disallow control flow statements in finally blocks (no-unsafe-finally)

The "extends": "eslint:recommended" property in a configuration file enables this rule.

JavaScript suspends the control flow statements of try and catch blocks until the execution of finally block finishes. So, when return, throw, break, or continue is used in finally, control flow statements inside try and catch are overwritten, which is considered as unexpected behavior. Such as:

// We expect this function to return 1;
(() => {
    try {
        return 1; // 1 is returned but suspended until finally block ends
    } catch(err) {
        return 2;
    } finally {
        return 3; // 3 is returned before 1, which we did not expect
    }
})();

// > 3

// We expect this function to throw an error, then return
(() => {
    try {
        throw new Error("Try"); // error is thrown but suspended until finally block ends
    } finally {
        return 3; // 3 is returned before the error is thrown, which we did not expect
    }
})();

// > 3

// We expect this function to throw Try(...) error from the catch block
(() => {
    try {
        throw new Error("Try")
    } catch(err) {
        throw err; // The error thrown from try block is caught and rethrown
    } finally {
        throw new Error("Finally"); // Finally(...) is thrown, which we did not expect
    }
})();

// > Uncaught Error: Finally(...)

// We expect this function to return 0 from try block.
(() => {
  label: try {
    return 0; // 1 is returned but suspended until finally block ends
  } finally {
    break label; // It breaks out the try-finally block, before 0 is returned.
  }
  return 1;
})();

// > 1

Rule Details

This rule disallows return, throw, break, and continue statements inside finally blocks. It allows indirect usages, such as in function or class definitions.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-unsafe-finally: "error"*/
let foo = function() {
    try {
        return 1;
    } catch(err) {
        return 2;
    } finally {
        return 3;
    }
};

/*eslint no-unsafe-finally: "error"*/
let foo = function() {
    try {
        return 1;
    } catch(err) {
        return 2;
    } finally {
        throw new Error;
    }
};

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-unsafe-finally: "error"*/
let foo = function() {
    try {
        return 1;
    } catch(err) {
        return 2;
    } finally {
        console.log("hola!");
    }
};

/*eslint no-unsafe-finally: "error"*/
let foo = function() {
    try {
        return 1;
    } catch(err) {
        return 2;
    } finally {
        let a = function() {
            return "hola!";
        }
    }
};

/*eslint no-unsafe-finally: "error"*/
let foo = function(a) {
    try {
        return 1;
    } catch(err) {
        return 2;
    } finally {
        switch(a) {
            case 1: {
                console.log("hola!")
                break;
            }
        }
    }
};

When Not To Use It

If you want to allow control flow operations in finally blocks, you can turn this rule off.

Version

This rule was introduced in ESLint 2.9.0.

Resources

• Rule source
• Documentation source