UglifyJS 3 ========== UglifyJS is a JavaScript parser, minifier, compressor and beautifier toolkit. #### Note: - **`uglify-js@3` has a simplified [API](#api-reference) and [CLI](#command-line-usage) that is not backwards compatible with [`uglify-js@2`](https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS/tree/v2.x)**. - **Documentation for UglifyJS `2.x` releases can be found [here](https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS/tree/v2.x)**. - `uglify-js` supports ECMAScript 5 and some newer language features. - To minify ECMAScript 2015 or above, you may need to transpile using tools like [Babel](https://babeljs.io/). Install ------- First make sure you have installed the latest version of [node.js](http://nodejs.org/) (You may need to restart your computer after this step). From NPM for use as a command line app: npm install uglify-js -g From NPM for programmatic use: npm install uglify-js # Command line usage uglifyjs [input files] [options] UglifyJS can take multiple input files. It's recommended that you pass the input files first, then pass the options. UglifyJS will parse input files in sequence and apply any compression options. The files are parsed in the same global scope, that is, a reference from a file to some variable/function declared in another file will be matched properly. If no input file is specified, UglifyJS will read from STDIN. If you wish to pass your options before the input files, separate the two with a double dash to prevent input files being used as option arguments: uglifyjs --compress --mangle -- input.js ### Command line options ``` -h, --help Print usage information. `--help options` for details on available options. -V, --version Print version number. -p, --parse Specify parser options: `acorn` Use Acorn for parsing. `bare_returns` Allow return outside of functions. Useful when minifying CommonJS modules and Userscripts that may be anonymous function wrapped (IIFE) by the .user.js engine `caller`. `expression` Parse a single expression, rather than a program (for parsing JSON). `spidermonkey` Assume input files are SpiderMonkey AST format (as JSON). -c, --compress [options] Enable compressor/specify compressor options: `pure_funcs` List of functions that can be safely removed when their return values are not used. -m, --mangle [options] Mangle names/specify mangler options: `reserved` List of names that should not be mangled. --mangle-props [options] Mangle properties/specify mangler options: `builtins` Mangle property names that overlaps with standard JavaScript globals. `debug` Add debug prefix and suffix. `domprops` Mangle property names that overlaps with DOM properties. `keep_quoted` Only mangle unquoted properties. `regex` Only mangle matched property names. `reserved` List of names that should not be mangled. -b, --beautify [options] Beautify output/specify output options: `beautify` Enabled with `--beautify` by default. `preamble` Preamble to prepend to the output. You can use this to insert a comment, for example for licensing information. This will not be parsed, but the source map will adjust for its presence. `quote_style` Quote style: 0 - auto 1 - single 2 - double 3 - original `wrap_iife` Wrap IIFEs in parenthesis. Note: you may want to disable `negate_iife` under compressor options. -O, --output-opts [options] Specify output options (`beautify` disabled by default). -o, --output Output file path (default STDOUT). Specify `ast` or `spidermonkey` to write UglifyJS or SpiderMonkey AST as JSON to STDOUT respectively. --comments [filter] Preserve copyright comments in the output. By default this works like Google Closure, keeping JSDoc-style comments that contain "@license" or "@preserve". You can optionally pass one of the following arguments to this flag: - "all" to keep all comments - a valid JS RegExp like `/foo/` or `/^!/` to keep only matching comments. Note that currently not *all* comments can be kept when compression is on, because of dead code removal or cascading statements into sequences. --config-file Read `minify()` options from JSON file. -d, --define [=value] Global definitions. -e, --enclose [arg[:value]] Embed everything in a big function, with configurable argument(s) & value(s). --ie8 Support non-standard Internet Explorer 8. Equivalent to setting `ie8: true` in `minify()` for `compress`, `mangle` and `output` options. By default UglifyJS will not try to be IE-proof. --keep-fnames Do not mangle/drop function names. Useful for code relying on Function.prototype.name. --name-cache File to hold mangled name mappings. --self Build UglifyJS as a library (implies --wrap UglifyJS) --source-map [options] Enable source map/specify source map options: `base` Path to compute relative paths from input files. `content` Input source map, useful if you're compressing JS that was generated from some other original code. Specify "inline" if the source map is included within the sources. `filename` Filename and/or location of the output source (sets `file` attribute in source map). `includeSources` Pass this flag if you want to include the content of source files in the source map as sourcesContent property. `names` Include symbol names in the source map. `root` Path to the original source to be included in the source map. `url` If specified, path to the source map to append in `//# sourceMappingURL`. --timings Display operations run time on STDERR. --toplevel Compress and/or mangle variables in top level scope. --v8 Support non-standard Chrome & Node.js Equivalent to setting `v8: true` in `minify()` for `mangle` and `output` options. By default UglifyJS will not try to be v8-proof. --verbose Print diagnostic messages. --warn Print warning messages. --webkit Support non-standard Safari/Webkit. Equivalent to setting `webkit: true` in `minify()` for `mangle` and `output` options. By default UglifyJS will not try to be Safari-proof. --wrap Embed everything in a big function, making the “exports” and “global” variables available. You need to pass an argument to this option to specify the name that your module will take when included in, say, a browser. ``` Specify `--output` (`-o`) to declare the output file. Otherwise the output goes to STDOUT. ## CLI source map options UglifyJS can generate a source map file, which is highly useful for debugging your compressed JavaScript. To get a source map, pass `--source-map --output output.js` (source map will be written out to `output.js.map`). Additional options: - `--source-map "filename=''"` to specify the name of the source map. The value of `filename` is only used to set `file` attribute (see [the spec][sm-spec]) in source map file. - `--source-map "root=''"` to pass the URL where the original files can be found. - `--source-map "names=false"` to omit symbol names if you want to reduce size of the source map file. - `--source-map "url=''"` to specify the URL where the source map can be found. Otherwise UglifyJS assumes HTTP `X-SourceMap` is being used and will omit the `//# sourceMappingURL=` directive. For example: uglifyjs js/file1.js js/file2.js \ -o foo.min.js -c -m \ --source-map "root='http://foo.com/src',url='foo.min.js.map'" The above will compress and mangle `file1.js` and `file2.js`, will drop the output in `foo.min.js` and the source map in `foo.min.js.map`. The source mapping will refer to `http://foo.com/src/js/file1.js` and `http://foo.com/src/js/file2.js` (in fact it will list `http://foo.com/src` as the source map root, and the original files as `js/file1.js` and `js/file2.js`). ### Composed source map When you're compressing JS code that was output by a compiler such as CoffeeScript, mapping to the JS code won't be too helpful. Instead, you'd like to map back to the original code (i.e. CoffeeScript). UglifyJS has an option to take an input source map. Assuming you have a mapping from CoffeeScript → compiled JS, UglifyJS can generate a map from CoffeeScript → compressed JS by mapping every token in the compiled JS to its original location. To use this feature pass `--source-map "content='/path/to/input/source.map'"` or `--source-map "content=inline"` if the source map is included inline with the sources. ## CLI compress options You need to pass `--compress` (`-c`) to enable the compressor. Optionally you can pass a comma-separated list of [compress options](#compress-options). Options are in the form `foo=bar`, or just `foo` (the latter implies a boolean option that you want to set `true`; it's effectively a shortcut for `foo=true`). Example: uglifyjs file.js -c toplevel,sequences=false ## CLI mangle options To enable the mangler you need to pass `--mangle` (`-m`). The following (comma-separated) options are supported: - `eval` (default `false`) -- mangle names visible in scopes where `eval` or `with` are used. - `reserved` (default: `[]`) -- when mangling is enabled but you want to prevent certain names from being mangled, you can declare those names with `--mangle reserved` — pass a comma-separated list of names. For example: uglifyjs ... -m reserved=['$','require','exports'] to prevent the `require`, `exports` and `$` names from being changed. ### CLI mangling property names (`--mangle-props`) **Note:** THIS WILL PROBABLY BREAK YOUR CODE. Mangling property names is a separate step, different from variable name mangling. Pass `--mangle-props` to enable it. It will mangle all properties in the input code with the exception of built in DOM properties and properties in core JavaScript classes. For example: ```javascript // example.js var x = { baz_: 0, foo_: 1, calc: function() { return this.foo_ + this.baz_; } }; x.bar_ = 2; x["baz_"] = 3; console.log(x.calc()); ``` Mangle all properties (except for JavaScript `builtins`): ```bash $ uglifyjs example.js -c -m --mangle-props ``` ```javascript var x={o:0,_:1,l:function(){return this._+this.o}};x.t=2,x.o=3,console.log(x.l()); ``` Mangle all properties except for `reserved` properties: ```bash $ uglifyjs example.js -c -m --mangle-props reserved=[foo_,bar_] ``` ```javascript var x={o:0,foo_:1,_:function(){return this.foo_+this.o}};x.bar_=2,x.o=3,console.log(x._()); ``` Mangle all properties matching a `regex`: ```bash $ uglifyjs example.js -c -m --mangle-props regex=/_$/ ``` ```javascript var x={o:0,_:1,calc:function(){return this._+this.o}};x.l=2,x.o=3,console.log(x.calc()); ``` Combining mangle properties options: ```bash $ uglifyjs example.js -c -m --mangle-props regex=/_$/,reserved=[bar_] ``` ```javascript var x={o:0,_:1,calc:function(){return this._+this.o}};x.bar_=2,x.o=3,console.log(x.calc()); ``` In order for this to be of any use, we avoid mangling standard JS names by default (`--mangle-props builtins` to override). A default exclusion file is provided in `tools/domprops.json` which should cover most standard JS and DOM properties defined in various browsers. Pass `--mangle-props domprops` to disable this feature. A regular expression can be used to define which property names should be mangled. For example, `--mangle-props regex=/^_/` will only mangle property names that start with an underscore. When you compress multiple files using this option, in order for them to work together in the end we need to ensure somehow that one property gets mangled to the same name in all of them. For this, pass `--name-cache filename.json` and UglifyJS will maintain these mappings in a file which can then be reused. It should be initially empty. Example: ```bash $ rm -f /tmp/cache.json # start fresh $ uglifyjs file1.js file2.js --mangle-props --name-cache /tmp/cache.json -o part1.js $ uglifyjs file3.js file4.js --mangle-props --name-cache /tmp/cache.json -o part2.js ``` Now, `part1.js` and `part2.js` will be consistent with each other in terms of mangled property names. Using the name cache is not necessary if you compress all your files in a single call to UglifyJS. ### Mangling unquoted names (`--mangle-props keep_quoted`) Using quoted property name (`o["foo"]`) reserves the property name (`foo`) so that it is not mangled throughout the entire script even when used in an unquoted style (`o.foo`). Example: ```javascript // stuff.js var o = { "foo": 1, bar: 3 }; o.foo += o.bar; console.log(o.foo); ``` ```bash $ uglifyjs stuff.js --mangle-props keep_quoted -c -m ``` ```javascript var o={foo:1,o:3};o.foo+=o.o,console.log(o.foo); ``` ### Debugging property name mangling You can also pass `--mangle-props debug` in order to mangle property names without completely obscuring them. For example the property `o.foo` would mangle to `o._$foo$_` with this option. This allows property mangling of a large codebase while still being able to debug the code and identify where mangling is breaking things. ```bash $ uglifyjs stuff.js --mangle-props debug -c -m ``` ```javascript var o={_$foo$_:1,_$bar$_:3};o._$foo$_+=o._$bar$_,console.log(o._$foo$_); ``` You can also pass a custom suffix using `--mangle-props debug=XYZ`. This would then mangle `o.foo` to `o._$foo$XYZ_`. You can change this each time you compile a script to identify how a property got mangled. One technique is to pass a random number on every compile to simulate mangling changing with different inputs (e.g. as you update the input script with new properties), and to help identify mistakes like writing mangled keys to storage. # API Reference Assuming installation via NPM, you can load UglifyJS in your application like this: ```javascript var UglifyJS = require("uglify-js"); ``` There is a single high level function, **`minify(code, options)`**, which will perform all minification [phases](#minify-options) in a configurable manner. By default `minify()` will enable the options [`compress`](#compress-options) and [`mangle`](#mangle-options). Example: ```javascript var code = "function add(first, second) { return first + second; }"; var result = UglifyJS.minify(code); console.log(result.error); // runtime error, or `undefined` if no error console.log(result.code); // minified output: function add(n,d){return n+d} ``` You can `minify` more than one JavaScript file at a time by using an object for the first argument where the keys are file names and the values are source code: ```javascript var code = { "file1.js": "function add(first, second) { return first + second; }", "file2.js": "console.log(add(1 + 2, 3 + 4));" }; var result = UglifyJS.minify(code); console.log(result.code); // function add(d,n){return d+n}console.log(add(3,7)); ``` The `toplevel` option: ```javascript var code = { "file1.js": "function add(first, second) { return first + second; }", "file2.js": "console.log(add(1 + 2, 3 + 4));" }; var options = { toplevel: true }; var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, options); console.log(result.code); // console.log(3+7); ``` The `nameCache` option: ```javascript var options = { mangle: { toplevel: true, }, nameCache: {} }; var result1 = UglifyJS.minify({ "file1.js": "function add(first, second) { return first + second; }" }, options); var result2 = UglifyJS.minify({ "file2.js": "console.log(add(1 + 2, 3 + 4));" }, options); console.log(result1.code); // function n(n,r){return n+r} console.log(result2.code); // console.log(n(3,7)); ``` You may persist the name cache to the file system in the following way: ```javascript var cacheFileName = "/tmp/cache.json"; var options = { mangle: { properties: true, }, nameCache: JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(cacheFileName, "utf8")) }; fs.writeFileSync("part1.js", UglifyJS.minify({ "file1.js": fs.readFileSync("file1.js", "utf8"), "file2.js": fs.readFileSync("file2.js", "utf8") }, options).code, "utf8"); fs.writeFileSync("part2.js", UglifyJS.minify({ "file3.js": fs.readFileSync("file3.js", "utf8"), "file4.js": fs.readFileSync("file4.js", "utf8") }, options).code, "utf8"); fs.writeFileSync(cacheFileName, JSON.stringify(options.nameCache), "utf8"); ``` An example of a combination of `minify()` options: ```javascript var code = { "file1.js": "function add(first, second) { return first + second; }", "file2.js": "console.log(add(1 + 2, 3 + 4));" }; var options = { toplevel: true, compress: { global_defs: { "@console.log": "alert" }, passes: 2 }, output: { beautify: false, preamble: "/* uglified */" } }; var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, options); console.log(result.code); // /* uglified */ // alert(10);" ``` To produce warnings: ```javascript var code = "function f(){ var u; return 2 + 3; }"; var options = { warnings: true }; var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, options); console.log(result.error); // runtime error, `undefined` in this case console.log(result.warnings); // [ 'Dropping unused variable u [0:1,18]' ] console.log(result.code); // function f(){return 5} ``` An error example: ```javascript var result = UglifyJS.minify({"foo.js" : "if (0) else console.log(1);"}); console.log(JSON.stringify(result.error)); // {"message":"Unexpected token: keyword (else)","filename":"foo.js","line":1,"col":7,"pos":7} ``` Note: unlike `uglify-js@2.x`, the `3.x` API does not throw errors. To achieve a similar effect one could do the following: ```javascript var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, options); if (result.error) throw result.error; ``` ## Minify options - `compress` (default `{}`) — pass `false` to skip compressing entirely. Pass an object to specify custom [compress options](#compress-options). - `ie8` (default `false`) -- set