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

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 IIFEs to be Wrapped (wrap-iife)

You can immediately invoke function expressions, but not function declarations. A common technique to create an immediately-invoked function expression (IIFE) is to wrap a function declaration in parentheses. The opening parentheses causes the contained function to be parsed as an expression, rather than a declaration.

// function expression could be unwrapped
var x = function () { return { y: 1 };}();

// function declaration must be wrapped
function () { /* side effects */ }(); // SyntaxError

Rule Details

This rule requires all immediately-invoked function expressions to be wrapped in parentheses.

Options

This rule has two options, a string option and an object option.

String option:

• "outside" enforces always wrapping the call expression. The default is "outside".
• "inside" enforces always wrapping the function expression.
• "any" enforces always wrapping, but allows either style.

Object option:

• "functionPrototypeMethods": true additionally enforces wrapping function expressions invoked using .call and .apply. The default is false.

outside

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

/*eslint wrap-iife: ["error", "outside"]*/

var x = function () { return { y: 1 };}(); // unwrapped
var x = (function () { return { y: 1 };})(); // wrapped function expression

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

/*eslint wrap-iife: ["error", "outside"]*/

var x = (function () { return { y: 1 };}()); // wrapped call expression

inside

Examples of incorrect code for the "inside" option:

/*eslint wrap-iife: ["error", "inside"]*/

var x = function () { return { y: 1 };}(); // unwrapped
var x = (function () { return { y: 1 };}()); // wrapped call expression

Examples of correct code for the "inside" option:

/*eslint wrap-iife: ["error", "inside"]*/

var x = (function () { return { y: 1 };})(); // wrapped function expression

any

Examples of incorrect code for the "any" option:

/*eslint wrap-iife: ["error", "any"]*/

var x = function () { return { y: 1 };}(); // unwrapped

Examples of correct code for the "any" option:

/*eslint wrap-iife: ["error", "any"]*/

var x = (function () { return { y: 1 };}()); // wrapped call expression
var x = (function () { return { y: 1 };})(); // wrapped function expression

functionPrototypeMethods

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the "inside", { "functionPrototypeMethods": true } options:

/* eslint wrap-iife: [2, "inside", { functionPrototypeMethods: true }] */

var x = function(){ foo(); }()
var x = (function(){ foo(); }())
var x = function(){ foo(); }.call(bar)
var x = (function(){ foo(); }.call(bar))

Examples of correct code for this rule with the "inside", { "functionPrototypeMethods": true } options:

/* eslint wrap-iife: [2, "inside", { functionPrototypeMethods: true }] */

var x = (function(){ foo(); })()
var x = (function(){ foo(); }).call(bar)

Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require === and !== (eqeqeq)

It is considered good practice to use the type-safe equality operators === and !== instead of their regular counterparts == and !=.

The reason for this is that == and != do type coercion which follows the rather obscure Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. For instance, the following statements are all considered true:

• [] == false
• [] == ![]
• 3 == "03"

If one of those occurs in an innocent-looking statement such as a == b the actual problem is very difficult to spot.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at eliminating the type-unsafe equality operators.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint eqeqeq: "error"*/

if (x == 42) { }

if ("" == text) { }

if (obj.getStuff() != undefined) { }

The --fix option on the command line automatically fixes some problems reported by this rule. A problem is only fixed if one of the operands is a typeof expression, or if both operands are literals with the same type.

Options

always

The "always" option (default) enforces the use of === and !== in every situation (except when you opt-in to more specific handling of null [see below]).

Examples of incorrect code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a == b
foo == true
bananas != 1
value == undefined
typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

Examples of correct code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a === b
foo === true
bananas !== 1
value === undefined
typeof foo === 'undefined'
'hello' !== 'world'
0 === 0
true === true
foo === null

This rule optionally takes a second argument, which should be an object with the following supported properties:

• "null": Customize how this rule treats null literals. Possible values:
  • always (default) - Always use === or !==.
  • never - Never use === or !== with null.
  • ignore - Do not apply this rule to null.

smart

The "smart" option enforces the use of === and !== except for these cases:

• Comparing two literal values
• Evaluating the value of typeof
• Comparing against null

Examples of incorrect code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

// comparing two variables requires ===
a == b

// only one side is a literal
foo == true
bananas != 1

// comparing to undefined requires ===
value == undefined

Examples of correct code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

allow-null

Deprecated: Instead of using this option use "always" and pass a "null" option property with value "ignore". This will tell eslint to always enforce strict equality except when comparing with the null literal.

["error", "always", {"null": "ignore"}]

When Not To Use It

If you don't want to enforce a style for using equality operators, then it's safe to disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require === and !== (eqeqeq)

It is considered good practice to use the type-safe equality operators === and !== instead of their regular counterparts == and !=.

