require let or const instead of var (no-var)

ECMAScript 6 allows programmers to create variables with block scope instead of function scope using the let and const keywords. Block scope is common in many other programming languages and helps programmers avoid mistakes such as:

var count = people.length;
var enoughFood = count > sandwhiches.length;

if (enoughFood) {
    var count = sandwhiches.length; // accidently overriding the count variable
    console.log("We have " + count + " sandwhiches for everyone. Plenty for all!");
}

// our count variable is no longer accurate
console.log("We have " + count + " people and " + sandwhiches.length + " sandwhiches!");

Rule Details

This rule is aimed at discouraging the use of var and encouraging the use of const or let instead.

The following patterns are considered warnings:

var x = "y";
var CONFIG = {};

The following patterns are not considered warnings:

let x = "y";
const CONFIG = {};

If you intend to use this rule, you must set blockBindings to true in the ecmaFeatures configuration object, which will give ESLint the ability to read let and const variables.

When Not To Use It

In addition to non-ES6 environments, existing JavaScript projects that are beginning to introduce ES6 into their codebase may not want to apply this rule if the cost of migrating from var to let is too costly.

Version

This rule was introduced in ESLint 0.12.0.

Resources