to `true` to support IE8. - `keep_fnames` (default: `false`) -- pass `true` to prevent discarding or mangling of function names. Useful for code relying on `Function.prototype.name`. - `mangle` (default `true`) — pass `false` to skip mangling names, or pass an object to specify [mangle options](#mangle-options) (see below). - `mangle.properties` (default `false`) — a subcategory of the mangle option. Pass an object to specify custom [mangle property options](#mangle-properties-options). - `nameCache` (default `null`) -- pass an empty object `{}` or a previously used `nameCache` object if you wish to cache mangled variable and property names across multiple invocations of `minify()`. Note: this is a read/write property. `minify()` will read the name cache state of this object and update it during minification so that it may be reused or externally persisted by the user. - `output` (default `null`) — pass an object if you wish to specify additional [output options](#output-options). The defaults are optimized for best compression. - `parse` (default `{}`) — pass an object if you wish to specify some additional [parse options](#parse-options). - `sourceMap` (default `false`) -- pass an object if you wish to specify [source map options](#source-map-options). - `toplevel` (default `false`) -- set to `true` if you wish to enable top level variable and function name mangling and to drop unused variables and functions. - `v8` (default `false`) -- enable workarounds for Chrome & Node.js bugs. - `warnings` (default `false`) — pass `true` to return compressor warnings in `result.warnings`. Use the value `"verbose"` for more detailed warnings. - `webkit` (default `false`) -- enable workarounds for Safari/WebKit bugs. PhantomJS users should set this option to `true`. ## Minify options structure ```javascript { parse: { // parse options }, compress: { // compress options }, mangle: { // mangle options properties: { // mangle property options } }, output: { // output options }, sourceMap: { // source map options }, nameCache: null, // or specify a name cache object toplevel: false, ie8: false, warnings: false, } ``` ### Source map options To generate a source map: ```javascript var result = UglifyJS.minify({"file1.js": "var a = function() {};"}, { sourceMap: { filename: "out.js", url: "out.js.map" } }); console.log(result.code); // minified output console.log(result.map); // source map ``` Note that the source map is not saved in a file, it's just returned in `result.map`. The value passed for `sourceMap.url` is only used to set `//# sourceMappingURL=out.js.map` in `result.code`. The value of `filename` is only used to set `file` attribute (see [the spec][sm-spec]) in source map file. You can set option `sourceMap.url` to be `"inline"` and source map will be appended to code. You can also specify sourceRoot property to be included in source map: ```javascript var result = UglifyJS.minify({"file1.js": "var a = function() {};"}, { sourceMap: { root: "http://example.com/src", url: "out.js.map" } }); ``` If you're compressing compiled JavaScript and have a source map for it, you can use `sourceMap.content`: ```javascript var result = UglifyJS.minify({"compiled.js": "compiled code"}, { sourceMap: { content: "content from compiled.js.map", url: "minified.js.map" } }); // same as before, it returns `code` and `map` ``` If you're using the `X-SourceMap` header instead, you can just omit `sourceMap.url`. If you wish to reduce file size of the source map, set option `sourceMap.names` to be `false` and all symbol names will be omitted. ## Parse options - `bare_returns` (default `false`) -- support top level `return` statements - `html5_comments` (default `true`) - `shebang` (default `true`) -- support `#!command` as the first line ## Compress options - `arguments` (default: `true`) -- replace `arguments[index]` with function parameter name whenever possible. - `arrows` (default: `true`) -- apply optimizations to arrow functions - `assignments` (default: `true`) -- apply optimizations to assignment expressions - `awaits` (default: `true`) -- apply optimizations to `await` expressions - `booleans` (default: `true`) -- various optimizations for boolean context, for example `!!a ? b : c → a ? b : c` - `collapse_vars` (default: `true`) -- Collapse single-use non-constant variables, side effects permitting. - `comparisons` (default: `true`) -- apply certain optimizations to binary nodes, e.g. `!(a <= b) → a > b`, attempts to negate binary nodes, e.g. `a = !b && !c && !d && !e → a=!(b||c||d||e)` etc. - `conditionals` (default: `true`) -- apply optimizations for `if`-s and conditional expressions - `dead_code` (default: `true`) -- remove unreachable code - `default_values` (default: `true`) -- drop overshadowed default values - `directives` (default: `true`) -- remove redundant or non-standard directives - `drop_console` (default: `false`) -- Pass `true` to discard calls to `console.