Prefer Early Return

Suggestion

small-rules/prefer-early-return

Prefer early returns over full-body conditional wrapping.

Diagnostic Messages

preferEarlyReturn

Function body is wrapped in a single conditional without an else branch. This increases nesting depth and cognitive load. Invert the condition and return early: if (!condition) return; then place the main logic at the top level.

Configuration

This rule accepts one options object after the severity.

maximumStatementsOptional

Maximum allowed statement count inside the guarded branch before reporting.

Type

number

Default

1

{
  "jsPlugins": [
    "@pobammer-ts/small-rules"
  ],
  "rules": {
    "small-rules/prefer-early-return": [
      "error",
      {
        "maximumStatements": 1
      }
    ]
  }
}

Examples

Function body needs guard clause

function foo() { if (something) { doSomething(); doSomethingElse(); } }

Early return guard clause

function foo() { if (!something) { return; } doSomething(); doSomethingElse(); }