Enforce spacing before and after semicolons (semi-spacing)

The --fix option on the command line can automatically fix some of the problems reported by this rule.

JavaScript allows you to place unnecessary spaces before or after a semicolon.

Disallowing or enforcing space around a semicolon can improve the readability of your program.

var a = "b" ;

var c = "d";var e = "f";

Rule Details

This rule aims to enforce spacing around a semicolon. This rule prevents the use of spaces before a semicolon in expressions.

This rule doesn’t check spacing in the following cases:

• The spacing after the semicolon if it is the first token in the line.

• The spacing before the semicolon if it is after an opening parenthesis (( or {), or the spacing after the semicolon if it is before a closing parenthesis () or }). That spacing is checked by space-in-parens or block-spacing.

• The spacing around the semicolon in a for loop with an empty condition (for(;;)).

Options

The rule takes one option, an object, which has two keys before and after having boolean values true or false. If before is true, space is enforced before semicolons and if it’s false, space is disallowed before semicolons. If after is true, space is enforced after semicolons and if it’s false, space is disallowed after semicolons. The after option will be only applied if a semicolon is not at the end of line.

The default is {"before": false, "after": true}.

"semi-spacing": ["error", {"before": false, "after": true}]

{"before": false, "after": true}

This is the default option. It enforces spacing after semicolons and disallows spacing before semicolons.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

/*eslint semi-spacing: "error"*/

var foo ;
var foo;var bar;
throw new Error("error") ;
while (a) { break ; }
for (i = 0 ; i < 10 ; i++) {}
for (i = 0;i < 10;i++) {}

Examples of correct code for this rule:

/*eslint semi-spacing: "error"*/

var foo;
var foo; var bar;
throw new Error("error");
while (a) { break; }
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {}
for (;;) {}
if (true) {;}
;foo();

{"before": true, "after": false}

This option enforces spacing before semicolons and disallows spacing after semicolons.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the {"before": true, "after": false} option:

/*eslint semi-spacing: ["error", { "before": true, "after": false }]*/

var foo;
var foo ; var bar;
throw new Error("error");
while (a) { break; }
for (i = 0;i < 10;i++) {}
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {}

Examples of correct code for this rule with the {"before": true, "after": false} option:

/*eslint semi-spacing: ["error", { "before": true, "after": false }]*/

var foo ;
var foo ;var bar ;
throw new Error("error") ;
while (a) {break ;}
for (i = 0 ;i < 10 ;i++) {}

When Not To Use It

You can turn this rule off if you are not concerned with the consistency of spacing before or after semicolons.

Related Rules

• semi
• no-extra-semi
• comma-spacing
• block-spacing
• space-in-parens

Version

This rule was introduced in ESLint 0.16.0.

Resources

• Rule source
• Documentation source