No Regex Literal Flags

Disallow flags on regex literals so shared patterns stay reusable and callers add flags at the call site via new RegExp(pattern, flags).

Summary

The no-regex-literal-flags rule reports any regex literal that carries flags (e.g., /pattern/gi). Patterns defined without flags can be reused by multiple callers, each choosing the flags they need through new RegExp(pattern, flags).

Why Use This Rule?

1. Keeps centralized patterns flag-free so they work in any context without assumptions.
2. Moves flag decisions to the call site where the intent is clearest.
3. Prevents accidental global or case-insensitive matching baked into shared patterns.

Examples

Correct

// Flag-free pattern in the patterns file.
export const PATTERN_DIGITS = /\d+/;

// Caller adds flags at the call site.
const allDigits = new RegExp(PATTERN_DIGITS, 'g');

Incorrect

// Flags baked into the pattern.
export const PATTERN_DIGITS = /\d+/g;

Configuration

Enable the rule in your ESLint flat config:

import { noRegexLiteralFlags } from '@cbnventures/nova/rules/eslint';

export default [
  {
    plugins: {
      '@cbnventures/nova': {
        rules: {
          'no-regex-literal-flags': noRegexLiteralFlags,
        },
      },
    },
    rules: {
      '@cbnventures/nova/no-regex-literal-flags': ['error'],
    },
  },
];

This rule has no additional options.

Troubleshooting

• Need a flag for a one-off use? — Import the flag-free pattern and wrap it with new RegExp(pattern, flags) at the call site.
• Conflicts with no-regex-literals. — The two rules complement each other. Use no-regex-literals in application code to ban all inline literals, and use no-regex-literal-flags in the patterns file to keep definitions flag-free.