react/no-string-refs

ref="input" asks React to store the element in this.refs.input. String refs only work in class components, and React 19 removed them. Use createRef, useRef, or a callback.

If settings.react.version ([lint.settings.react] in bunfig.toml, or settings in an ESLint config) is lower than 18.3, the rule also reports reading this.refs in a class component.

Configure#

Off by default. To turn it on:

bunfig.toml

[lint.rules]
"react/no-string-refs" = "error" # or "warn"

Every option, set to its default:

bunfig.toml

[lint.rules]
"react/no-string-refs" = ["error", {
  noTemplateLiterals = false,
}]

Examples#

Reported:

class SearchBox extends React.Component {
  componentDidMount() {
    this.refs.input.focus();
  }

  render() {
    return <input ref="input" />;
  }
}

Not reported:

class SearchBox extends React.Component {
  input = React.createRef();

  componentDidMount() {
    this.input.current.focus();
  }

  render() {
    return <input ref={this.input} />;
  }
}

Options#

Option	Default	What it does
`noTemplateLiterals`	`false`	Also report a template literal as the value of `ref`.

const row = index => <li ref={`row${index}`} />;