Which is Better Code Formatting and Linting Tools?
eslint vs prettier vs dprint vs prettier-plugin-toml
1 Year
eslintprettierdprintprettier-plugin-tomlSimilar Packages:
What's Code Formatting and Linting Tools?

Code formatting and linting tools are essential in modern web development to ensure code quality, maintainability, and consistency across projects. These tools help developers adhere to coding standards, catch potential errors early, and improve collaboration within teams. By automating the formatting and linting process, developers can focus more on writing code rather than worrying about style issues or syntax errors. This ultimately leads to cleaner, more readable code and a smoother development workflow.

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eslint41,641,83124,9983.33 MB1013 days agoMIT
prettier39,705,24349,2967.7 MB1,3933 months agoMIT
dprint76,1733,2018.07 kB832 days agoMIT
prettier-plugin-toml23,09227321.4 kB12a year agoMIT
Feature Comparison: eslint vs prettier vs dprint vs prettier-plugin-toml

Purpose

  • eslint: ESLint is primarily a linting tool for JavaScript and TypeScript, focusing on identifying and reporting on patterns found in ECMAScript/JavaScript code. It helps developers adhere to coding standards and avoid potential errors by providing customizable rules and configurations.
  • prettier: Prettier is an opinionated code formatter that enforces a consistent style across your codebase. It automatically formats your code according to a set of rules, reducing the need for manual formatting and ensuring that all team members adhere to the same style guidelines.
  • dprint: Dprint is designed to be a fast and extensible code formatter that supports multiple programming languages. It aims to provide a simple configuration and high performance, making it suitable for large codebases and teams that require speed in their formatting process.
  • prettier-plugin-toml: Prettier Plugin TOML extends Prettier's functionality to format TOML files. This allows developers to maintain consistent formatting not only in their JavaScript or TypeScript code but also in configuration files written in TOML.

Configuration Flexibility

  • eslint: ESLint provides extensive configuration options, allowing developers to define their own rules, extend existing configurations, and integrate with various plugins. This flexibility makes it a powerful tool for enforcing coding standards tailored to a project's requirements.
  • prettier: Prettier has a limited configuration scope, focusing on enforcing a consistent style rather than allowing extensive customization. This opinionated approach simplifies the setup process, but may not suit teams that prefer more granular control over formatting rules.
  • dprint: Dprint offers a straightforward configuration system that allows users to easily customize formatting rules. It supports a variety of plugins, enabling developers to tailor the formatter to their specific needs and preferences.
  • prettier-plugin-toml: Prettier Plugin TOML inherits Prettier's configuration model, allowing users to format TOML files with the same ease as other supported languages. However, it does not provide additional configuration options specific to TOML formatting.

Performance

  • eslint: ESLint can be slower than some other tools, especially when using a large number of rules or plugins. However, its performance can be improved by optimizing configurations and using caching features to avoid redundant checks.
  • prettier: Prettier is designed for performance and typically formats code quickly. Its opinionated nature allows it to make decisions about formatting without extensive computation, resulting in fast execution times.
  • dprint: Dprint is optimized for speed, making it one of the fastest code formatters available. Its architecture is designed to handle large codebases efficiently, ensuring quick formatting times even for extensive projects.
  • prettier-plugin-toml: Prettier Plugin TOML maintains the performance characteristics of Prettier, ensuring that formatting TOML files is done quickly and efficiently, without significant overhead.

Ecosystem and Integration

  • eslint: ESLint boasts a rich ecosystem with numerous plugins and integrations available. It works seamlessly with various build tools, editors, and CI/CD systems, making it a staple in JavaScript development environments.
  • prettier: Prettier has a strong ecosystem and is widely adopted in the development community. It integrates easily with many editors and tools, making it a popular choice for teams looking for a straightforward formatting solution.
  • dprint: Dprint has a growing ecosystem with support for various languages and plugins. It integrates well with popular editors and CI/CD pipelines, making it a versatile choice for teams looking to adopt a multi-language formatting solution.
  • prettier-plugin-toml: Prettier Plugin TOML integrates smoothly with Prettier, allowing developers to format TOML files alongside their JavaScript or TypeScript code. This plugin enhances Prettier's ecosystem, making it more versatile for projects that utilize TOML.

