Cognitive Complexity

Cognitive Complexity is a measure of how difficult a unit of code is to intuitively understand. Unlike Cyclomatic Complexity, which determines how difficult your code will be to test, Cognitive Complexity tells you how difficult your code will be to read and comprehend.

A method's cognitive complexity is based on a few simple rules:

• Code is not considered more complex when it uses shorthand that the language provides for collapsing multiple statements into one
• Code is considered more complex for each "break in the linear flow of the code"
• Code is considered more complex when "flow breaking structures are nested"

Further reading

• Cognitive Complexity docs
• Cognitive Complexity: A new way of measuring understandability

Require Following Curly Brace Conventions (curly)

JavaScript allows the omission of curly braces when a block contains only one statement. However, it is considered by many to be best practice to never omit curly braces around blocks, even when they are optional, because it can lead to bugs and reduces code clarity. So the following:

if (foo) foo++;

Can be rewritten as:

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

There are, however, some who prefer to only use braces when there is more than one statement to be executed.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at preventing bugs and increasing code clarity by ensuring that block statements are wrapped in curly braces. It will warn when it encounters blocks that omit curly braces.

Options

all

Examples of incorrect code for the default "all" option:

/*eslint curly: "error"*/

if (foo) foo++;

while (bar)
    baz();

if (foo) {
    baz();
} else qux();

Examples of correct code for the default "all" option:

/*eslint curly: "error"*/

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

while (bar) {
    baz();
}

if (foo) {
    baz();
} else {
    qux();
}

multi

By default, this rule warns whenever if, else, for, while, or do are used without block statements as their body. However, you can specify that block statements should be used only when there are multiple statements in the block and warn when there is only one statement in the block.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi"]*/

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

if (foo) bar();
else {
    foo++;
}

while (true) {
    doSomething();
}

for (var i=0; i < items.length; i++) {
    doSomething();
}

Examples of correct code for the "multi" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi"]*/

if (foo) foo++;

else foo();

while (true) {
    doSomething();
    doSomethingElse();
}

multi-line

Alternatively, you can relax the rule to allow brace-less single-line if, else if, else, for, while, or do, while still enforcing the use of curly braces for other instances.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi-line" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-line"]*/

if (foo)
  doSomething();
else
  doSomethingElse();

if (foo) foo(
  bar,
  baz);

Examples of correct code for the "multi-line" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-line"]*/

if (foo) foo++; else doSomething();

if (foo) foo++;
else if (bar) baz()
else doSomething();

do something();
while (foo);

while (foo
  && bar) baz();

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

if (foo) { foo++; }

while (true) {
    doSomething();
    doSomethingElse();
}

multi-or-nest

You can use another configuration that forces brace-less if, else if, else, for, while, or do if their body contains only one single-line statement. And forces braces in all other cases.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi-or-nest" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-or-nest"]*/

if (!foo)
    foo = {
        bar: baz,
        qux: foo
    };

while (true)
  if(foo)
      doSomething();
  else
      doSomethingElse();

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

while (true) {
    doSomething();
}

for (var i = 0; foo; i++) {
    doSomething();
}

if (foo)
    // some comment
    bar();

Examples of correct code for the "multi-or-nest" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-or-nest"]*/

if (!foo) {
    foo = {
        bar: baz,
        qux: foo
    };
}

while (true) {
  if(foo)
      doSomething();
  else
      doSomethingElse();
}

if (foo)
    foo++;

while (true)
    doSomething();

for (var i = 0; foo; i++)
    doSomething();

if (foo) {
    // some comment
    bar();
}

consistent

When using any of the multi* options, you can add an option to enforce all bodies of a if, else if and else chain to be with or without braces.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi", "consistent" options:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi", "consistent"]*/

if (foo) {
    bar();
    baz();
} else
    buz();

if (foo)
    bar();
else if (faa)
    bor();
else {
    other();
    things();
}

if (true)
    foo();
else {
    baz();
}

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

Examples of correct code for the "multi", "consistent" options:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi", "consistent"]*/

if (foo) {
    bar();
    baz();
} else {
    buz();
}

if (foo) {
    bar();
} else if (faa) {
    bor();
} else {
    other();
    things();
}

if (true)
    foo();
else
    baz();

if (foo)
    foo++;

When Not To Use It

If you have no strict conventions about when to use block statements and when not to, you can safely disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require Following Curly Brace Conventions (curly)

JavaScript allows the omission of curly braces when a block contains only one statement. However, it is considered by many to be best practice to never omit curly braces around blocks, even when they are optional, because it can lead to bugs and reduces code clarity. So the following:

if (foo) foo++;

Can be rewritten as:

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

There are, however, some who prefer to only use braces when there is more than one statement to be executed.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at preventing bugs and increasing code clarity by ensuring that block statements are wrapped in curly braces. It will warn when it encounters blocks that omit curly braces.

