> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.semgrep.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Match comments with Semgrep

When Semgrep rules target specific languages, they generally do not match comments in the targeted code files. Comments are not part of the semantic and syntactic structure of the document, so in most cases they are ignored.

However, it's sometimes useful to match comments. For example, comments can control the behavior of other linters, such as type checkers. You might also have certain formatting standards for comments, such as requiring that a `TODO` comment contains a ticket capturing the required work.

To match comments with Semgrep, use the `generic` language target to invoke [generic pattern matching](/writing-rules/generic-pattern-matching). (Alternatively you may use `pattern-regex` which [does file-level matching](/writing-rules/rule-syntax#pattern-regex) rather than semantic / syntactic matching, which is beyond the scope of this article.)

## Example rule

Suppose that your organization requires all `TODO` comments to have an associated Jira ticket. This rule finds TODO lines with no `atlassian.net` content and identifies any lines not containing a Jira Cloud ticket link.

```yaml theme={null}
rules:
  - id: no-todo-without-jira
    patterns:
      - pattern: TODO $...ACTION
      - pattern-not: TODO ... atlassian.net ...
    options:
      generic_ellipsis_max_span: 0
    message: The TODO comment "$...ACTION" does not contain a Jira ticket to resolve the issue
    languages:
      - generic
    severity: LOW
    metadata:
      category: best-practice
```

<Info>
  **NOTE**

  Try this pattern in the [Semgrep Playground](https://semgrep.dev/playground/s/lBDRL).
</Info>

This rule also includes the `generic_ellipsis_max_span` option, which [limits the ellipsis to matching on the same line](/writing-rules/generic-pattern-matching/#handling-line-based-input) and prevents it from over-matching in this generic context.

## Limiting the match to certain file types

If particular types of comments are only relevant for certain files, you can use the `paths:` key to limit the rule to files of that type. For example, `mypy` [type ignores](https://mypy.readthedocs.io/en/stable/error_codes.html#silencing-errors-based-on-error-codes) are only relevant in Python files.

```yaml theme={null}
...
rules:
  - id: no-mypy-ignore
    ...
    paths:
      include:
        - "*.py"
```

## Ignoring some comments in generic mode

It is possible to [ignore comments of particular types](/writing-rules/generic-pattern-matching#ignoring-comments) in generic mode using the `generic_comment_style` option. For example, to ignore C-style comments but match any other style:

```yaml theme={null}
rules:
  - id: css-blue-is-not-allowed
    pattern: |
      color: blue
    options:
      # ignore comments of the form /* ... */
      generic_comment_style: c
    message: |
      Blue is not allowed.
    languages:
      - generic
    severity: LOW
```

## Additional resources

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Matching multiple tokens with ellipsis metavariables" horizontal href="/kb/rules/ellipsis-metavariables" icon="file" />

  <Card title="Aliengrep experiment" href="/writing-rules/experiments/aliengrep" horizontal icon="file" />
</CardGroup>