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Comment by Ben Buchanan (200ok) on "Why do you HAVE to use semicolons in JavaScript?" | Hashnode

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Ben Buchanan (200ok)

I make some bits of the web.

Jan 26, 2018

You don't have to use semicolons, but there are some cases where leaving them out breaks your code. So unless you (and your entire team) prefer memorising the odd set of cases where leaving out semicolons(1) breaks your code... just put the semicolons in :)

(1) edit - originally said "where ASI breaks your code", which isn't true for semicolons. ASI will break your code if you start braces on new lines or put in other unnecessary line breaks. You also shouldn't do those ;)

Thomas Odorfer

Jan 26, 2018

youtube.com/watch

You cannot turn off ASI within Javascript, so there are also some cases creating errors even by using semicolons permanently.

In essence: Using semicolons or not is not a matter of protecting your code in a better way. It is a convenience decision of you and/or your team. Some people want to use them, others don't use them. It is totally ok.

There are better tools, especially linting based, e.g.. standard.js - they are able to detect most edge cases.

Ben Buchanan (200ok)

I make some bits of the web.

Jan 27, 2018

Fair call, I made an error - it's not technically ASI that breaks your code if you leave out semicolons, it's just the fact you left out semicolons.

ASI will break your stuff if you put in unnecessary line breaks and start braces on new lines. I'm so used to those being packed into one issue that I conflated semicolons and ASI here.

I'll edit the post.