eslint-plugin-hex-under

An ESLint plugin that keeps hexadecimal, binary, and octal numeric literals readable by enforcing configurable value limits.

When a non-decimal numeric literal exceeds its configured limit, the rule reports an error and provides an automatic ESLint fix that converts the value to decimal.

Why?

Non-decimal numeric literals such as 0xfff or 0b101010101 can be compact, but they are not always easy to read or reason about at a glance.

This can lead to:

• Reduced code readability
• Slower code reviews
• Hard-to-understand magic numbers
• Unnecessary cognitive overhead when reading bitwise operations

eslint-plugin-hex-under lets you keep smaller, meaningful non-decimal literals while encouraging decimal notation for larger values.

How it works

The plugin provides three independent rules:

Rule	Format	Default limit
hex-under/hex-under	Hexadecimal	0xff (255)
hex-under/binary-under	Binary	0b1111 (15)
hex-under/octal-under	Octal	0o777 (511)

The configured limit is inclusive.

For example, with the default hexadecimal limit of 255:

const a = 0xff; // OK: 255
const b = 0x100; // Error: 256

Installation

Requires ESLint v9+ with flat config.

npm install --save-dev eslint-plugin-hex-under

Configuration

Add the plugin to your eslint.config.js:

import eslintPluginHexUnder from 'eslint-plugin-hex-under';

export default [
  {
    files: ['**/*.js'],
    plugins: {
      'hex-under': eslintPluginHexUnder,
    },
    rules: {
      'hex-under/hex-under': ['error', { limit: 255, checkBigInt: true }],
      'hex-under/octal-under': ['error', { limit: 511, checkBigInt: true }],
      'hex-under/binary-under': ['error', { limit: 15, checkBigInt: true }],
    },
  },
];

You can enable only the formats you need.

For example:

rules: {
  'hex-under/hex-under': ['error', { limit: 255 }],
}

Examples

Valid with default limits

const signal = 0xef; // 239

const func = () => 0xab; // 171

function add(a, b) {
  return a + b + 0x1f; // 31
}

const binary = 0b1111; // 15

const octal = 0o377; // 255

Invalid with default limits

const signal = 0x21b; // 539

const func = () => 0xabc; // 2748

function add(a, b) {
  return a + b + 0x100; // 256
}

const d = 0xaa_ffn;

const binary = 0b1_0000_0000; // 256

const octal = 0o1000; // 512

Auto-fix

The rules are automatically fixable with ESLint's --fix option.

For example:

const signal = 0x21b;

const func = () => 0xabc;

function add(a, b) {
  return a + b + 0x100;
}

const binary = 0b1_0000_0000;

const octal = 0o1000;

Running:

eslint . --fix

converts the values to decimal:

const signal = 539;

const func = () => 2748;

function add(a, b) {
  return a + b + 256;
}

const binary = 256;

const octal = 512;

The source code is not modified during normal linting. Conversion only happens when ESLint's auto-fix functionality is used.

Ignoring individual literals

You can disable a rule for a specific line using ESLint's standard inline comments:

// eslint-disable-next-line hex-under/hex-under
const hexTooBig = 0xfffff;

// eslint-disable-next-line hex-under/binary-under
const binTooBig = 0b1000_0000_0000;

// eslint-disable-next-line hex-under/octal-under
const octalTooBig = 0o777777;

BigInt

BigInt literals can optionally be checked using the checkBigInt option.

By default:

checkBigInt: true;

For example:

const mask = 0xdead_beefn;

With checkBigInt: true, this literal is checked against the configured limit.

If you don't want BigInt literals to be checked, set:

checkBigInt: false;

For example:

rules: {
  'hex-under/hex-under': [
    'error',
    {
      limit: 255,
      checkBigInt: false,
    },
  ],
}

This allows:

const mask = 0xdead_beefn;

Rules

Rule	Description
hex-under/hex-under	Limits hexadecimal numeric literals
hex-under/binary-under	Limits binary numeric literals
hex-under/octal-under	Limits octal numeric literals

Each rule can be configured independently.

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
limit	number	Format-specific	Maximum allowed numeric value
checkBigInt	boolean	true	Whether BigInt literals should be checked

The limit is inclusive. A literal equal to the limit is valid; a literal greater than the limit is reported.

Testing & Code Coverage

This project uses Vitest as its test runner and ESLint's RuleTester for validating rule behavior.

The project also uses bats to test the output of ESLint's --fix command.

Running tests

Run all tests:

npm run test:all

Run Vitest:

npm run test

Run Vitest in watch mode:

npm run test:watch

Run tests with coverage:

npm run coverage

Run bats tests:

npm run test:bats