Unused index variable¶
ID: js/unused-index-variable
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: warning
Precision: high
Tags:
- correctness
Query suites:
- javascript-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
If the loop variable of a for loop ranges over the indices of an array, that variable would normally be used as an array index in the body of the loop. If, instead, the loop body only refers to array elements at constant indices, this may indicate a logic error or leftover testing code.
Recommendation¶
Examine the loop carefully to ensure it is behaving as expected. You may want to consider using a for-of loop to iterate over all elements of an array without the need for error-prone index manipulations.
Example¶
The following example shows a function that is intended to sum up the elements of an array xs. The loop variable i is counted up from zero to xs.length-1, but instead of adding xs[i] to the running sum res, the code adds xs[0], the first element of xs, to it, which is likely a mistake:
function sum(xs) {
var res = 0;
for(var i=0; i<xs.length; ++i)
res += xs[0]; // BAD: should be xs[i]
return res;
}
The problem can be fixed by adding xs[i] instead:
function sum(xs) {
var res = 0;
for(var i=0; i<xs.length; ++i)
res += xs[i];
return res;
}
Alternatively, the function can be written more succinctly using a for-of loop:
function sum(xs) {
var res = 0;
for(var x of xs)
res += x;
return res;
}