oxc-project/oxc · error · OxcDiagnostic

Prefer `.{good_method}()` over `.{bad_method}()`.

Error message

Prefer `.{good_method}()` over `.{bad_method}()`.

What it means

Emitted by the unicorn/prefer-query-selector rule when it finds a DOM query call using `getElementById`, `getElementsByClassName`, `getElementsByTagName`, or `getElementsBy*Name`-style methods. It fires at the call-expression span because those legacy DOM query methods are less flexible and less consistent than the modern `querySelector`/`querySelectorAll` API, which supports full CSS selectors.

Source

Thrown at crates/oxc_linter/src/rules/unicorn/prefer_query_selector.rs:13

use oxc_ast::{AstKind, ast::Expression};
use oxc_diagnostics::OxcDiagnostic;
use oxc_macros::declare_oxc_lint;
use oxc_span::{GetSpan, Span};

use crate::{AstNode, context::LintContext, rule::Rule, utils::is_node_value_not_dom_node};

fn prefer_query_selector_diagnostic(
    good_method: &str,
    bad_method: &str,
    span: Span,
) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn(format!("Prefer `.{good_method}()` over `.{bad_method}()`."))
        .with_help("It's better to use the same method to query DOM elements. This helps keep consistency and it lends itself to future improvements (e.g. more specific selectors).")
        .with_label(span)
}

#[derive(Debug, Default, Clone)]
pub struct PreferQuerySelector;

fn get_preferred_identifier_name(ident_name: &str) -> Option<&'static str> {
    match ident_name {
        "getElementById" => Some("querySelector"),
        "getElementsByClassName" | "getElementsByTagName" | "getElementsByName" => {
            Some("querySelectorAll")
        }
        _ => None,
    }
}

declare_oxc_lint!(

View on GitHub (pinned to e1e7af627c)

Solutions

1. Replace `document.getElementById('id')` with `document.querySelector('#id')`
2. Replace `document.getElementsByClassName('c')` with `document.querySelectorAll('.c')`
3. Replace `document.getElementsByTagName('div')` with `document.querySelectorAll('div')`

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/oxc_linter/src/rules/unicorn/prefer_query_selector.rs:13 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of oxc-project/oxc@e1e7af627c (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/23d560d5141b0868. Report an issue: GitHub.