*` functions. If you wish to drop a specific function call such as `console.info` and/or retain side effects from function arguments after dropping the function call then use `pure_funcs` instead. - `drop_debugger` (default: `true`) -- remove `debugger;` statements - `evaluate` (default: `true`) -- Evaluate expression for shorter constant representation. Pass `"eager"` to always replace function calls whenever possible, or a positive integer to specify an upper bound for each individual evaluation in number of characters. - `expression` (default: `false`) -- Pass `true` to preserve completion values from terminal statements without `return`, e.g. in bookmarklets. - `functions` (default: `true`) -- convert declarations from `var` to `function` whenever possible. - `global_defs` (default: `{}`) -- see [conditional compilation](#conditional-compilation) - `hoist_exports` (default: `true`) -- hoist `export` statements to facilitate various `compress` and `mangle` optimizations. - `hoist_funs` (default: `false`) -- hoist function declarations - `hoist_props` (default: `true`) -- hoist properties from constant object and array literals into regular variables subject to a set of constraints. For example: `var o={p:1, q:2}; f(o.p, o.q);` is converted to `f(1, 2);`. Note: `hoist_props` works best with `toplevel` and `mangle` enabled, alongside with `compress` option `passes` set to `2` or higher. - `hoist_vars` (default: `false`) -- hoist `var` declarations (this is `false` by default because it seems to increase the size of the output in general) - `if_return` (default: `true`) -- optimizations for if/return and if/continue - `imports` (default: `true`) -- drop unreferenced import symbols when used with `unused` - `inline` (default: `true`) -- inline calls to function with simple/`return` statement: - `false` -- same as `0` - `0` -- disabled inlining - `1` -- inline simple functions - `2` -- inline functions with arguments - `3` -- inline functions with arguments and variables - `true` -- same as `3` - `join_vars` (default: `true`) -- join consecutive `var` statements - `keep_fargs` (default: `false`) -- discard unused function arguments except when unsafe to do so, e.g. code which relies on `Function.prototype.length`. Pass `true` to always retain function arguments. - `keep_infinity` (default: `false`) -- Pass `true` to prevent `Infinity` from being compressed into `1/0`, which may cause performance issues on Chrome. - `loops` (default: `true`) -- optimizations for `do`, `while` and `for` loops when we can statically determine the condition. - `merge_vars` (default: `true`) -- combine and reuse variables. - `negate_iife` (default: `true`) -- negate "Immediately-Called Function Expressions" where the return value is discarded, to avoid the parens that the code generator would insert. - `objects` (default: `true`) -- compact duplicate keys in object literals. - `passes` (default: `1`) -- The maximum number of times to run compress. In some cases more than one pass leads to further compressed code. Keep in mind more passes will take more time. - `properties` (default: `true`) -- rewrite property access using the dot notation, for example `foo["bar"] → foo.bar` - `pure_funcs` (default: `null`) -- You can pass an array of names and UglifyJS will assume that those functions do not produce side effects. DANGER: will not check if the name is redefined in scope. An example case here, for instance `var q = Math.floor(a/b)`. If variable `q` is not used elsewhere, UglifyJS will drop it, but will still keep the `Math.floor(a/b)`, not knowing what it does. You can pass `pure_funcs: [ 'Math.floor' ]` to let it know that this function won't produce any side effect, in which case the whole statement would get discarded. The current implementation adds some overhead (compression will be slower). Make sure symbols under `pure_funcs` are also under `mangle.reserved` to avoid mangling. - `pure_getters` (default: `"strict"`) -- If you pass `true` for this, UglifyJS will assume that object property access (e.g. `foo.bar` or `foo["bar"]`) doesn't have any side effects. Specify `"strict"` to treat `foo.bar` as side-effect-free only when `foo` is certain to not throw, i.e. not `null` or `undefined`. - `reduce_funcs` (default: `true`) -- Allows single-use functions to be inlined as function expressions when permissible allowing further optimization. Enabled by default. Option depends on `reduce_vars` being enabled. Some code runs faster in the Chrome V8 engine if this option is disabled. Does not negatively impact other major browsers. - `reduce_vars` (default: `true`) -- Improve optimization on variables assigned with and used as constant values. - `rests` (default: `true`) -- apply optimizations to rest parameters - `sequences` (default: `true`) -- join consecutive simple statements using the comma operator. May be set to a positive integer to specify the maximum number of consecutive comma sequences that will be generated. If this option is set to `true` then the default `sequences` limit is `200`. Set option to `false` or `0` to disable. The smallest `sequences` length is `2`. A `sequences` value of `1` is grandfathered to be equivalent to `true` and as such means `200`. On rare occasions the default sequences limit leads to very slow compress times in which case a value of `20` or less is recommended. - `side_effects` (default: `true`) -- Pass `false` to disable potentially dropping functions marked as "pure". A function call is marked as "pure" if a comment annotation `/*@__PURE__*/` or `/*#__PURE__*/` immediately precedes the call. For example: `/*@__PURE__*/foo();` - `spreads` (default: `true`) -- flatten spread expressions. - `strings` (default: `true`) -- compact string concatenations. - `switches` (default: `true`) -- de-duplicate and remove unreachable `switch` branches - `templates` (default: `true`) -- compact template literals by embedding expressions and/or converting to string literals, e.g. `` `foo ${42}` → "foo 42"`` - `top_retain` (default: `null`) -- prevent specific toplevel functions and variables from `unused` removal (can be array, comma-separated, RegExp or function. Implies `toplevel`) - `toplevel` (default: `false`) -- drop unreferenced functions (`"funcs"`) and/or variables (`"vars"`) in the top level scope (`false` by default, `true` to drop both unreferenced functions and variables) - `typeofs` (default: `true`) -- Transforms `typeof foo == "undefined"` into `foo === void 0`. Note: recommend to set this value to `false` for IE10 and earlier versions due to known issues. - `unsafe` (default: `false`) -- apply "unsafe" transformations (discussion