Disallow usage of the any type (no-explicit-any)

Using the any type defeats the purpose of using TypeScript. When any is used, all compiler type checks around that value are ignored.

Rule Details

This rule doesn‘t allow any types to be defined. It aims to keep TypeScript maximally useful. TypeScript has a compiler flag for --noImplicitAny that will prevent an any type from being implied by the compiler, but doesn’t prevent any from being explicitly used.

The following patterns are considered warnings:

const age: any = 'seventeen';

const ages: any[] = ['seventeen'];

const ages: Array<any> = ['seventeen'];

function greet(): any {}

function greet(): any[] {}

function greet(): Array<any> {}

function greet(): Array<Array<any>> {}

function greet(param: Array<any>): string {}

function greet(param: Array<any>): Array<any> {}

The following patterns are not warnings:

const age: number = 17;

const ages: number[] = [17];

const ages: Array<number> = [17];

function greet(): string {}

function greet(): string[] {}

function greet(): Array<string> {}

function greet(): Array<Array<string>> {}

function greet(param: Array<string>): string {}

function greet(param: Array<string>): Array<string> {}

Options

The rule accepts an options object with the following properties:

type Options = {
  // if true, auto-fixing will be made available in which the "any" type is converted to an "unknown" type
  fixToUnknown: boolean;
  // specify if arrays from the rest operator are considered okay
  ignoreRestArgs: boolean;
};

const defaults = {
  fixToUnknown: false,
  ignoreRestArgs: false,
};

ignoreRestArgs

A boolean to specify if arrays from the rest operator are considered okay. false by default.

Examples of incorrect code for the { "ignoreRestArgs": false } option:

/*eslint @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any: ["error", { "ignoreRestArgs": false }]*/

function foo1(...args: any[]): void {}
function foo2(...args: readonly any[]): void {}
function foo3(...args: Array<any>): void {}
function foo4(...args: ReadonlyArray<any>): void {}

const bar1 = (...args: any[]): void {}
const bar2 = (...args: readonly any[]): void {}
const bar3 = (...args: Array<any>): void {}
const bar4 = (...args: ReadonlyArray<any>): void {}

const baz1 = function (...args: any[]) {}
const baz2 = function (...args: readonly any[]) {}
const baz3 = function (...args: Array<any>) {}
const baz4 = function (...args: ReadonlyArray<any>) {}

Examples of correct code for the { "ignoreRestArgs": true } option:

/*eslint @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any: ["error", { "ignoreRestArgs": true }]*/

function foo1(...args: any[]): void {}
function foo2(...args: readonly any[]): void {}
function foo3(...args: Array<any>): void {}
function foo4(...args: ReadonlyArray<any>): void {}

const bar1 = (...args: any[]): void {}
const bar2 = (...args: readonly any[]): void {}
const bar3 = (...args: Array<any>): void {}
const bar4 = (...args: ReadonlyArray<any>): void {}

const baz1 = function (...args: any[]) {}
const baz2 = function (...args: readonly any[]) {}
const baz3 = function (...args: Array<any>) {}
const baz4 = function (...args: ReadonlyArray<any>) {}

When Not To Use It

If an unknown type or a library without typings is used and you want to be able to specify any.

Further Reading

Compatibility