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espree.js | ||
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package.json | ||
README.md |
Espree
Espree started out as a fork of Esprima v1.2.2, the last stable published released of Esprima before work on ECMAScript 6 began. Espree is now built on top of Acorn, which has a modular architecture that allows extension of core functionality. The goal of Espree is to produce output that is similar to Esprima with a similar API so that it can be used in place of Esprima.
Usage
Install:
npm i espree
To use in an ESM file:
import * as espree from "espree";
const ast = espree.parse(code);
To use in a Common JS file:
const espree = require("espree");
const ast = espree.parse(code);
API
parse()
parse
parses the given code and returns a abstract syntax tree (AST). It takes two parameters.
code
string - the code which needs to be parsed.options (Optional)
Object - read more about this here.
import * as espree from "espree";
const ast = espree.parse(code);
Example :
const ast = espree.parse('let foo = "bar"', { ecmaVersion: 6 });
console.log(ast);
Output
Node {
type: 'Program',
start: 0,
end: 15,
body: [
Node {
type: 'VariableDeclaration',
start: 0,
end: 15,
declarations: [Array],
kind: 'let'
}
],
sourceType: 'script'
}
tokenize()
tokenize
returns the tokens of a given code. It takes two parameters.
code
string - the code which needs to be parsed.options (Optional)
Object - read more about this here.
Even if options
is empty or undefined or options.tokens
is false
, it assigns it to true
in order to get the tokens
array
Example :
import * as espree from "espree";
const tokens = espree.tokenize('let foo = "bar"', { ecmaVersion: 6 });
console.log(tokens);
Output
Token { type: 'Keyword', value: 'let', start: 0, end: 3 },
Token { type: 'Identifier', value: 'foo', start: 4, end: 7 },
Token { type: 'Punctuator', value: '=', start: 8, end: 9 },
Token { type: 'String', value: '"bar"', start: 10, end: 15 }
version
Returns the current espree
version
VisitorKeys
Returns all visitor keys for traversing the AST from eslint-visitor-keys
latestEcmaVersion
Returns the latest ECMAScript supported by espree
supportedEcmaVersions
Returns an array of all supported ECMAScript versions
Options
const options = {
// attach range information to each node
range: false,
// attach line/column location information to each node
loc: false,
// create a top-level comments array containing all comments
comment: false,
// create a top-level tokens array containing all tokens
tokens: false,
// Set to 3, 5 (the default), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13 to specify the version of ECMAScript syntax you want to use.
// You can also set to 2015 (same as 6), 2016 (same as 7), 2017 (same as 8), 2018 (same as 9), 2019 (same as 10), 2020 (same as 11), 2021 (same as 12), or 2022 (same as 13) to use the year-based naming.
// You can also set "latest" to use the most recently supported version.
ecmaVersion: 3,
allowReserved: true, // only allowed when ecmaVersion is 3
// specify which type of script you're parsing ("script", "module", or "commonjs")
sourceType: "script",
// specify additional language features
ecmaFeatures: {
// enable JSX parsing
jsx: false,
// enable return in global scope (set to true automatically when sourceType is "commonjs")
globalReturn: false,
// enable implied strict mode (if ecmaVersion >= 5)
impliedStrict: false
}
}
Esprima Compatibility Going Forward
The primary goal is to produce the exact same AST structure and tokens as Esprima, and that takes precedence over anything else. (The AST structure being the ESTree API with JSX extensions.) Separate from that, Espree may deviate from what Esprima outputs in terms of where and how comments are attached, as well as what additional information is available on AST nodes. That is to say, Espree may add more things to the AST nodes than Esprima does but the overall AST structure produced will be the same.
Espree may also deviate from Esprima in the interface it exposes.
Contributing
Issues and pull requests will be triaged and responded to as quickly as possible. We operate under the ESLint Contributor Guidelines, so please be sure to read them before contributing. If you're not sure where to dig in, check out the issues.
Espree is licensed under a permissive BSD 2-clause license.
Security Policy
We work hard to ensure that Espree is safe for everyone and that security issues are addressed quickly and responsibly. Read the full security policy.
Build Commands
npm test
- run all linting and testsnpm run lint
- run all linting
Differences from Espree 2.x
- The
tokenize()
method does not useecmaFeatures
. Any string will be tokenized completely based on ECMAScript 6 semantics. - Trailing whitespace no longer is counted as part of a node.
let
andconst
declarations are no longer parsed by default. You must opt-in by using anecmaVersion
newer than5
or settingsourceType
tomodule
.- The
esparse
andesvalidate
binary scripts have been removed. - There is no
tolerant
option. We will investigate adding this back in the future.
Known Incompatibilities
In an effort to help those wanting to transition from other parsers to Espree, the following is a list of noteworthy incompatibilities with other parsers. These are known differences that we do not intend to change.
Esprima 1.2.2
- Esprima counts trailing whitespace as part of each AST node while Espree does not. In Espree, the end of a node is where the last token occurs.
- Espree does not parse
let
andconst
declarations by default. - Error messages returned for parsing errors are different.
- There are two addition properties on every node and token:
start
andend
. These represent the same data asrange
and are used internally by Acorn.
Esprima 2.x
- Esprima 2.x uses a different comment attachment algorithm that results in some comments being added in different places than Espree. The algorithm Espree uses is the same one used in Esprima 1.2.2.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why another parser
ESLint had been relying on Esprima as its parser from the beginning. While that was fine when the JavaScript language was evolving slowly, the pace of development increased dramatically and Esprima had fallen behind. ESLint, like many other tools reliant on Esprima, has been stuck in using new JavaScript language features until Esprima updates, and that caused our users frustration.
We decided the only way for us to move forward was to create our own parser, bringing us inline with JSHint and JSLint, and allowing us to keep implementing new features as we need them. We chose to fork Esprima instead of starting from scratch in order to move as quickly as possible with a compatible API.
With Espree 2.0.0, we are no longer a fork of Esprima but rather a translation layer between Acorn and Esprima syntax. This allows us to put work back into a community-supported parser (Acorn) that is continuing to grow and evolve while maintaining an Esprima-compatible parser for those utilities still built on Esprima.
Have you tried working with Esprima?
Yes. Since the start of ESLint, we've regularly filed bugs and feature requests with Esprima and will continue to do so. However, there are some different philosophies around how the projects work that need to be worked through. The initial goal was to have Espree track Esprima and eventually merge the two back together, but we ultimately decided that building on top of Acorn was a better choice due to Acorn's plugin support.
Why don't you just use Acorn?
Acorn is a great JavaScript parser that produces an AST that is compatible with Esprima. Unfortunately, ESLint relies on more than just the AST to do its job. It relies on Esprima's tokens and comment attachment features to get a complete picture of the source code. We investigated switching to Acorn, but the inconsistencies between Esprima and Acorn created too much work for a project like ESLint.
We are building on top of Acorn, however, so that we can contribute back and help make Acorn even better.
What ECMAScript features do you support?
Espree supports all ECMAScript 2021 features and partially supports ECMAScript 2022 features.
Because ECMAScript 2022 is still under development, we are implementing features as they are finalized. Currently, Espree supports:
- Class instance fields
- Class private instance methods and accessors
- Class static fields, static private methods and accessors
- RegExp match indices
- Top-level await
- Class static initialization blocks
- Ergonomic brand checks for Private Fields
See finished-proposals.md to know what features are finalized.
How do you determine which experimental features to support?
In general, we do not support experimental JavaScript features. We may make exceptions from time to time depending on the maturity of the features.