Unicode includes characters which are made by multiple code points. RegExp character class syntax (/[abc]/) cannot handle characters which are made by multiple code points as a character; those characters will be dissolved to each code point. For example, ❇️ is made by ❇ (U+2747) and VARIATION SELECTOR-16 (U+FE0F). If this character is in a RegExp character class, it will match either ❇ (U+2747) or VARIATION SELECTOR-16 (U+FE0F) rather than ❇️.

This rule reports regular expressions which include multiple code point characters in character class syntax. This rule considers the following characters as multiple code point characters.

A character with combining characters:

The combining characters are characters which belong to one of Mc, Me, and Mn Unicode general categories.

/^[Á]$/u.test("Á"); //→ false
/^[❇️]$/u.test("❇️"); //→ false

A character with Emoji modifiers:

/^[👶🏻]$/u.test("👶🏻"); //→ false
/^[👶🏽]$/u.test("👶🏽"); //→ false

A pair of regional indicator symbols:

/^[🇯🇵]$/u.test("🇯🇵"); //→ false

Characters that ZWJ joins:

/^[👨‍👩‍👦]$/u.test("👨‍���‍👦"); //→ false

A surrogate pair without Unicode flag:

/^[👍]$/.test("👍"); //→ false

// Surrogate pair is OK if with u flag.
/^[👍]$/u.test("👍"); //→ true

Rule Details

This rule reports regular expressions which include multiple code point characters in character class syntax.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

::: incorrect

/*eslint no-misleading-character-class: error */

/^[Á]$/u;
/^[❇️]$/u;
/^[👶🏻]$/u;
/^[🇯🇵]$/u;
/^[👨‍👩‍👦]$/u;
/^[👍]$/;
new RegExp("[🎵]");

:::

Examples of correct code for this rule:

::: correct

/*eslint no-misleading-character-class: error */

/^[abc]$/;
/^[👍]$/u;
/^[\q{👶🏻}]$/v;
new RegExp("^[]$");
new RegExp(`[Á-${z}]`, "u"); // variable pattern

:::

Options

This rule has an object option:

• "allowEscape": When set to true, the rule allows any grouping of code points inside a character class as long as they are written using escape sequences. This option only has effect on regular expression literals and on regular expressions created with the RegExp constructor with a literal argument as a pattern.

allowEscape

Examples of incorrect code for this rule with the { "allowEscape": true } option:

::: incorrect

/* eslint no-misleading-character-class: ["error", { "allowEscape": true }] */

/[\👍]/; // backslash can be omitted

new RegExp("[\ud83d" + "\udc4d]");

const pattern = "[\ud83d\udc4d]";
new RegExp(pattern);

:::

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

::: correct

/* eslint no-misleading-character-class: ["error", { "allowEscape": true }] */

/[\ud83d\udc4d]/;
/[\u00B7\u0300-\u036F]/u;
/[👨\u200d👩]/u;
new RegExp("[\x41\u0301]");
new RegExp(`[\u{1F1EF}\u{1F1F5}]`, "u");
new RegExp("[\\u{1F1EF}\\u{1F1F5}]", "u");

:::

When Not To Use It

You can turn this rule off if you don't want to check RegExp character class syntax for multiple code point characters.