The reason for this is that == and != do type coercion which follows the rather obscure Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. For instance, the following statements are all considered true:

• [] == false
• [] == ![]
• 3 == "03"

If one of those occurs in an innocent-looking statement such as a == b the actual problem is very difficult to spot.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at eliminating the type-unsafe equality operators.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint eqeqeq: "error"*/

if (x == 42) { }

if ("" == text) { }

if (obj.getStuff() != undefined) { }

The --fix option on the command line automatically fixes some problems reported by this rule. A problem is only fixed if one of the operands is a typeof expression, or if both operands are literals with the same type.

Options

always

The "always" option (default) enforces the use of === and !== in every situation (except when you opt-in to more specific handling of null [see below]).

Examples of incorrect code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a == b
foo == true
bananas != 1
value == undefined
typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

Examples of correct code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a === b
foo === true
bananas !== 1
value === undefined
typeof foo === 'undefined'
'hello' !== 'world'
0 === 0
true === true
foo === null

This rule optionally takes a second argument, which should be an object with the following supported properties:

• "null": Customize how this rule treats null literals. Possible values:
  • always (default) - Always use === or !==.
  • never - Never use === or !== with null.
  • ignore - Do not apply this rule to null.

smart

The "smart" option enforces the use of === and !== except for these cases:

• Comparing two literal values
• Evaluating the value of typeof
• Comparing against null

Examples of incorrect code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

// comparing two variables requires ===
a == b

// only one side is a literal
foo == true
bananas != 1

// comparing to undefined requires ===
value == undefined

Examples of correct code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

allow-null

Deprecated: Instead of using this option use "always" and pass a "null" option property with value "ignore". This will tell eslint to always enforce strict equality except when comparing with the null literal.

["error", "always", {"null": "ignore"}]

When Not To Use It

If you don't want to enforce a style for using equality operators, then it's safe to disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require === and !== (eqeqeq)

It is considered good practice to use the type-safe equality operators === and !== instead of their regular counterparts == and !=.

The reason for this is that == and != do type coercion which follows the rather obscure Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. For instance, the following statements are all considered true:

• [] == false
• [] == ![]
• 3 == "03"

If one of those occurs in an innocent-looking statement such as a == b the actual problem is very difficult to spot.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at eliminating the type-unsafe equality operators.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint eqeqeq: "error"*/

if (x == 42) { }

if ("" == text) { }

if (obj.getStuff() != undefined) { }

The --fix option on the command line automatically fixes some problems reported by this rule. A problem is only fixed if one of the operands is a typeof expression, or if both operands are literals with the same type.

Options

always

The "always" option (default) enforces the use of === and !== in every situation (except when you opt-in to more specific handling of null [see below]).

Examples of incorrect code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a == b
foo == true
bananas != 1
value == undefined
typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

Examples of correct code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a === b
foo === true
bananas !== 1
value === undefined
typeof foo === 'undefined'
'hello' !== 'world'
0 === 0
true === true
foo === null

This rule optionally takes a second argument, which should be an object with the following supported properties:

• "null": Customize how this rule treats null literals. Possible values:
  • always (default) - Always use === or !==.
  • never - Never use === or !== with null.
  • ignore - Do not apply this rule to null.

smart

The "smart" option enforces the use of === and !== except for these cases:

• Comparing two literal values
• Evaluating the value of typeof
• Comparing against null

Examples of incorrect code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

// comparing two variables requires ===
a == b

// only one side is a literal
foo == true
bananas != 1

// comparing to undefined requires ===
value == undefined

Examples of correct code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

allow-null

Deprecated: Instead of using this option use "always" and pass a "null" option property with value "ignore". This will tell eslint to always enforce strict equality except when comparing with the null literal.

["error", "always", {"null": "ignore"}]

When Not To Use It

If you don't want to enforce a style for using equality operators, then it's safe to disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require === and !== (eqeqeq)

It is considered good practice to use the type-safe equality operators === and !== instead of their regular counterparts == and !=.

The reason for this is that == and != do type coercion which follows the rather obscure Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. For instance, the following statements are all considered true:

• [] == false
• [] == ![]
• 3 == "03"

If one of those occurs in an innocent-looking statement such as a == b the actual problem is very difficult to spot.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at eliminating the type-unsafe equality operators.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint eqeqeq: "error"*/

if (x == 42) { }

if ("" == text) { }

if (obj.getStuff() != undefined) { }

The --fix option on the command line automatically fixes some problems reported by this rule. A problem is only fixed if one of the operands is a typeof expression, or if both operands are literals with the same type.

Options

always

The "always" option (default) enforces the use of === and !== in every situation (except when you opt-in to more specific handling of null [see below]).

