regexConciseCharacterClassNegations

Reports negated character classes that can use shorthand escapes.

✅ This rule is included in the ts stylistic and stylisticStrict presets.

Enforces using shorthand escape sequences like \D, \W, \S, and \P instead of negated character classes. For example, [^\d] can be written more concisely as \D.

Examples

Negated Digit Character Class

❌ Incorrect

const pattern = /[^\d]/;

✅ Correct

const pattern = /\D/;

Negated Word Character Class

❌ Incorrect

const pattern = /[^\w]+/;

✅ Correct

const pattern = /\W+/;

Negated Whitespace Character Class

❌ Incorrect

const pattern = /[^\s]/;

✅ Correct

const pattern = /\S/;

Negated Unicode Property Escape

❌ Incorrect

const pattern = /[^\p{Letter}]/u;

✅ Correct

const pattern = /\P{Letter}/u;

Options

This rule is not configurable.

When Not To Use It

If you prefer the explicit negation syntax [^\d] for readability, or if your codebase has an established convention using negated character classes, you might prefer to disable this rule.

Further Reading

• MDN: Character class escape
• MDN: Unicode character class escape

Equivalents in Other Linters

• ESLint: regexp/negation