prefer-location-assign.md

prefer-location-assign

📝 Prefer location.assign() over assigning to location.href.

💼🚫 This rule is enabled in the ✅ recommended config. This rule is disabled in the ☑️ unopinionated config.

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

Location#assign() is more explicit and semantic than assigning to .href. Use assign() when you want to preserve the current page in browser history (user can go back), and Location#replace() when you want to replace the current history entry.

Examples

// ❌ - Assigns to a property (less semantic)
location.href = url;

// ✅ - Method call is more explicit
location.assign(url);

// ✅ - Normal navigation, user can go back
const loginUrl = 'https://example.com/login';
location.assign(loginUrl);

// ✅ - Use replace() for redirects where user shouldn't go back
if (isLoggedOut) {
	location.replace('/login'); // Can't go back to protected page
}

// ✅ - assign() for user-initiated navigation
button.onclick = () => location.assign('/next-page');

// ✅ - replace() for authentication redirects
if (!hasValidToken) {
	location.replace('/login');
}