---
name: "yardoc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "yard"
version: "0.9.37-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/yardoc"
---

# yardoc(1)

Ruby tool to generate documentation for the Ruby programming language

## NAME

yardoc - Ruby tool to generate documentation for the Ruby programming language

## SYNOPSIS

**yarddoc** \[*options*\] \[*source\_files* \[- *extra\_files*\]\] **yard doc** \[*options*\] \[*source\_files* \[- *extra\_files*\]\]

## DESCRIPTION

[**yard**(1)](/yard/1.md) is an extensible documentation generation tool for the Ruby programming language. It enables the user to generate consistent, usable documentation that can be exported to a number of formats very easily, and also supports extending for custom Ruby constructs such as custom class level definitions.

**yardoc**, synonym for **yard** **doc** generates the documentation from the list of *source\_files*. If this list is omitted,  `"{lib,app}/**/*.rb ext/**/*.c"` is used.

A base set of options can be specified by adding a **.yardopts** file to your base path containing all extra options separated by whitespace.

## OPTIONS

### General Options

- **-b**, **--db** *FILE*

  Use a specified .yardoc db to load from or save to (defaults to .yardoc)

- **--**\[**no-**\]**single-db**

  Whether code objects should be stored to single database file (advanced)

- **-n**, **--no-output**

  Only generate .yardoc database, no documentation.

- **-c**, **--use-cache** \[*FILE*\]

  Use the cached .yardoc db to generate documentation (defaults to no cache)

- **--no-cache**

  Clear .yardoc db before parsing source.

- **--**\[**no-**\]**yardopts** \[*FILE*\]

  If arguments should be read from FILE (defaults to yes, FILE defaults to .yardopts)

- **--**\[**no-**\]**document**

  If arguments should be read from .document file (defaults to yes)

- **--no-save**

  Do not save the parsed data to the yardoc db

- **--exclude** *REGEXP*

  Ignores a file if it matches path match (regexp)

### Output options

- **--one-file**

  Generates output as a single file

- **--list**

  List objects to standard out (implies **-n**)

- **--no-public**

  Don't show public methods. (default shows public)

- **--protected**

  Show protected methods. (default hides protected)

- **--private**

  Show private methods. (default hides private)

- **--no-private**

  Hide objects with `@private` tag

- **--\[no-\]api API**

  Generates documentation for a given API (objects which define the correct `@api` tag). If **--no-api** is given, displays objects with no `@api` tag.

- **--embed-mixins**

  Embeds mixin methods into class documentation

- **--embed-mixin \[MODULE\]**

  Embeds mixin methods from a particular module into class documentation

- **--no-highlight**

  Don't highlight code blocks in output.

- **--default-return TYPE**

  Shown if method has no return type.  (defaults to 'Object')

- **--hide-void-return**

  Hides return types specified as 'void'.  (default is shown)

- **--query QUERY**

  Only show objects that match a specific query

- **--title TITLE**

  Add a specific title to HTML documents

- **-r**, **--readme**, **--main** *FILE*

  The readme file used as the title page of documentation.

- **--files** *FILE1*,*FILE2*,...

  Any extra comma separated static files to be included (eg. FAQ)

- **--asset** *FROM*\[:*TO*\]

  A file or directory to copy over to output directory after generating

- **-o**, **--output-dir** *PATH*

  The output directory. (defaults to ./doc)

- **-m**, **--markup** **MARKUP**

  Markup style used in documentation, like textile, markdown or rdoc (defaults to rdoc).

- **-M** *MARKUP\_PROVIDER*

  Overrides the library used to process markup

- **--markup-provider**

  formatting (specify the gem name)

- **--charset** *ENC*

  Character set to use when parsing files (default is system locale)

- **-t**, **--template** *TEMPLATE*

  The template to use. (defaults to "default")

- **-p**, **--template-path** *PATH*

  The template path to look for templates in.  (used with -t).

- **-f**, **--format** *FORMAT*

  The output format for the template (defaults to html).

- **--no-stats**

  Don't print statistics

- **--locale** *LOCALE*

  The locale for generated documentation (defaults to en).

- **--po-dir** *DIR*

  The directory that has .po files (defaults to #{YARD::Registry.po\_dir}).

### Tag options:

(*TAG*:*TITLE* looks like: '**overload**:**Overloaded Method**')

- **--tag** *TAG*:*TITLE*

  Registers a new free-form metadata `@tag`

- **--type-tag** *TAG*:*TITLE*

  Tag with an optional types field

- **--type-name-tag** *TAG*:*TITLE*

  Tag with optional types and a name field

- **--name-tag** *TAG*:*TITLE*

  Tag with a name field

- **--title-tag** *TAG*:*TITLE*

  Tag with first line as title field

- **--hide-tag** *TAG*

  Hides a previously defined tag from templates

- **--transitive-tag** *TAG*

  Marks a tag as transitive

- **--non-transitive-tag** *TAG*

  Marks a tag as not transitive

### Other options:

- **-e**, **--load** *FILE*

  A Ruby script to load before running command.

- **--plugin** *PLUGIN*

  Load a YARD plugin (gem with \`yard-' prefix)

- **--legacy**

  Use old style Ruby parser and handlers. Always on in 1.8.x.

- **--safe**

  Enable safe mode for this instance

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  Show no warnings.

- **--verbose**

  Show more information.

- **--debug**

  Show debugging information.

- **--backtrace**

  Show stack traces

- **-v**, **--version**

  Show version.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show this help.

## EXAMPLES

**yardoc** **-o** `"documentation/"` - `"FAQ"` `"LICENSE"`

The above example outputs documentation for files in `"lib/**/*.rb"` to `"documentation/"` including the extra files `"FAQ"` and `"LICENSE"`.

## SEE ALSO

[**yard**(1)](/yard/1.md).

## AUTHORS

**yard** has been developed by Loren Segal \<lsegal@soen.ca\>.

This manual page has been written for the Debian Project by Cédric Boutillier (but may used by others).