---
url: /docs/guide/usage/linter/rules/eslint/no-misleading-character-class.md
---

### What it does

This rule reports regular expressions which include multiple code point characters in character class syntax. This includes:

* Characters with combining marks (e.g., `Á` where `A` is followed by a combining acute accent)
* Characters with emoji modifiers (e.g., `👶🏻`)
* Pairs of regional indicator symbols (e.g., `🇯🇵`)
* Characters joined by zero-width joiner (ZWJ) (e.g., `👨‍👩‍👦`)
* Surrogate pairs without the Unicode flag (e.g., `/^[👍]$/`)

### Why is this bad?

Unicode includes characters which are made by multiple code points.
RegExp character class syntax (`/[abc]/`) cannot handle characters
which are made by multiple code points as a character;
those characters will be dissolved to each code point.
For example, `❇️` is made by `❇` (`U+2747`) and VARIATION SELECTOR-16 (`U+FE0F`).
If this character is in a RegExp character class,
it will match either `❇` (`U+2747`) or VARIATION SELECTOR-16 (`U+FE0F`) rather than `❇️`.

This can lead to regular expressions that do not match what the author intended,
especially for emoji, regional indicators, and characters with combining marks.

#### Examples

Examples of **incorrect** code for this rule:

```javascript
/^[Á]$/u;
/^[❇️]$/u;
/^[👶🏻]$/u;
/^[🇯🇵]$/u;
/^[👨‍👩‍👦]$/u;
/^[👍]$/;
new RegExp("[🎵]");
```

Examples of **correct** code for this rule:

```javascript
/^[abc]$/;
/^[👍]$/u;
/[\u00B7\u0300-\u036F]/u;
new RegExp("^[\u{1F1EF}\u{1F1F5}]", "u");
```

## Configuration

This rule accepts a configuration object with the following properties:

### allowEscape

type: `boolean`

default: `false`

When set to `true`, the rule allows any grouping of code points
inside a character class as long as they are written using escape sequences.

Examples of **incorrect** code for this rule with `{ "allowEscape": true }`:

```javascript
/[\uD83D]/; // backslash can be omitted
new RegExp("[\ud83d" + "\udc4d]");
```

Examples of **correct** code for this rule with `{ "allowEscape": true }`:

```javascript
/[\ud83d\udc4d]/;
/[\u00B7\u0300-\u036F]/u;
/[👨\u200d👩]/u;
new RegExp("[\x41\u0301]");
new RegExp(`[\u{1F1EF}\u{1F1F5}]`, "u");
new RegExp("[\\u{1F1EF}\\u{1F1F5}]", "u");
```

## How to use

## Version

This rule was added in v1.17.0.

## References