Disallow unnecessary .call() and .apply(). (no-useless-call)

The function invocation can be written by Function.prototype.call() and Function.prototype.apply(). But Function.prototype.call() and Function.prototype.apply() are slower than the normal function invocation.

Rule Details

This rule is aimed to flag usage of Function.prototype.call() and Function.prototype.apply() that can be replaced with the normal function invocation.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-useless-call: "error"*/

// These are same as `foo(1, 2, 3);`
foo.call(undefined, 1, 2, 3);
foo.apply(undefined, [1, 2, 3]);
foo.call(null, 1, 2, 3);
foo.apply(null, [1, 2, 3]);

// These are same as `obj.foo(1, 2, 3);`
obj.foo.call(obj, 1, 2, 3);
obj.foo.apply(obj, [1, 2, 3]);

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-useless-call: "error"*/

// The `this` binding is different.
foo.call(obj, 1, 2, 3);
foo.apply(obj, [1, 2, 3]);
obj.foo.call(null, 1, 2, 3);
obj.foo.apply(null, [1, 2, 3]);
obj.foo.call(otherObj, 1, 2, 3);
obj.foo.apply(otherObj, [1, 2, 3]);

// The argument list is variadic.
foo.apply(undefined, args);
foo.apply(null, args);
obj.foo.apply(obj, args);

Known Limitations

This rule compares code statically to check whether or not thisArg is changed. So if the code about thisArg is a dynamic expression, this rule cannot judge correctly.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint no-useless-call: "error"*/

a[i++].foo.call(a[i++], 1, 2, 3);

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint no-useless-call: "error"*/

a[++i].foo.call(a[i], 1, 2, 3);

When Not To Use It

If you don’t want to be notified about unnecessary .call() and .apply(), you can safely disable this rule.

Version

This rule was introduced in ESLint 1.0.0-rc-1.

Resources

• Rule source
• Documentation source