eslint-plugin-import

What is eslint-plugin-import?

The eslint-plugin-import npm package is a plugin for ESLint that provides linting functionality for ES2015+ (ES6+) import/export syntax, and helps prevent issues with misspelling of file paths and import names, as well as other common mistakes in import declaration.

What are eslint-plugin-import's main functionalities?

Static analysis

This feature checks for modules that are imported but cannot be resolved to a file in the file system. It helps in catching typos or incorrect paths in import statements.

"rules": { "import/no-unresolved": "error" }

Helpful warnings

This feature ensures that named imports correspond to a named export in the remote file. It prevents importing names that do not exist in the exported module.

"rules": { "import/named": "error" }

Style guide enforcement

This feature enforces a convention in module import order, making the code more readable and organized by ensuring a consistent order of imports.

"rules": { "import/order": "error" }

Preventing issues

This feature prevents exporting mutable bindings which can create hard to follow bugs due to their values being changed by other modules.

"rules": { "import/no-mutable-exports": "error" }

Forbidding certain imports

This feature allows you to restrict which files can be imported in a given folder, helping to enforce separation of concerns within your codebase.

"rules": { "import/no-restricted-paths": "error" }

Other packages similar to eslint-plugin-import

eslint-plugin-node

This package provides similar linting rules for Node.js specific features and best practices. It includes rules that prevent issues related to file paths and imports, but is more focused on Node.js environment compatibility.

eslint-plugin-modules

This is another plugin that focuses on linting ECMAScript 2015+ module syntax. However, it is not as widely used or as comprehensive as eslint-plugin-import.

eslint-plugin-requirejs

This plugin is designed for linting RequireJS import syntax. It is similar in that it helps with module import issues, but it is specific to the RequireJS AMD module loader, whereas eslint-plugin-import is for ES2015+ module syntax.

README

eslint-plugin-import

This plugin intends to support linting of ES2015+ (ES6+) import/export syntax, and prevent issues with misspelling of file paths and import names. All the goodness that the ES2015+ static module syntax intends to provide, marked up in your editor.

IF YOU ARE USING THIS WITH SUBLIME: see the bottom section for important info.

Current support:

• Ensure imports point to a file/module that can be resolved. (no-unresolved)
• Ensure named imports correspond to a named export in the remote file. (named)
• Ensure a default export is present, given a default import. (default)
• Ensure imported namespaces contain dereferenced properties as they are dereferenced. (namespace)
• Report CommonJS require of ES6 module. (no-require, off by default)
• Report use of exported name as identifier of default export (no-named-as-default)
• Report any invalid exports, i.e. re-export of the same name (export)
• Report repeated import of the same module in multiple places (no-duplicates, warning by default)
• Ensure all imports appear before other statements (imports-first, off by default)

Installation

npm install eslint-plugin-import -g

or if you manage ESLint as a dev dependency:

# inside your project's working tree
npm install eslint-plugin-import --save-dev

Rules

no-unresolved

Ensures an imported module can be resolved to a module on the local filesystem, as defined by standard Node require.resolve behavior.

See settings for customization options for the resolution (i.e. additional filetypes, NODE_PATH, etc.)

named

Verifies that all named imports are part of the set of named exports in the referenced module.

For export, verifies that all named exports exist in the referenced module.

default

If a default import is requested, this rule will report if there is no default export in the imported module.

For ES7, reports if a default is named and exported but is not found in the referenced module.

namespace

Enforces names exist at the time they are dereferenced, when imported as a full namespace (i.e. import * as foo from './foo'; foo.bar(); will report if bar is not exported by ./foo.).

Will report at the import declaration if there are no exported names found.

Also, will report for computed references (i.e. foo["bar"]()).

Reports on assignment to a member of an imported namespace.

Implementation note: currently, this rule does not check for possible redefinition of the namespace in an intermediate scope. Adherence to the ESLint no-shadow rule for namespaces will prevent this from being a problem.

For ES7, reports if an exported namespace would be empty (no names exported from the referenced module.)

no-require

Reports require of modules with ES named or default exports. Off by default.

Will warn on core modules and unresolved modules, but will not warn on a userland module that is obviously CommonJS.

Given:

// ./mod.js
export const foo = 'bar'
export function bar() { return foo }

// ./common.js
exports.something = 'whatever'

...this is valid:

import { foo, bar } from './mod'
const { something } = require('common')

import fs from 'fs' // core module
import { whatever } from './not-found'

...and this would be reported:

var mod = require('./mod')
  , fs = require('fs')
  , whateverModule = require('./not-found')

no-named-as-default

Reports use of an exported name as the locally imported name of a default export.