below) - `unsafe_comps` (default: `false`) -- compress expressions like `a <= b` assuming none of the operands can be (coerced to) `NaN`. - `unsafe_Function` (default: `false`) -- compress and mangle `Function(args, code)` when both `args` and `code` are string literals. - `unsafe_math` (default: `false`) -- optimize numerical expressions like `2 * x * 3` into `6 * x`, which may give imprecise floating point results. - `unsafe_proto` (default: `false`) -- optimize expressions like `Array.prototype.slice.call(a)` into `[].slice.call(a)` - `unsafe_regexp` (default: `false`) -- enable substitutions of variables with `RegExp` values the same way as if they are constants. - `unsafe_undefined` (default: `false`) -- substitute `void 0` if there is a variable named `undefined` in scope (variable name will be mangled, typically reduced to a single character) - `unused` (default: `true`) -- drop unreferenced functions and variables (simple direct variable assignments do not count as references unless set to `"keep_assign"`) - `varify` (default: `true`) -- convert block-scoped declaractions into `var` whenever safe to do so - `yields` (default: `true`) -- apply optimizations to `yield` expressions ## Mangle options - `eval` (default `false`) -- Pass `true` to mangle names visible in scopes where `eval` or `with` are used. - `reserved` (default `[]`) -- Pass an array of identifiers that should be excluded from mangling. Example: `["foo", "bar"]`. - `toplevel` (default `false`) -- Pass `true` to mangle names declared in the top level scope. Examples: ```javascript // test.js var globalVar; function funcName(firstLongName, anotherLongName) { var myVariable = firstLongName + anotherLongName; } ``` ```javascript var code = fs.readFileSync("test.js", "utf8"); UglifyJS.minify(code).code; // 'function funcName(a,n){}var globalVar;' UglifyJS.minify(code, { mangle: { reserved: ['firstLongName'] } }).code; // 'function funcName(firstLongName,a){}var globalVar;' UglifyJS.minify(code, { mangle: { toplevel: true } }).code; // 'function n(n,a){}var a;' ``` ### Mangle properties options - `builtins` (default: `false`) -- Use `true` to allow the mangling of builtin DOM properties. Not recommended to override this setting. - `debug` (default: `false`) -— Mangle names with the original name still present. Pass an empty string `""` to enable, or a non-empty string to set the debug suffix. - `keep_quoted` (default: `false`) -— Only mangle unquoted property names. - `regex` (default: `null`) -— Pass a RegExp literal to only mangle property names matching the regular expression. - `reserved` (default: `[]`) -- Do not mangle property names listed in the `reserved` array. ## Output options The code generator tries to output shortest code possible by default. In case you want beautified output, pass `--beautify` (`-b`). Optionally you can pass additional arguments that control the code output: - `ascii_only` (default `false`) -- escape Unicode characters in strings and regexps (affects directives with non-ascii characters becoming invalid) - `beautify` (default `true`) -- whether to actually beautify the output. Passing `-b` will set this to true, but you might need to pass `-b` even when you want to generate minified code, in order to specify additional arguments, so you can use `-b beautify=false` to override it. - `braces` (default `false`) -- always insert braces in `if`, `for`, `do`, `while` or `with` statements, even if their body is a single statement. - `comments` (default `false`) -- pass `true` or `"all"` to preserve all comments, `"some"` to preserve multi-line comments that contain `@cc_on`, `@license`, or `@preserve` (case-insensitive), a regular expression string (e.g. `/^!/`), or a function which returns `boolean`, e.g. ```javascript function(node, comment) { return comment.value.indexOf("@type " + node.TYPE) >= 0; } ``` - `galio` (default `false`) -- enable workarounds for ANT Galio bugs - `indent_level` (default `4`) - `indent_start` (default `0`) -- prefix all lines by that many spaces - `inline_script` (default `true`) -- escape HTML comments and the slash in occurrences of `` in strings - `keep_quoted_props` (default `false`) -- when turned on, prevents stripping quotes from property names in object literals. - `max_line_len` (default `false`) -- maximum line length (for uglified code) - `preamble` (default `null`) -- when passed it must be a string and it will be prepended to the output literally. The source map will adjust for this text. Can be used to insert a comment containing licensing information, for example. - `preserve_line` (default `false`) -- pass `true` to retain line numbering on a best effort basis. - `quote_keys` (default `false`) -- pass `true` to quote all keys in literal objects - `quote_style` (default `0`) -- preferred quote style for strings (affects quoted property names and directives as well): - `0` -- prefers double quotes, switches to single quotes when there are more double quotes in the string itself. `0` is best for gzip size. - `1` -- always use single quotes - `2` -- always use double quotes - `3` -- always use the original quotes - `semicolons` (default `true`) -- separate statements with semicolons. If you pass `false` then whenever possible we will use a newline instead of a semicolon, leading to more readable output of uglified code (size before gzip could be smaller; size after gzip insignificantly larger). - `shebang` (default `true`) -- preserve shebang `#!