prefer-readonly-type.md

functional/prefer-readonly-type

📝 Prefer readonly types over mutable types.

❌ This rule is deprecated. It was replaced by functional/prefer-immutable-types, functional/type-declaration-immutability.

🔧 This rule is automatically fixable by the --fix CLI option.

💭 This rule requires type information.

This rule has been replaced by prefer-immutable-parameter-types and type-declaration-immutability.

Rule Details

This rule enforces use of readonly T[] (ReadonlyArray<T>) over T[] (Array<T>).

The readonly modifier must appear on property signatures in interfaces, property declarations in classes, and index signatures.

❌ Incorrect

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: "error" */

interface Point {
  x: number;
  y: number;
}
const point: Point = { x: 23, y: 44 };
point.x = 99; // This is perfectly valid.

✅ Correct

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: "error" */

interface Point {
  readonly x: number;
  readonly y: number;
}
const point: Point = { x: 23, y: 44 };
point.x = 99; // <- No object mutation allowed.

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: "error" */

interface Point {
  readonly x: number;
  readonly y: number;
}
const point: Point = { x: 23, y: 44 };
const transformedPoint = { ...point, x: 99 };

Benefits of using the readonly modifier

A variable declared as const can not be reassigned, however what's in the variable can be mutated. This is why the readonly modifier exists. It prevents you from assigning a value to the result of a member expression. This is just as effective as using Object.freeze() to prevent mutations. However the readonly modifier has no run-time cost, and is enforced at compile time.

The readonly modifier also works on indexers:

const foo: { readonly [key: string]: number } = { a: 1, b: 2 };
foo.a = 3; // Error: Index signature only permits reading

Benefits of using readonly T[]

Even if an array is declared with const it is still possible to mutate the contents of the array.

interface Point {
  readonly x: number;
  readonly y: number;
}
const points: Point[] = [{ x: 23, y: 44 }];
points.push({ x: 1, y: 2 }); // This is perfectly valid.

Using the ReadonlyArray<T> type or readonly T[] will stop this mutation:

interface Point {
  readonly x: number;
  readonly y: number;
}

const points: ReadonlyArray<Point> = [{ x: 23, y: 44 }];
// const points: readonly Point[] = [{ x: 23, y: 44 }]; // This is the alternative syntax for the line above

points.push({ x: 1, y: 2 }); // Unresolved method push()

Options

This rule accepts an options object of the following type:

type Options = {
  allowLocalMutation: boolean;
  allowMutableReturnType: boolean;
  checkImplicit: boolean;
  ignoreClass: boolean | "fieldsOnly";
  ignoreInterface: boolean;
  ignoreCollections: boolean;
  ignorePattern?: string[] | string;
};

Default Options

const defaults = {
  allowLocalMutation: false,
  allowMutableReturnType: false,
  checkImplicit: false,
  ignoreClass: false,
  ignoreInterface: false,
  ignoreCollections: false,
};

checkImplicit

By default, this function only checks explicit types. Enabling this option will make the rule also check implicit types.

Note: Checking implicit types is more expensive (slow).

allowMutableReturnType

Doesn't check the return type of functions.

ignoreClass

A boolean to specify if checking for readonly should apply to classes. false by default.

❌ Incorrect

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: ["error", { "ignoreClass": false }] */

class {
  myprop: string;
}

✅ Correct

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: ["error", { "ignoreClass": true }] */

class C {
  myprop: string;
}

ignoreInterface

A boolean to specify if checking for readonly should apply to interfaces. false by default.

❌ Incorrect

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: ["error", { "ignoreInterface": false }] */

interface I {
  myprop: string;
}

✅ Correct

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: ["error", { "ignoreInterface": true }] */

interface I {
  myprop: string;
}

ignoreCollections

A boolean to specify if checking for readonly should apply to mutable collections (Array, Tuple, Set, and Map). Helpful for migrating from tslint-immutable to this plugin. false by default.

❌ Incorrect

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: ["error", { "ignoreCollections": false }] */

const foo: number[] = [];
const bar: [string, string] = ["foo", "bar"];
const baz: Set<string, string> = new Set();
const qux: Map<string, string> = new Map();

✅ Correct

/* eslint functional/prefer-readonly-type: ["error", { "ignoreCollections": true }] */

const foo: number[] = [];
const bar: [string, string] = ["foo", "bar"];
const baz: Set<string, string> = new Set();
const qux: Map<string, string> = new Map();

allowLocalMutation

If true, local state is allowed to use non-readonly types. Local state is simply any code inside of a function.

ignorePattern

This option takes a RegExp string or an array of RegExp strings. It allows for the ability to ignore violations based on a type's name.