react/no-string-refs
February 9, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
๐ Disallow using string references.
๐ผ This rule is enabled in the โ๏ธ recommended config.
Currently, two ways are supported by React to refer to components. The first way, providing a string identifier, is now considered legacy in the official documentation. The documentation now prefers a second method -- referring to components by setting a property on the this object in the reference callback.
Rule Details
Examples of incorrect code for this rule:
var Hello = createReactClass({
render: function() {
return <div ref="hello">Hello, world.</div>;
}
});
var Hello = createReactClass({
componentDidMount: function() {
var component = this.refs.hello;
// ...do something with component
},
render: function() {
return <div ref="hello">Hello, world.</div>;
}
});
Examples of correct code for this rule:
var Hello = createReactClass({
componentDidMount: function() {
var component = this.hello;
// ...do something with component
},
render() {
return <div ref={(c) => { this.hello = c; }}>Hello, world.</div>;
}
});
Rule Options
"react/no-string-refs": [<enabled>, {"noTemplateLiterals": <boolean>}]
noTemplateLiterals
When set to true, it will give warning when using template literals for refs.
Examples of incorrect code for this rule:
var Hello = createReactClass({
render: function() {
return <div ref={`hello`}>Hello, world.</div>;
}
});
var Hello = createReactClass({
render: function() {
return <div ref={`hello${index}`}>Hello, world.</div>;
}
});