max-len

Enforce a maximum line length

Very long lines of code in any language can be difficult to read. In order to aid in readability and maintainability many coders have developed a convention to limit lines of code to X number of characters (traditionally 80 characters).

var foo = { "bar": "This is a bar.", "baz": { "qux": "This is a qux" }, "difficult": "to read" }; // very long
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Rule Details

This rule enforces a maximum line length to increase code readability and maintainability. The length of a line is defined as the number of Unicode characters in the line.

Options

This rule can have up to two numbers as positional arguments (for code and tabWidth options), followed by an object option (provided positional arguments have priority):

• "code" (default 80) enforces a maximum line length
• "tabWidth" (default 4) specifies the character width for tab characters
• "comments" enforces a maximum line length for comments; defaults to value of code
• "ignorePattern" ignores lines matching a regular expression; can only match a single line and need to be double escaped when written in YAML or JSON
• "ignoreComments": true ignores all trailing comments and comments on their own line
• "ignoreTrailingComments": true ignores only trailing comments
• "ignoreUrls": true ignores lines that contain a URL
• "ignoreStrings": true ignores lines that contain a double-quoted or single-quoted string
• "ignoreTemplateLiterals": true ignores lines that contain a template literal
• "ignoreRegExpLiterals": true ignores lines that contain a RegExp literal

code

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default { "code": 80 } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "code": 80 }]*/

var foo = { "bar": "This is a bar.", "baz": { "qux": "This is a qux" }, "difficult": "to read" };
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Examples of correct code for this rule with the default { "code": 80 } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "code": 80 }]*/

var foo = {
  "bar": "This is a bar.",
  "baz": { "qux": "This is a qux" },
  "easier": "to read"
};
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tabWidth

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the default { "tabWidth": 4 } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "code": 80, "tabWidth": 4 }]*/

		var foo = { "bar": "This is a bar.", "baz": { "qux": "This is a qux" } };
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Examples of correct code for this rule with the default { "tabWidth": 4 } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "code": 80, "tabWidth": 4 }]*/

		var foo = {
				"bar": "This is a bar.",
				"baz": { "qux": "This is a qux" }
		};
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comments

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the { "comments": 65 } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "comments": 65 }]*/

/**
 * This is a comment that violates the maximum line length we have specified
**/
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ignoreComments

Examples of correct code for this rule with the { "ignoreComments": true } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "ignoreComments": true }]*/

/**
 * This is a really really really really really really really really really long comment
**/
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ignoreTrailingComments

Examples of correct code for this rule with the { "ignoreTrailingComments": true } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "ignoreTrailingComments": true }]*/

var foo = 'bar'; // This is a really really really really really really really long comment
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ignoreUrls

Examples of correct code for this rule with the { "ignoreUrls": true } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "ignoreUrls": true }]*/

var url = 'https://www.example.com/really/really/really/really/really/really/really/long';
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ignoreStrings

Examples of correct code for this rule with the { "ignoreStrings": true } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "ignoreStrings": true }]*/

var longString = 'this is a really really really really really long string!';
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ignoreTemplateLiterals

Examples of correct code for this rule with the { "ignoreTemplateLiterals": true } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "ignoreTemplateLiterals": true }]*/

var longTemplateLiteral = `this is a really really really really really long template literal!`;
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ignoreRegExpLiterals

Examples of correct code for this rule with the { "ignoreRegExpLiterals": true } option:

/*eslint max-len: ["error", { "ignoreRegExpLiterals": true }]*/

var longRegExpLiteral = /this is a really really really really really long regular expression!/;
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ignorePattern

Examples of correct code for this rule with the ignorePattern option:

/*eslint max-len:
["error", { "ignorePattern": "^\\s*var\\s.+=\\s*require\\s*\\(" }]*/

var dep = require('really/really/really/really/really/really/really/really/long/module');
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Related Rules

• complexity
• max-depth
• max-nested-callbacks
• max-params
• max-statements

Version

This rule was introduced in ESLint v0.0.9.

Resources

• Rule source
• Tests source