oxc-project/oxc · warning · OxcDiagnostic

Unexpected use of `with` statement.

Error message

Unexpected use of `with` statement.

What it means

Diagnostic from the `no-with` rule. The `with (obj) { ... }` statement pushes the object onto the scope chain, making property lookups ambiguous and unoptimizable; it is forbidden in strict mode and ES5+ modules. Oxc warns on any WithStatement, help 'Do not use the `with` statement.'

Source

Thrown at crates/oxc_linter/src/rules/eslint/no_with.rs:9

use oxc_ast::AstKind;
use oxc_diagnostics::OxcDiagnostic;
use oxc_macros::declare_oxc_lint;
use oxc_span::Span;

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

fn no_with_diagnostic(span: Span) -> OxcDiagnostic {
    OxcDiagnostic::warn("Unexpected use of `with` statement.")
        .with_help("Do not use the `with` statement.")
        .with_label(span)
}

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

declare_oxc_lint!(
    /// ### What it does
    ///
    /// Disallow [`with`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/with) statements.
    ///
    /// ### Why is this bad?
    ///
    /// The with statement is potentially problematic because it adds members
    /// of an object to the current scope, making it impossible to tell what a
    /// variable inside the block actually refers to.
    ///

View on GitHub (pinned to e1e7af627c)

Solutions

1. Replace `with (obj) { prop }` with direct `obj.prop` access.
2. Or destructure the properties you need: `const { cos, sin } = Math;`.
3. Assign the object to a short local variable and qualify accesses explicitly.
4. Delete the statement if it is dead legacy code.

Example fix

// before
with (Math) {
  area = PI * r * r;
}

// after
const area = Math.PI * r * r;

const usesWithStatement = /\bwith\s*\(/.test(source);

When it happens

Trigger: Legacy code containing `with (Math) { x = cos(theta); }` or `with (style) { color = 'red'; }` in any parsed file. Runs on AstKind::WithStatement; modern module code would instead throw a SyntaxError in strict mode, so this mainly catches sloppy/legacy scripts.

Common situations: Old browser scripts copied from the 2000s; generated code from ancient minifiers; teaching materials predating strict mode.

Related errors

• Implied eval. Do not use execScript().
• Avoid unnecessary use of .{name}()
• Unexpected var, use let or const instead.
• Unexpected `void` operator
• Empty array binding pattern

AI-assisted analysis of oxc-project/oxc@e1e7af627c (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/da371935eabbf2cb. Report an issue: GitHub.