` in preamble (bash scripts) - `width` (default `80`) -- only takes effect when beautification is on, this specifies an (orientative) line width that the beautifier will try to obey. It refers to the width of the line text (excluding indentation). It doesn't work very well currently, but it does make the code generated by UglifyJS more readable. - `wrap_iife` (default `false`) -- pass `true` to wrap immediately invoked function expressions. See [#640](https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS/issues/640) for more details. # Miscellaneous ### Keeping copyright notices or other comments You can pass `--comments` to retain certain comments in the output. By default it will keep JSDoc-style comments that contain "@preserve", "@license" or "@cc_on" (conditional compilation for IE). You can pass `--comments all` to keep all the comments, or a valid JavaScript regexp to keep only comments that match this regexp. For example `--comments /^!/` will keep comments like `/*! Copyright Notice */`. Note, however, that there might be situations where comments are lost. For example: ```javascript function f() { /** @preserve Foo Bar */ function g() { // this function is never called } return something(); } ``` Even though it has "@preserve", the comment will be lost because the inner function `g` (which is the AST node to which the comment is attached to) is discarded by the compressor as not referenced. The safest comments where to place copyright information (or other info that needs to be kept in the output) are comments attached to toplevel nodes. ### The `unsafe` `compress` option It enables some transformations that *might* break code logic in certain contrived cases, but should be fine for most code. You might want to try it on your own code, it should reduce the minified size. Here's what happens when this flag is on: - `new Array(1, 2, 3)` or `Array(1, 2, 3)` → `[ 1, 2, 3 ]` - `new Object()` → `{}` - `String(exp)` or `exp.toString()` → `"" + exp` - `new Object/RegExp/Function/Error/Array (...)` → we discard the `new` ### Conditional compilation You can use the `--define` (`-d`) switch in order to declare global variables that UglifyJS will assume to be constants (unless defined in scope). For example if you pass `--define DEBUG=false` then, coupled with dead code removal UglifyJS will discard the following from the output: ```javascript if (DEBUG) { console.log("debug stuff"); } ``` You can specify nested constants in the form of `--define env.DEBUG=false`. UglifyJS will warn about the condition being always false and about dropping unreachable code; for now there is no option to turn off only this specific warning, you can pass `warnings=false` to turn off *all* warnings. Another way of doing that is to declare your globals as constants in a separate file and include it into the build. For example you can have a `build/defines.js` file with the following: ```javascript var DEBUG = false; var PRODUCTION = true; // etc. ``` and build your code like this: uglifyjs build/defines.js js/foo.js js/bar.js... -c UglifyJS will notice the constants and, since they cannot be altered, it will evaluate references to them to the value itself and drop unreachable code as usual. The build will contain the `const` declarations if you use them. If you are targeting < ES6 environments which does not support `const`, using `var` with `reduce_vars` (enabled by default) should suffice. ### Conditional compilation API You can also use conditional compilation via the programmatic API. With the difference that the property name is `global_defs` and is a compressor property: ```javascript var result = UglifyJS.minify(fs.readFileSync("input.js", "utf8"), { compress: { dead_code: true, global_defs: { DEBUG: false } } }); ``` To replace an identifier with an arbitrary non-constant expression it is necessary to prefix the `global_defs` key with `"@"` to instruct UglifyJS to parse the value as an expression: ```javascript UglifyJS.minify("alert('hello');", { compress: { global_defs: { "@alert": "console.log" } } }).code; // returns: 'console.log("hello");' ``` Otherwise it would be replaced as string literal: ```javascript UglifyJS.minify("alert('hello');", { compress: { global_defs: { "alert": "console.log" } } }).code; // returns: '"console.log"("hello");' ``` ### Using native Uglify AST with `minify()` ```javascript // example: parse only, produce native Uglify AST var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, { parse: {}, compress: false, mangle: false, output: { ast: true, code: false // optional - faster if false } }); // result.ast contains native Uglify AST ``` ```javascript // example: accept native Uglify AST input and then compress and mangle // to produce both code and native AST. var result = UglifyJS.minify(ast, { compress: {}, mangle: {}, output: { ast: true, code: true // optional - faster if false } }); // result.ast contains native Uglify AST // result.code contains the minified code in string form. ``` ### Working with Uglify AST Transversal and transformation of the native AST can be performed through [`TreeWalker`](https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS/blob/master/lib/ast.js) and [`TreeTransformer`](https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS/blob/master/lib/transform.js) respectively. ### ESTree / SpiderMonkey AST UglifyJS has its own abstract syntax tree format; for [practical reasons](http://lisperator.net/blog/uglifyjs-why-not-switching-to-spidermonkey-ast/) we can't easily change to using the SpiderMonkey AST internally. However, UglifyJS now has a converter which can import a SpiderMonkey AST. For example [Acorn][acorn] is a super-fast parser that produces a SpiderMonkey AST. It has a small CLI utility that parses one file and dumps the AST in JSON on the standard output. To use UglifyJS to mangle and compress that: acorn file.js | uglifyjs -p spidermonkey -m -c The `-p spidermonkey` option tells UglifyJS that all input files are not JavaScript, but JS code described in SpiderMonkey AST in JSON. Therefore we don't use our own parser in this case, but just