Examples of incorrect code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a == b
foo == true
bananas != 1
value == undefined
typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

Examples of correct code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a === b
foo === true
bananas !== 1
value === undefined
typeof foo === 'undefined'
'hello' !== 'world'
0 === 0
true === true
foo === null

This rule optionally takes a second argument, which should be an object with the following supported properties:

• "null": Customize how this rule treats null literals. Possible values:
  • always (default) - Always use === or !==.
  • never - Never use === or !== with null.
  • ignore - Do not apply this rule to null.

smart

The "smart" option enforces the use of === and !== except for these cases:

• Comparing two literal values
• Evaluating the value of typeof
• Comparing against null

Examples of incorrect code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

// comparing two variables requires ===
a == b

// only one side is a literal
foo == true
bananas != 1

// comparing to undefined requires ===
value == undefined

Examples of correct code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

allow-null

Deprecated: Instead of using this option use "always" and pass a "null" option property with value "ignore". This will tell eslint to always enforce strict equality except when comparing with the null literal.

["error", "always", {"null": "ignore"}]

When Not To Use It

If you don't want to enforce a style for using equality operators, then it's safe to disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require === and !== (eqeqeq)

It is considered good practice to use the type-safe equality operators === and !== instead of their regular counterparts == and !=.

The reason for this is that == and != do type coercion which follows the rather obscure Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. For instance, the following statements are all considered true:

• [] == false
• [] == ![]
• 3 == "03"

If one of those occurs in an innocent-looking statement such as a == b the actual problem is very difficult to spot.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at eliminating the type-unsafe equality operators.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint eqeqeq: "error"*/

if (x == 42) { }

if ("" == text) { }

if (obj.getStuff() != undefined) { }

The --fix option on the command line automatically fixes some problems reported by this rule. A problem is only fixed if one of the operands is a typeof expression, or if both operands are literals with the same type.

Options

always

The "always" option (default) enforces the use of === and !== in every situation (except when you opt-in to more specific handling of null [see below]).

Examples of incorrect code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a == b
foo == true
bananas != 1
value == undefined
typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

Examples of correct code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a === b
foo === true
bananas !== 1
value === undefined
typeof foo === 'undefined'
'hello' !== 'world'
0 === 0
true === true
foo === null

This rule optionally takes a second argument, which should be an object with the following supported properties:

• "null": Customize how this rule treats null literals. Possible values:
  • always (default) - Always use === or !==.
  • never - Never use === or !== with null.
  • ignore - Do not apply this rule to null.

smart

The "smart" option enforces the use of === and !== except for these cases:

• Comparing two literal values
• Evaluating the value of typeof
• Comparing against null

Examples of incorrect code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

// comparing two variables requires ===
a == b

// only one side is a literal
foo == true
bananas != 1

// comparing to undefined requires ===
value == undefined

Examples of correct code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

allow-null

Deprecated: Instead of using this option use "always" and pass a "null" option property with value "ignore". This will tell eslint to always enforce strict equality except when comparing with the null literal.

["error", "always", {"null": "ignore"}]

When Not To Use It

If you don't want to enforce a style for using equality operators, then it's safe to disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

disallow unnecessary semicolons (no-extra-semi)

Typing mistakes and misunderstandings about where semicolons are required can lead to semicolons that are unnecessary. While not technically an error, extra semicolons can cause confusion when reading code.

Rule Details

This rule disallows unnecessary semicolons.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;;

function foo() {
    // code
};

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;

var foo = function() {
    // code
};

When Not To Use It

If you intentionally use extra semicolons then you can disable this rule.

Related Rules

• [semi](semi.md)
• [semi-spacing](semi-spacing.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

disallow unnecessary semicolons (no-extra-semi)

Typing mistakes and misunderstandings about where semicolons are required can lead to semicolons that are unnecessary. While not technically an error, extra semicolons can cause confusion when reading code.

Rule Details

This rule disallows unnecessary semicolons.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;;

function foo() {
    // code
};

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;

var foo = function() {
    // code
};

When Not To Use It

If you intentionally use extra semicolons then you can disable this rule.

Related Rules

• [semi](semi.md)
• [semi-spacing](semi-spacing.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

disallow confusing multiline expressions (no-unexpected-multiline)

Semicolons are usually optional in JavaScript, because of automatic semicolon insertion (ASI). You can require or disallow semicolons with the [semi](./semi.md) rule.

The rules for ASI are relatively straightforward: As once described by Isaac Schlueter, a newline character always ends a statement, just like a semicolon, except where one of the following is true:

• The statement has an unclosed paren, array literal, or object literal or ends in some other way that is not a valid way to end a statement. (For instance, ending with . or ,.)
• The line is -- or ++ (in which case it will decrement/increment the next token.)
• It is a for(), while(), do, if(), or else, and there is no {
• The next line starts with [, (, +, *, /, -, ,, ., or some other binary operator that can only be found between two tokens in a single expression.

