prefer-early-return

Flags functions whose whole body is a single if statement with no else.

Rule details Suggestion

This rule reports a function when its block body has exactly one statement, that statement is an if, and the if does not have an else branch.

With the default options, the if block must contain more than one statement before the rule reports it. That keeps small guard-style wrappers out of the way.

What it does not touch

The rule does not report if statements with an else, and it does not report functions that have other top-level statements next to the if.

Examples

Incorrect

function process(data: Data) {
  if (data.isValid) {
    transform(data);
    save(data);
  }
}

Correct

function process(data: Data) {
  if (!data.isValid) return;

  transform(data);
  save(data);
}

Options

Option	Default	What it does
maximumStatements	1	Reports when the wrapped if block contains more than this many statements. Set it to 0 to also report if (condition) doThing();.

eslint.config.js

import ceaseNonsense from "eslint-plugin-cease-nonsense";

export default [
  {
    plugins: {
      "cease-nonsense": ceaseNonsense,
    },
    rules: {
      "cease-nonsense/prefer-early-return": ["error", { maximumStatements: 0 }],
    },
  },
];

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