@babel/code-frame

What is @babel/code-frame?

The @babel/code-frame package is used to generate a string representing code with a specific error highlighted. It is often used to produce more readable error messages in development tools by showing the code snippet where an error has occurred along with line and column numbers.

What are @babel/code-frame's main functionalities?

Highlighting syntax errors in code

This feature allows developers to highlight syntax errors in their code. The code sample shows how to use the codeFrameColumns function to generate a string that highlights the location of an error in the source code.

const { codeFrameColumns } = require('@babel/code-frame');
const rawLines = `class Foo {
  constructor()
}
`;
const location = { start: { line: 2, column: 15 } };

const result = codeFrameColumns(rawLines, location, {
  highlightCode: true
});

console.log(result);

Other packages similar to @babel/code-frame

chalk

Chalk is a popular npm package for styling terminal strings. While it doesn't generate code frames, it can be used to colorize text and could be combined with other tools to highlight specific parts of code in the terminal.

cardinal

Cardinal is a syntax highlighter for JavaScript code that can be used in the terminal. It's similar to @babel/code-frame in that it can be used to make code more readable, but it focuses on syntax highlighting rather than pinpointing specific locations of errors.

highlight.js

Highlight.js is a syntax highlighter for the web. It supports many languages and can be used to highlight code blocks on web pages. Unlike @babel/code-frame, it is not specifically designed for highlighting error locations, but it can be used to enhance the readability of code snippets.

README

@babel/code-frame

Generate errors that contain a code frame that point to source locations.

See our website @babel/code-frame for more information.

Install

Using npm:

npm install --save-dev @babel/code-frame

or using yarn:

yarn add @babel/code-frame --dev

Changelog

v7.26.2 (2024-10-30)

:bug: Bug Fix

• babel-parser
  • #16903 fix: Parse placeholder for TS namespace (@liuxingbaoyu)
  • #16937 fix: Account for offsets when creating new Position instances (@DylanPiercey)
• babel-generator
  • #16948 Fix mapping of tokens with generated nodes in between (@nicolo-ribaudo)