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eslint/no-labels Style ​

What it does ​

Disallow labeled statements.

Why is this bad? ​

Labeled statements in JavaScript are used in conjunction with break and continue to control flow around multiple loops. For example:

js
outer: while (true) {
  while (true) {
    break outer;
  }
}

The break outer statement ensures that this code will not result in an infinite loop because control is returned to the next statement after the outer label was applied. If this statement was changed to be just break, control would flow back to the outer while statement and an infinite loop would result. While convenient in some cases, labels tend to be used only rarely and are frowned upon by some as a remedial form of flow control that is more error prone and harder to understand.

Examples ​

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

js
label: while (true) {
  // ...
}

label: while (true) {
  break label;
}

label: while (true) {
  continue label;
}

label: switch (a) {
  case 0:
    break label;
}

label: {
  break label;
}

label: if (a) {
  break label;
}

Examples of correct code for this rule:

js
var f = {
  label: "foo",
};

while (true) {
  break;
}

while (true) {
  continue;
}

Options ​

The options allow labels with loop or switch statements:

  • "allowLoop" (boolean, default is false) - If this option was set true, this rule ignores labels which are sticking to loop statements.
  • "allowSwitch" (boolean, default is false) - If this option was set true, this rule ignores labels which are sticking to switch statements.

Actually labeled statements in JavaScript can be used with other than loop and switch statements. However, this way is ultra rare, not well-known, so this would be confusing developers.

allowLoop ​

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

js
label: while (true) {
  break label;
}

allowSwitch ​

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

js
label: switch (a) {
  case 0:
    break label;
}

How to use ​

To enable this rule in the CLI or using the config file, you can use:

bash
oxlint --deny no-labels
json
{
  "rules": {
    "no-labels": "error"
  }
}

References ​

Released under the MIT License.