Options

all

Examples of incorrect code for the default "all" option:

/*eslint curly: "error"*/

if (foo) foo++;

while (bar)
    baz();

if (foo) {
    baz();
} else qux();

Examples of correct code for the default "all" option:

/*eslint curly: "error"*/

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

while (bar) {
    baz();
}

if (foo) {
    baz();
} else {
    qux();
}

multi

By default, this rule warns whenever if, else, for, while, or do are used without block statements as their body. However, you can specify that block statements should be used only when there are multiple statements in the block and warn when there is only one statement in the block.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi"]*/

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

if (foo) bar();
else {
    foo++;
}

while (true) {
    doSomething();
}

for (var i=0; i < items.length; i++) {
    doSomething();
}

Examples of correct code for the "multi" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi"]*/

if (foo) foo++;

else foo();

while (true) {
    doSomething();
    doSomethingElse();
}

multi-line

Alternatively, you can relax the rule to allow brace-less single-line if, else if, else, for, while, or do, while still enforcing the use of curly braces for other instances.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi-line" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-line"]*/

if (foo)
  doSomething();
else
  doSomethingElse();

if (foo) foo(
  bar,
  baz);

Examples of correct code for the "multi-line" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-line"]*/

if (foo) foo++; else doSomething();

if (foo) foo++;
else if (bar) baz()
else doSomething();

do something();
while (foo);

while (foo
  && bar) baz();

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

if (foo) { foo++; }

while (true) {
    doSomething();
    doSomethingElse();
}

multi-or-nest

You can use another configuration that forces brace-less if, else if, else, for, while, or do if their body contains only one single-line statement. And forces braces in all other cases.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi-or-nest" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-or-nest"]*/

if (!foo)
    foo = {
        bar: baz,
        qux: foo
    };

while (true)
  if(foo)
      doSomething();
  else
      doSomethingElse();

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

while (true) {
    doSomething();
}

for (var i = 0; foo; i++) {
    doSomething();
}

if (foo)
    // some comment
    bar();

Examples of correct code for the "multi-or-nest" option:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi-or-nest"]*/

if (!foo) {
    foo = {
        bar: baz,
        qux: foo
    };
}

while (true) {
  if(foo)
      doSomething();
  else
      doSomethingElse();
}

if (foo)
    foo++;

while (true)
    doSomething();

for (var i = 0; foo; i++)
    doSomething();

if (foo) {
    // some comment
    bar();
}

consistent

When using any of the multi* options, you can add an option to enforce all bodies of a if, else if and else chain to be with or without braces.

Examples of incorrect code for the "multi", "consistent" options:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi", "consistent"]*/

if (foo) {
    bar();
    baz();
} else
    buz();

if (foo)
    bar();
else if (faa)
    bor();
else {
    other();
    things();
}

if (true)
    foo();
else {
    baz();
}

if (foo) {
    foo++;
}

Examples of correct code for the "multi", "consistent" options:

/*eslint curly: ["error", "multi", "consistent"]*/

if (foo) {
    bar();
    baz();
} else {
    buz();
}

if (foo) {
    bar();
} else if (faa) {
    bor();
} else {
    other();
    things();
}

if (true)
    foo();
else
    baz();

if (foo)
    foo++;

When Not To Use It

If you have no strict conventions about when to use block statements and when not to, you can safely disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

enforce the location of single-line statements (nonblock-statement-body-position)

When writing if, else, while, do-while, and for statements, the body can be a single statement instead of a block. It can be useful to enforce a consistent location for these single statements.

For example, some developers avoid writing code like this:

if (foo)
  bar();

If another developer attempts to add baz(); to the if statement, they might mistakenly change the code to

if (foo)
  bar();
  baz(); // this line is not in the `if` statement!