transform that AST into our internal AST. ### Use Acorn for parsing More for fun, I added the `-p acorn` option which will use Acorn to do all the parsing. If you pass this option, UglifyJS will `require("acorn")`. Acorn is really fast (e.g. 250ms instead of 380ms on some 650K code), but converting the SpiderMonkey tree that Acorn produces takes another 150ms so in total it's a bit more than just using UglifyJS's own parser. [acorn]: https://github.com/ternjs/acorn [sm-spec]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U1RGAehQwRypUTovF1KRlpiOFze0b-_2gc6fAH0KY0k ### Uglify Fast Minify Mode It's not well known, but whitespace removal and symbol mangling accounts for 95% of the size reduction in minified code for most JavaScript - not elaborate code transforms. One can simply disable `compress` to speed up Uglify builds by 3 to 4 times. In this fast `mangle`-only mode Uglify has comparable minify speeds and gzip sizes to [`butternut`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/butternut): | d3.js | minify size | gzip size | minify time (seconds) | | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | | original | 451,131 | 108,733 | - | | uglify-js@3.0.24 mangle=false, compress=false | 316,600 | 85,245 | 0.70 | | uglify-js@3.0.24 mangle=true, compress=false | 220,216 | 72,730 | 1.13 | | butternut@0.4.6 | 217,568 | 72,738 | 1.41 | | uglify-js@3.0.24 mangle=true, compress=true | 212,511 | 71,560 | 3.36 | | babili@0.1.4 | 210,713 | 72,140 | 12.64 | To enable fast minify mode from the CLI use: ``` uglifyjs file.js -m ``` To enable fast minify mode with the API use: ```javascript UglifyJS.minify(code, { compress: false, mangle: true }); ``` ### Source maps and debugging Various `compress` transforms that simplify, rearrange, inline and remove code are known to have an adverse effect on debugging with source maps. This is expected as code is optimized and mappings are often simply not possible as some code no longer exists. For highest fidelity in source map debugging disable the Uglify `compress` option and just use `mangle`. ### Compiler assumptions To allow for better optimizations, the compiler makes various assumptions: - The code does not rely on preserving its runtime performance characteristics. Typically uglified code will run faster due to less instructions and easier inlining, but may be slower on rare occasions for a specific platform, e.g. see [`reduce_funcs`](#compress-options). - `.toString()` and `.valueOf()` don't have side effects, and for built-in objects they have not been overridden. - `undefined`, `NaN` and `Infinity` have not been externally redefined. - `arguments.callee`, `arguments.caller` and `Function.prototype.caller` are not used. - The code doesn't expect the contents of `Function.prototype.toString()` or `Error.prototype.stack` to be anything in particular. - Getting and setting properties on a plain object does not cause other side effects (using `.watch()` or `Proxy`). - Object properties can be added, removed and modified (not prevented with `Object.defineProperty()`, `Object.defineProperties()`, `Object.freeze()`, `Object.preventExtensions()` or `Object.seal()`). - Earlier versions of JavaScript will throw `SyntaxError` with the following: ```javascript ({ p: 42, get p() {}, }); // SyntaxError: Object literal may not have data and accessor property with // the same name ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Iteration order of keys over an object which contains spread syntax in later versions of Chrome and Node.js may be altered. - When `toplevel` is enabled, UglifyJS effectively assumes input code is wrapped within `function(){ ... }`, thus forbids aliasing of declared global variables: ```javascript A = "FAIL"; var B = "FAIL"; // can be `global`, `self`, `window` etc. var top = function() { return this; }(); // "PASS" top.A = "PASS"; console.log(A); // "FAIL" after compress and/or mangle top.B = "PASS"; console.log(B); ``` - Use of `arguments` alongside destructuring as function parameters, e.g. `function({}, arguments) {}` will result in `SyntaxError` in earlier versions of Chrome and Node.js - UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Earlier versions of Chrome and Node.js will throw `ReferenceError` with the following: ```javascript var a; try { throw 42; } catch ({ [a]: b, // ReferenceError: a is not defined }) { let a; } ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Later versions of JavaScript will throw `SyntaxError` with the following: ```javascript a => { let a; }; // SyntaxError: Identifier 'a' has already been declared ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Later versions of JavaScript will throw `SyntaxError` with the following: ```javascript try { // ... } catch ({ message: a }) { var a; } // SyntaxError: Identifier 'a' has already been declared ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Some versions of Chrome and Node.js will throw `ReferenceError` with the following: ```javascript console.log(((a, b = function() { return a; // ReferenceError: a is not defined }()) => b)()); ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Some arithmetic operations with `BigInt` may throw `TypeError`: ```javascript 1n + 1; // TypeError: can't convert BigInt to number ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Some versions of JavaScript will throw `SyntaxError` with the following: ```javascript console.log(String.raw`\uFo`); // SyntaxError: Invalid Unicode escape sequence ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors. - Some versions of JavaScript will throw `SyntaxError` with the following: ```javascript try {} catch (e) { for (var e of []); } // SyntaxError: Identifier 'e' has already been declared ``` UglifyJS may modify the input which in turn may suppress those errors.