In the exceptions where a newline does not end a statement, a typing mistake to omit a semicolon causes two unrelated consecutive lines to be interpreted as one expression. Especially for a coding style without semicolons, readers might overlook the mistake. Although syntactically correct, the code might throw exceptions when it is executed.

Rule Details

This rule disallows confusing multiline expressions where a newline looks like it is ending a statement, but is not.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-unexpected-multiline: "error"*/

var foo = bar
(1 || 2).baz();

var hello = 'world'
[1, 2, 3].forEach(addNumber);

let x = function() {}
`hello`

let x = function() {}
x
`hello`

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-unexpected-multiline: "error"*/

var foo = bar;
(1 || 2).baz();

var foo = bar
;(1 || 2).baz()

var hello = 'world';
[1, 2, 3].forEach(addNumber);

var hello = 'world'
void [1, 2, 3].forEach(addNumber);

let x = function() {};
`hello`

let tag = function() {}
tag `hello`

When Not To Use It

You can turn this rule off if you are confident that you will not accidentally introduce code like this.

Note that the patterns considered problems are not flagged by the [semi](semi.md) rule.

Related Rules

• [func-call-spacing](func-call-spacing.md)
• [semi](semi.md)
• [space-unary-ops](space-unary-ops.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

disallow unnecessary semicolons (no-extra-semi)

Typing mistakes and misunderstandings about where semicolons are required can lead to semicolons that are unnecessary. While not technically an error, extra semicolons can cause confusion when reading code.

Rule Details

This rule disallows unnecessary semicolons.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;;

function foo() {
    // code
};

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;

var foo = function() {
    // code
};

When Not To Use It

If you intentionally use extra semicolons then you can disable this rule.

Related Rules

• [semi](semi.md)
• [semi-spacing](semi-spacing.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

Require === and !== (eqeqeq)

It is considered good practice to use the type-safe equality operators === and !== instead of their regular counterparts == and !=.

The reason for this is that == and != do type coercion which follows the rather obscure Abstract Equality Comparison Algorithm. For instance, the following statements are all considered true:

• [] == false
• [] == ![]
• 3 == "03"

If one of those occurs in an innocent-looking statement such as a == b the actual problem is very difficult to spot.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at eliminating the type-unsafe equality operators.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint eqeqeq: "error"*/

if (x == 42) { }

if ("" == text) { }

if (obj.getStuff() != undefined) { }

The --fix option on the command line automatically fixes some problems reported by this rule. A problem is only fixed if one of the operands is a typeof expression, or if both operands are literals with the same type.

Options

always

The "always" option (default) enforces the use of === and !== in every situation (except when you opt-in to more specific handling of null [see below]).

Examples of incorrect code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a == b
foo == true
bananas != 1
value == undefined
typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

Examples of correct code for the "always" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "always"]*/

a === b
foo === true
bananas !== 1
value === undefined
typeof foo === 'undefined'
'hello' !== 'world'
0 === 0
true === true
foo === null

This rule optionally takes a second argument, which should be an object with the following supported properties:

• "null": Customize how this rule treats null literals. Possible values:
  • always (default) - Always use === or !==.
  • never - Never use === or !== with null.
  • ignore - Do not apply this rule to null.

smart

The "smart" option enforces the use of === and !== except for these cases:

• Comparing two literal values
• Evaluating the value of typeof
• Comparing against null

Examples of incorrect code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

// comparing two variables requires ===
a == b

// only one side is a literal
foo == true
bananas != 1

// comparing to undefined requires ===
value == undefined

Examples of correct code for the "smart" option:

/*eslint eqeqeq: ["error", "smart"]*/

typeof foo == 'undefined'
'hello' != 'world'
0 == 0
true == true
foo == null

allow-null

Deprecated: Instead of using this option use "always" and pass a "null" option property with value "ignore". This will tell eslint to always enforce strict equality except when comparing with the null literal.

["error", "always", {"null": "ignore"}]

When Not To Use It

If you don't want to enforce a style for using equality operators, then it's safe to disable this rule. Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/

disallow unnecessary semicolons (no-extra-semi)

Typing mistakes and misunderstandings about where semicolons are required can lead to semicolons that are unnecessary. While not technically an error, extra semicolons can cause confusion when reading code.

Rule Details

This rule disallows unnecessary semicolons.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;;

function foo() {
    // code
};

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-extra-semi: "error"*/

var x = 5;

var foo = function() {
    // code
};

When Not To Use It

If you intentionally use extra semicolons then you can disable this rule.

Related Rules

• [semi](semi.md)
• [semi-spacing](semi-spacing.md) Source: http://eslint.org/docs/rules/