IMPLIED
                   message CDATA #IMPLIED
                   id CDATA #IMPLIED
                   lines CDATA #IMPLIED
                   columns CDATA #IMPLIED&gt;
      </source>

    </section>
  </body>
</document>