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  1. Stackups
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  4. Code Review
  5. EditorConfig vs Prettier

EditorConfig vs Prettier

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

EditorConfig
EditorConfig
Stacks260
Followers61
Votes2
Prettier
Prettier
Stacks13.2K
Followers1.3K
Votes7
GitHub Stars51.1K
Forks4.6K

EditorConfig vs Prettier: What are the differences?

Introduction

When it comes to writing code, having consistent formatting is essential for readability and maintainability purposes. Two popular tools for enforcing code formatting standards are EditorConfig and Prettier. Although both aim to achieve the same goal, there are some key differences between them. In this article, we will outline six major differences between EditorConfig and Prettier.

  1. Configuration Approach: EditorConfig uses a file-based approach where the formatting rules are defined in a separate file named ".editorconfig" placed at the root of the project. On the other hand, Prettier follows a more centralized approach where the formatting rules are specified directly in the project's configuration file, like "prettier.config.js" or ".prettierrc".

  2. Supported Languages: EditorConfig can be used to configure various programming languages and file types. It is highly flexible and can be customized as per the needs of the project. Prettier, however, is primarily focused on formatting JavaScript code. Although it supports some other languages too, it may not offer the same level of customization for non-JavaScript files.

  3. Formatting Style: EditorConfig allows developers to define their own formatting style by setting specific rules for indentation, line endings, tab width, etc. It provides more granular control over the formatting process. Prettier, on the other hand, has a pre-defined set of opinionated rules and doesn't offer much customization. It focuses on enforcing a consistent and opinionated code style out-of-the-box.

  4. Formatting Scope: EditorConfig applies formatting rules only to the files explicitly mentioned in the ".editorconfig" file or the ones that inherit the rules from their parent directories. It allows developers to have different formatting styles within the same project for different file types. Prettier, in contrast, applies formatting rules to the entire project uniformly. It doesn't differentiate between file types and enforces the same formatting style project-wide.

  5. Integration with Build Tools: EditorConfig is designed to be integrated with various IDEs and text editors, providing seamless collaboration among developers working on different platforms. It works well with multiple build tools like Visual Studio, Atom, and Sublime Text. Prettier, on the other hand, is typically used as a standalone command-line tool or as a plugin for code editors. It may require additional setup and configuration to integrate with certain build tools.

  6. Code Formatting Engine: EditorConfig doesn't have its own code formatting engine. It relies on the default formatting capabilities of the code editors and IDEs it is integrated with. Different editors may use different engines, resulting in slight variations in the formatting output. Prettier, on the other hand, has its own built-in code formatting engine. It uses a parser to read the code and then applies the formatting rules consistently across different environments, ensuring a standardized output.

Summary

In summary, EditorConfig provides a more customizable and flexible approach to configuring code formatting rules, supporting various languages and allowing different formatting styles within a project. Prettier, on the other hand, focuses on enforcing a consistent and opinionated code style specifically for JavaScript, with a centralized configuration approach and its own code formatting engine.

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Advice on EditorConfig, Prettier

Alex
Alex

Software Engineer

Aug 7, 2020

Review

you don't actually have to choose between these tools as they have vastly different purposes. i think its more a matter of understanding how to use them.

while eslint and stylelint are used to notify you about code quality issues, to guide you to write better code, prettier automatically handles code formatting (without notifying me). nothing else.

prettier and eslint both officially discourage using the eslint-plugin-prettier way, as these tools actually do very different things. autofixing with linters on watch isnt a great idea either. auto-fixing should only be done intentionally. you're not alone though, as a lot of devs set this up wrong.

i encourage you to think about what problem you're trying to solve and configure accordingly.

for my teams i set it up like this:

  • eslint, stylelint, prettier locally installed for cli use and ide support
  • eslint config prettier (code formatting rules are not eslints business, so dont warn me about it)
  • vscode workspace config: format on save
  • separate npm scripts for linting, and formatting
  • precommit hooks (husky)

so you can easily integrate with gulp. its just js after all ;)

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

EditorConfig
EditorConfig
Prettier
Prettier

It is a file format and collection of text editor plugins. It helps maintain consistent coding styles for multiple developers working on the same project across various editors and IDEs.

Prettier is an opinionated code formatter. It enforces a consistent style by parsing your code and re-printing it with its own rules that take the maximum line length into account, wrapping code when necessary.

-
An opinionated code formatter; Supports many languages; Integrates with most editors; Has few options; You press save and code is formatted; No need to discuss style in code review; Saves you time and energy
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
51.1K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
4.6K
Stacks
260
Stacks
13.2K
Followers
61
Followers
1.3K
Votes
2
Votes
7
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 2
    Y6y
Pros
  • 2
    Customizable
  • 1
    Completely free
  • 1
    Follows the Ruby Style Guide by default
  • 1
    Atom/VSCode package
  • 1
    Runs offline
Integrations
No integrations available
GraphQL
GraphQL
JavaScript
JavaScript
TypeScript
TypeScript
Flow
Flow
Vue.js
Vue.js
AngularJS
AngularJS
markdown
markdown
YAML
YAML
Less
Less

What are some alternatives to EditorConfig, Prettier?

Code Climate

Code Climate

After each Git push, Code Climate analyzes your code for complexity, duplication, and common smells to determine changes in quality and surface technical debt hotspots.

Codacy

Codacy

Codacy automates code reviews and monitors code quality on every commit and pull request on more than 40 programming languages reporting back the impact of every commit or PR, issues concerning code style, best practices and security.

Phabricator

Phabricator

Phabricator is a collection of open source web applications that help software companies build better software.

PullReview

PullReview

PullReview helps Ruby and Rails developers to develop new features cleanly, on-time, and with confidence by automatically reviewing their code.

Gerrit Code Review

Gerrit Code Review

Gerrit is a self-hosted pre-commit code review tool. It serves as a Git hosting server with option to comment incoming changes. It is highly configurable and extensible with default guarding policies, webhooks, project access control and more.

SonarQube

SonarQube

SonarQube provides an overview of the overall health of your source code and even more importantly, it highlights issues found on new code. With a Quality Gate set on your project, you will simply fix the Leak and start mechanically improving.

RuboCop

RuboCop

RuboCop is a Ruby static code analyzer. Out of the box it will enforce many of the guidelines outlined in the community Ruby Style Guide.

CodeFactor.io

CodeFactor.io

CodeFactor.io automatically and continuously tracks code quality with every GitHub or BitBucket commit and pull request, helping software developers save time in code reviews and efficiently tackle technical debt.

ESLint

ESLint

A pluggable and configurable linter tool for identifying and reporting on patterns in JavaScript. Maintain your code quality with ease.

Amazon CodeGuru

Amazon CodeGuru

It is a machine learning service for automated code reviews and application performance recommendations. It helps you find the most expensive lines of code that hurt application performance and keep you up all night troubleshooting, then gives you specific recommendations to fix or improve your code.

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