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eventClasses

Prefer EventTarget over EventEmitter for cross-platform compatibility.

✅ This rule is included in the node logical and logicalStrict presets.

While EventEmitter is only available in Node.js, EventTarget is available in browsers, Deno, and modern Node.js (v14.5+). Using EventTarget makes code more cross-platform friendly and can reduce bundle size in built packages.

Examples

Section titled “Examples”
import { 
class EventEmitter<T extends EventMap<T> = DefaultEventMap>
interface EventEmitter<T extends EventMap<T> = DefaultEventMap>
The EventEmitter class is defined and exposed by the node:events module:


import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';


All EventEmitters emit the event 'newListener' when new listeners are
added and 'removeListener' when existing listeners are removed.


It supports the following option:
@since ― v0.1.26
EventEmitter } from "events";


class 
class MyEmitter
MyEmitter extends 
class EventEmitter<T extends EventMap<T> = DefaultEventMap>
The EventEmitter class is defined and exposed by the node:events module:


import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';


All EventEmitters emit the event 'newListener' when new listeners are
added and 'removeListener' when existing listeners are removed.


It supports the following option:
@since ― v0.1.26
EventEmitter {}


const 
const emitter: EventEmitter<DefaultEventMap>
emitter = new 
new EventEmitter<DefaultEventMap>(options?: EventEmitterOptions): EventEmitter<DefaultEventMap>
The EventEmitter class is defined and exposed by the node:events module:


import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';


All EventEmitters emit the event 'newListener' when new listeners are
added and 'removeListener' when existing listeners are removed.


It supports the following option:
@since ― v0.1.26
EventEmitter();

Options

Section titled “Options”

This rule is not configurable.

When Not To Use It

Section titled “When Not To Use It”

If your code exclusively targets Node.js environments and you specifically need EventEmitter’s API features that are not available in EventTarget (for example, prependListener, once returning a cleanup function, or error events with special handling), you might choose not to enable this rule.

Further Reading

Section titled “Further Reading”

Equivalents in Other Linters

Section titled “Equivalents in Other Linters”
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