To avoid this issue, one might require all single-line if statements to appear directly after the conditional, without a linebreak:

if (foo) bar();

Rule Details

This rule aims to enforce a consistent location for single-line statements.

Note that this rule does not enforce the usage of single-line statements in general. If you would like to disallow single-line statements, use the curly rule instead.

Options

This rule accepts a string option:

• "beside" (default) disallows a newline before a single-line statement.
• "below" requires a newline before a single-line statement.
• "any" does not enforce the position of a single-line statement.

Additionally, the rule accepts an optional object option with an "overrides" key. This can be used to specify a location for particular statements that override the default. For example:

• "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } } requires all single-line statements to appear on the same line as their parent, unless the parent is a while statement, in which case the single-line statement must not be on the same line.
• "below", { "overrides": { "do": "any" } } disallows all single-line statements from appearing on the same line as their parent, unless the parent is a do-while statement, in which case the position of the single-line statement is not enforced.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default "beside" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside"] */

if (foo)
  bar();
else
  baz();

while (foo)
  bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++)
  bar();

do
  bar();
while (foo)

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default "beside" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside"] */

if (foo) bar();
else baz();

while (foo) bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++) bar();

do bar(); while (foo)

if (foo) { // block statements are always allowed with this rule
  bar();
} else {
  baz();
}

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "below" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "below"] */

if (foo) bar();
else baz();

while (foo) bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++) bar();

do bar(); while (foo)

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "below" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "below"] */

if (foo)
  bar();
else
  baz();

while (foo)
  bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++)
  bar();

do
  bar();
while (foo)

if (foo) {
  // Although the second `if` statement is on the same line as the `else`, this is a very common
  // pattern, so it's not checked by this rule.
} else if (bar) {
}

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } } rule:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } }] */

if (foo)
  bar();

while (foo) bar();

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } } rule:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } }] */

if (foo) bar();

while (foo)
  bar();

When Not To Use It

If you're not concerned about consistent locations of single-line statements, you should not turn on this rule. You can also disable this rule if you're using the "all" option for the curly rule, because this will disallow single-line statements entirely.

Further Reading

• JSCS: requireNewlineBeforeSingleStatementsInIf Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

enforce the location of single-line statements (nonblock-statement-body-position)

When writing if, else, while, do-while, and for statements, the body can be a single statement instead of a block. It can be useful to enforce a consistent location for these single statements.

For example, some developers avoid writing code like this:

if (foo)
  bar();

If another developer attempts to add baz(); to the if statement, they might mistakenly change the code to

if (foo)
  bar();
  baz(); // this line is not in the `if` statement!

To avoid this issue, one might require all single-line if statements to appear directly after the conditional, without a linebreak:

if (foo) bar();

Rule Details

This rule aims to enforce a consistent location for single-line statements.

Note that this rule does not enforce the usage of single-line statements in general. If you would like to disallow single-line statements, use the curly rule instead.

Options

This rule accepts a string option:

• "beside" (default) disallows a newline before a single-line statement.
• "below" requires a newline before a single-line statement.
• "any" does not enforce the position of a single-line statement.

Additionally, the rule accepts an optional object option with an "overrides" key. This can be used to specify a location for particular statements that override the default. For example:

• "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } } requires all single-line statements to appear on the same line as their parent, unless the parent is a while statement, in which case the single-line statement must not be on the same line.
• "below", { "overrides": { "do": "any" } } disallows all single-line statements from appearing on the same line as their parent, unless the parent is a do-while statement, in which case the position of the single-line statement is not enforced.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default "beside" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside"] */

if (foo)
  bar();
else
  baz();

while (foo)
  bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++)
  bar();

do
  bar();
while (foo)

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default "beside" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside"] */

if (foo) bar();
else baz();

while (foo) bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++) bar();

do bar(); while (foo)

if (foo) { // block statements are always allowed with this rule
  bar();
} else {
  baz();
}

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "below" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "below"] */

if (foo) bar();
else baz();

while (foo) bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++) bar();

do bar(); while (foo)

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "below" option:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "below"] */

if (foo)
  bar();
else
  baz();

while (foo)
  bar();

for (let i = 1; i < foo; i++)
  bar();

do
  bar();
while (foo)

if (foo) {
  // Although the second `if` statement is on the same line as the `else`, this is a very common
  // pattern, so it's not checked by this rule.
} else if (bar) {
}

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } } rule:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } }] */

if (foo)
  bar();

while (foo) bar();

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } } rule:

/* eslint nonblock-statement-body-position: ["error", "beside", { "overrides": { "while": "below" } }] */

if (foo) bar();

while (foo)
  bar();

When Not To Use It

If you're not concerned about consistent locations of single-line statements, you should not turn on this rule. You can also disable this rule if you're using the "all" option for the curly rule, because this will disallow single-line statements entirely.