Learning Curve

  • eslint: ESLint may have a steeper learning curve due to its extensive configuration options and rule sets. However, once developers become familiar with its capabilities, it provides powerful linting features that can significantly improve code quality.
  • prettier: Prettier is designed to be easy to use, with minimal configuration required. Developers can quickly adopt it and start benefiting from consistent code formatting without extensive setup.
  • dprint: Dprint has a relatively gentle learning curve, especially for developers familiar with other formatting tools. Its straightforward configuration and focus on performance make it easy to adopt in existing projects.
  • prettier-plugin-toml: Prettier Plugin TOML is easy to use for those already familiar with Prettier. It requires no additional learning beyond what is necessary for using Prettier itself, making it accessible for developers looking to format TOML files.
How to Choose: eslint vs prettier vs dprint vs prettier-plugin-toml
  • eslint: Choose ESLint if you need a powerful linting tool specifically for JavaScript and TypeScript. ESLint provides extensive configuration options and a rich ecosystem of plugins, making it ideal for enforcing coding standards and catching errors in your JavaScript code.
  • prettier: Choose Prettier if you want an opinionated code formatter that focuses on consistent style across your codebase. Prettier is easy to set up and integrates well with various editors, making it a great choice for teams that want to enforce style without extensive configuration.
  • dprint: Choose Dprint if you are looking for a fast, extensible code formatter that supports a wide range of languages and is designed for performance. Dprint is particularly beneficial for teams that prioritize speed and want a customizable formatting solution.
  • prettier-plugin-toml: Choose Prettier Plugin TOML if you specifically need to format TOML files in addition to your JavaScript or TypeScript code. This plugin extends Prettier's capabilities, allowing you to maintain consistent formatting across different file types.
README for eslint

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ESLint

Website | Configure ESLint | Rules | Contribute to ESLint | Report Bugs | Code of Conduct | Twitter | Discord | Mastodon

ESLint is a tool for identifying and reporting on patterns found in ECMAScript/JavaScript code. In many ways, it is similar to JSLint and JSHint with a few exceptions:

  • ESLint uses Espree for JavaScript parsing.
  • ESLint uses an AST to evaluate patterns in code.
  • ESLint is completely pluggable, every single rule is a plugin and you can add more at runtime.

Table of Contents

  1. Installation and Usage
  2. Configuration
  3. Version Support
  4. Code of Conduct
  5. Filing Issues
  6. Frequently Asked Questions
  7. Releases
  8. Security Policy
  9. Semantic Versioning Policy
  10. Stylistic Rule Updates
  11. License
  12. Team
  13. Sponsors
  14. Technology Sponsors

Installation and Usage

Prerequisites: Node.js (^18.18.0, ^20.9.0, or >=21.1.0) built with SSL support. (If you are using an official Node.js distribution, SSL is always built in.)

You can install and configure ESLint using this command:

npm init @eslint/config@latest

After that, you can run ESLint on any file or directory like this:

npx eslint yourfile.js

Configuration

You can configure rules in your eslint.config.js files as in this example:

export default [
    {
        files: ["**/*.js", "**/*.cjs", "**/*.mjs"],
        rules: {
            "prefer-const": "warn",
            "no-constant-binary-expression": "error"
        }
    }
];

The names "prefer-const" and "no-constant-binary-expression" are the names of rules in ESLint. The first value is the error level of the rule and can be one of these values:

  • "off" or 0 - turn the rule off
  • "warn" or 1 - turn the rule on as a warning (doesn't affect exit code)
  • "error" or 2 - turn the rule on as an error (exit code will be 1)

The three error levels allow you fine-grained control over how ESLint applies rules (for more configuration options and details, see the configuration docs).

Version Support

The ESLint team provides ongoing support for the current version and six months of limited support for the previous version. Limited support includes critical bug fixes, security issues, and compatibility issues only.

ESLint offers commercial support for both current and previous versions through our partners, Tidelift and HeroDevs.

See Version Support for more details.

Code of Conduct

ESLint adheres to the OpenJS Foundation Code of Conduct.

Filing Issues

Before filing an issue, please be sure to read the guidelines for what you're reporting:

Frequently Asked Questions

Does ESLint support JSX?

Yes, ESLint natively supports parsing JSX syntax (this must be enabled in configuration). Please note that supporting JSX syntax is not the same as supporting React. React applies specific semantics to JSX syntax that ESLint doesn't recognize. We recommend using eslint-plugin-react if you are using React and want React semantics.

Does Prettier replace ESLint?

No, ESLint and Prettier have different jobs: ESLint is a linter (looking for problematic patterns) and Prettier is a code formatter. Using both tools is common, refer to Prettier's documentation to learn how to configure them to work well with each other.

What ECMAScript versions does ESLint support?

ESLint has full support for ECMAScript 3, 5, and every year from 2015 up until the most recent stage 4 specification (the default). You can set your desired ECMAScript syntax and other settings (like global variables) through configuration.

What about experimental features?

ESLint's parser only officially supports the latest final ECMAScript standard. We will make changes to core rules in order to avoid crashes on stage 3 ECMAScript syntax proposals (as long as they are implemented using the correct experimental ESTree syntax). We may make changes to core rules to better work with language extensions (such as JSX, Flow, and TypeScript) on a case-by-case basis.

In other cases (including if rules need to warn on more or fewer cases due to new syntax, rather than just not crashing), we recommend you use other parsers and/or rule plugins. If you are using Babel, you can use @babel/eslint-parser and @babel/eslint-plugin to use any option available in Babel.

Once a language feature has been adopted into the ECMAScript standard (stage 4 according to the TC39 process), we will accept issues and pull requests related to the new feature, subject to our contributing guidelines. Until then, please use the appropriate parser and plugin(s) for your experimental feature.

Which Node.js versions does ESLint support?