Given:

// foo.js
export default 'foo';
export const bar = 'baz';

...this would be valid:

import foo from './foo.js';

...and this would be reported:

// message: Using exported name 'bar' as identifier for default export.
import bar from './foo.js';

Rationale: using an exported name as the name of the default export is likely...

• misleading: others familiar with foo.js probably expect the name to be foo
• a mistake: only needed to import bar and forgot the brackets (the case that is prompting this)

For ES7, this also prevents exporting the default from a referenced module as a name within than module, for the same reasons:

// valid:
export foo from './foo.js'

// message: Using exported name 'bar' as identifier for default export.
export bar from './foo.js';

export

Reports funny business with exports, such as

export default class MyClass { /*...*/ } // Multiple default exports.

function makeClass() { return new MyClass(...arguments) }

export default makeClass // Multiple default exports.

or

export const foo = function () { /*...*/ } // Multiple exports of name 'foo'.

function bar() { /*...*/ }
export { bar as foo } // Multiple exports of name 'foo'.

In the case of named/default re-export, all n re-exports will be reported, as at least n-1 of them are clearly mistakes, but it is not clear which one (if any) is intended. Could be the result of copy/paste, code duplication with intent to rename, etc.

no-duplicates

Reports if a resolved path is imported more than once.

Valid:

import SomeDefaultClass, * as names from './mod'

...whereas here, both ./mod imports will be reported:

import SomeDefaultClass from './mod'

// oops, some other import separated these lines
import foo from './some-other-mod'

import * as names from './mod'

The motivation is that this is likely a result of two developers importing different names from the same module at different times (and potentially largely different locations in the file.) This rule brings both (or n-many) to attention.

This rule is only set to a warning, by default.

imports-first

By popular demand, this rule reports any imports that come after non-import statments:

import foo from './foo'

// some module-level initializer
initWith(foo)

import bar from './bar' // <- reported

Providing absolute-first as an option will report any absolute imports (i.e. packages) that come after any relative imports:

import foo from 'foo'
import bar from './bar'

import * as _ from 'lodash' // <- reported

This rule is disabled by default.

Settings

You may set the following settings in your .eslintrc:

import/ignore

A list of regex strings that, if matched by a path, will not parse the matching module. In practice, this means rules other than no-unresolved will not report on the import in question.

import/resolve

A passthrough to resolve's opts parameter for resolve.sync.

import/parser

Analogous to ESLint's custom parser setting from the top level of .eslintrc. Like ESLint proper, the default here is Espree.

If you're using babel-eslint or some other parser for ESLint, you'll likely want to configure it here, too, assuming your imports include any experimental syntax not directly supported by Espree.

Here is an example .eslintrc for reference:

plugins:
  - import

rules:
  import/default: 2
  import/no-unresolved: 1

settings:

  import/ignore:
    # any imported module path matching one of these patterns will not be parsed
    - 'node_modules' # this is the default, but must be included if overwritten
    - '\\.es5$'

  import/resolve:

    extensions:
      # if unset, default is just '.js', but it must be re-added explicitly if set
      - .js
      - .jsx
      - .es6
      - .coffee

    paths:
      # an array of absolute paths which will also be searched
      # think NODE_PATH
      - /usr/local/share/global_modules

    # this is technically for identifying `node_modules` alternate names
    moduleDirectory:

      - node_modules # defaults to 'node_modules', but...
      - bower_components

      - project/src  # can add a path segment here that will act like
                     # a source root, for in-project aliasing (i.e.
                     # `import MyStore from 'stores/my-store'`)

  import/parser: babel-eslint  # again, default is 'espree'. configure at your own risk

Debugging

no-errors

Reports on errors in the attempt to parse the imported module for exports. Primarily useful for determining why imports are not being reported properly by the other rules. Pass include-messages as an option to include error descriptions in the report.

SublimeLinter-eslint

Recently, SublimeLinter-eslint introduced a change to support .eslintignore files which altered the way file paths are passed to ESLint when linting during editing.

See roadhump/SublimeLinter-eslint#58 for more details, but essentially, you may find you need to add the following to a .sublimelinterrc file:

{
  "linters": {
    "eslint": {
      "args": ["--stdin-filename", "@"]
    }
  }
}

I also found that I needed to set rc_search_limit to null, which removes the file hierarchy search limit when looking up the directory tree for .sublimelinterrc:

In Package Settings / SublimeLinter / User Settings:

{
  "user": {
    "rc_search_limit": null
  }
}

I believe this defaults to 3, so you may not need to alter it depending on your project folder max depth.