Unnecessary 'else' after 'return'. (No-else-return)

Question

I am using es-lint to clean up the errors in my code. I have come across this error:

Unnecessary 'else' after 'return'. (No-else-return)

} else { 

I have always used else statements after a return. Is there something I may be overlooking?

if (cctot <= 3 && cctot > 0) {     alert('Credit under $3.00 not allowed');     return Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER; // important to return 0 so we can check for these conditions for validation } else {     cctot *= -1; } return precise(cctot); 

Answer 1

What that is basically saying is that the else part of the if statement is unnecessary if there is a return in the if part. Something like this is what it expects:

if (cctot <= 3 && cctot > 0) {       alert('Credit under $3.00 not allowed');       return Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER; // important to return 0 so we can check for these conditions for validation } cctot *= -1; 

In general, this:

if (condition) {   return something; } else {   // do another thing }  return anotherThing; 

is similar to:

if (condition) {   return something; }  // do another thing return anotherThing; 

After the if with a return statement, there is no need for the else part as the code below the if will only run when the condition stated is not fulfilled.

Answer 2

It's a code style preference. You don't need the else and instead can put the else code directly below the if. This is because if the if succeeds, that's the end of the function, so the else code will never be reached anyway.

So this:

if (condition) {   return foo; } else {   // do bar }  return baz 

is equivalent to this:

if (condition) {   return foo; }  // do bar  return baz 

This style seems to vary in different programming communities. Go developers will nearly always omit the else, while I've seen more JS devs include it.

While I prefer to leave off the else, it is again purely a matter of preference. Don't let it worry you too much. People may get dogmatic about this kind of thing, but it's really not that important.