ESLint updates the supported Node.js versions with each major release of ESLint. At that time, ESLint's supported Node.js versions are updated to be:

  1. The most recent maintenance release of Node.js
  2. The lowest minor version of the Node.js LTS release that includes the features the ESLint team wants to use.
  3. The Node.js Current release

ESLint is also expected to work with Node.js versions released after the Node.js Current release.

Refer to the Quick Start Guide for the officially supported Node.js versions for a given ESLint release.

Where to ask for help?

Open a discussion or stop by our Discord server.

Why doesn't ESLint lock dependency versions?

Lock files like package-lock.json are helpful for deployed applications. They ensure that dependencies are consistent between environments and across deployments.

Packages like eslint that get published to the npm registry do not include lock files. npm install eslint as a user will respect version constraints in ESLint's package.json. ESLint and its dependencies will be included in the user's lock file if one exists, but ESLint's own lock file would not be used.

We intentionally don't lock dependency versions so that we have the latest compatible dependency versions in development and CI that our users get when installing ESLint in a project.

The Twilio blog has a deeper dive to learn more.

Releases

We have scheduled releases every two weeks on Friday or Saturday. You can follow a release issue for updates about the scheduling of any particular release.

Security Policy

ESLint takes security seriously. We work hard to ensure that ESLint is safe for everyone and that security issues are addressed quickly and responsibly. Read the full security policy.

Semantic Versioning Policy

ESLint follows semantic versioning. However, due to the nature of ESLint as a code quality tool, it's not always clear when a minor or major version bump occurs. To help clarify this for everyone, we've defined the following semantic versioning policy for ESLint:

  • Patch release (intended to not break your lint build)
    • A bug fix in a rule that results in ESLint reporting fewer linting errors.
    • A bug fix to the CLI or core (including formatters).
    • Improvements to documentation.
    • Non-user-facing changes such as refactoring code, adding, deleting, or modifying tests, and increasing test coverage.
    • Re-releasing after a failed release (i.e., publishing a release that doesn't work for anyone).
  • Minor release (might break your lint build)
    • A bug fix in a rule that results in ESLint reporting more linting errors.
    • A new rule is created.
    • A new option to an existing rule that does not result in ESLint reporting more linting errors by default.
    • A new addition to an existing rule to support a newly-added language feature (within the last 12 months) that will result in ESLint reporting more linting errors by default.
    • An existing rule is deprecated.
    • A new CLI capability is created.
    • New capabilities to the public API are added (new classes, new methods, new arguments to existing methods, etc.).
    • A new formatter is created.
    • eslint:recommended is updated and will result in strictly fewer linting errors (e.g., rule removals).
  • Major release (likely to break your lint build)
    • eslint:recommended is updated and may result in new linting errors (e.g., rule additions, most rule option updates).
    • A new option to an existing rule that results in ESLint reporting more linting errors by default.
    • An existing formatter is removed.
    • Part of the public API is removed or changed in an incompatible way. The public API includes:
      • Rule schemas
      • Configuration schema
      • Command-line options
      • Node.js API
      • Rule, formatter, parser, plugin APIs

According to our policy, any minor update may report more linting errors than the previous release (ex: from a bug fix). As such, we recommend using the tilde (~) in package.json e.g. "eslint": "~3.1.0" to guarantee the results of your builds.

Stylistic Rule Updates

Stylistic rules are frozen according to our policy on how we evaluate new rules and rule changes. This means:

  • Bug fixes: We will still fix bugs in stylistic rules.
  • New ECMAScript features: We will also make sure stylistic rules are compatible with new ECMAScript features.
  • New options: We will not add any new options to stylistic rules unless an option is the only way to fix a bug or support a newly-added ECMAScript feature.

License

FOSSA Status

Team

These folks keep the project moving and are resources for help.

Technical Steering Committee (TSC)

The people who manage releases, review feature requests, and meet regularly to ensure ESLint is properly maintained.

Nicholas C. Zakas's Avatar
Nicholas C. Zakas
Francesco Trotta's Avatar
Francesco Trotta
Milos Djermanovic's Avatar
Milos Djermanovic

Reviewers

The people who review and implement new features.

唯然's Avatar
唯然
Nitin Kumar's Avatar
Nitin Kumar

Committers

The people who review and fix bugs and help triage issues.

Josh Goldberg ✨'s Avatar
Josh Goldberg ✨
Tanuj Kanti's Avatar
Tanuj Kanti

Website Team

Team members who focus specifically on eslint.org

Amaresh  S M's Avatar
Amaresh S M
Strek's Avatar
Strek
Percy Ma's Avatar
Percy Ma

Sponsors

The following companies, organizations, and individuals support ESLint's ongoing maintenance and development. Become a Sponsor to get your logo on our READMEs and website.

Platinum Sponsors

Automattic Airbnb

Gold Sponsors

trunk.io

Silver Sponsors

JetBrains Liftoff American Express Workleap

Bronze Sponsors

WordHint Anagram Solver Icons8 Discord GitBook Nx HeroCoders Nextbase Starter Kit

Technology Sponsors

Technology sponsors allow us to use their products and services for free as part of a contribution to the open source ecosystem and our work.

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