Further Reading

• JSCS: requireNewlineBeforeSingleStatementsInIf Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require parens in arrow function arguments (arrow-parens)

Arrow functions can omit parentheses when they have exactly one parameter. In all other cases the parameter(s) must be wrapped in parentheses. This rule enforces the consistent use of parentheses in arrow functions.

Rule Details

This rule enforces parentheses around arrow function parameters regardless of arity. For example:

/*eslint-env es6*/

// Bad
a => {}

// Good
(a) => {}

Following this style will help you find arrow functions (=>) which may be mistakenly included in a condition when a comparison such as >= was the intent.

/*eslint-env es6*/

// Bad
if (a => 2) {
}

// Good
if (a >= 2) {
}

The rule can also be configured to discourage the use of parens when they are not required:

/*eslint-env es6*/

// Bad
(a) => {}

// Good
a => {}

Options

This rule has a string option and an object one.

String options are:

• "always" (default) requires parens around arguments in all cases.
• "as-needed" allows omitting parens when there is only one argument.

Object properties for variants of the "as-needed" option:

• "requireForBlockBody": true modifies the as-needed rule in order to require parens if the function body is in an instructions block (surrounded by braces).

always

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default "always" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "always"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

a => {};
a => a;
a => {'\n'};
a.then(foo => {});
a.then(foo => a);
a(foo => { if (true) {} });

Examples of correct code for this rule with the default "always" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "always"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

() => {};
(a) => {};
(a) => a;
(a) => {'\n'}
a.then((foo) => {});
a.then((foo) => { if (true) {} });

If Statements

One of benefits of this option is that it prevents the incorrect use of arrow functions in conditionals:

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1;
var b = 2;
// ...
if (a => b) {
 console.log('bigger');
} else {
 console.log('smaller');
}
// outputs 'bigger', not smaller as expected

The contents of the if statement is an arrow function, not a comparison.

If the arrow function is intentional, it should be wrapped in parens to remove ambiguity.

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1;
var b = 0;
// ...
if ((a) => b) {
 console.log('truthy value returned');
} else {
 console.log('falsey value returned');
}
// outputs 'truthy value returned'

The following is another example of this behavior:

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4;
var f = a => b ? c: d;
// f = ?

f is an arrow function which takes a as an argument and returns the result of b ? c: d.

This should be rewritten like so:

/*eslint-env es6*/

var a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4;
var f = (a) => b ? c: d;

as-needed

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "as-needed" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "as-needed"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

(a) => {};
(a) => a;
(a) => {'\n'};
a.then((foo) => {});
a.then((foo) => a);
a((foo) => { if (true) {} });

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "as-needed" option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: ["error", "as-needed"]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

() => {};
a => {};
a => a;
a => {'\n'};
a.then(foo => {});
a.then(foo => { if (true) {} });
(a, b, c) => a;
(a = 10) => a;
([a, b]) => a;
({a, b}) => a;

requireForBlockBody

Examples of incorrect code for the { "requireForBlockBody": true } option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: [2, "as-needed", { "requireForBlockBody": true }]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

(a) => a;
a => {};
a => {'\n'};
a.map((x) => x * x);
a.map(x => {
  return x * x;
});
a.then(foo => {});

Examples of correct code for the { "requireForBlockBody": true } option:

/*eslint arrow-parens: [2, "as-needed", { "requireForBlockBody": true }]*/
/*eslint-env es6*/

(a) => {};
(a) => {'\n'};
a => ({});
() => {};
a => a;
a.then((foo) => {});
a.then((foo) => { if (true) {} });
a((foo) => { if (true) {} });
(a, b, c) => a;
(a = 10) => a;
([a, b]) => a;
({a, b}) => a;

Further Reading

• The "as-needed", { "requireForBlockBody": true } rule is directly inspired by the Airbnb JS Style Guide. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/