@babel/preset-env adding unnecessary core-js polyfill

[serenader2014]

Bug Report

Current Behavior
@babel/preset-env is adding unnecessary core-js polyfill, when setting @babel/preset-env 's target options to chrome 49, for a quite simple one line code :window.location.search, babel will produce a useless core-js polyfill:

"use strict";

require("core-js/modules/es6.regexp.search");

window.location.search;

The weird thing is, when changing the target browsers to chrome 50, the polyfill is gone. So why babel will produce this es6.regexp.search polyfill for this code under chrome 50 version?

Input Code

REPL link: https://babeljs.io/repl#?babili=false&browsers=chrome%2049&build=&builtIns=usage&spec=false&loose=false&code_lz=O4SwdgJg9sB0A2UDGBDALiKZYGcCmKATkgBYDcQA&debug=false&forceAllTransforms=false&shippedProposals=false&circleciRepo=&evaluate=false&fileSize=false&timeTravel=false&sourceType=module&lineWrap=true&presets=env&prettier=false&targets=&version=7.7.4&externalPlugins=

Expected behavior/code

Base on the input from the REPL link, the result should not contain core-js polyfill.

Babel Configuration (babel.config.js, .babelrc, package.json#babel, cli command, .eslintrc)

• Filename: babel.config.js

{
  "your": { "config": "here" }
}

Environment

• Babel version(s): [e.g. v6.0.0, v7.0.0-beta.34]
• Node/npm version: [e.g. Node 8/npm 5]
• OS: [e.g. OSX 10.13.4, Windows 10]
• Monorepo: [e.g. yes/no/Lerna]
• How you are using Babel: [e.g. cli, register, loader]

Possible Solution

Additional context/Screenshots
Add any other context about the problem here. If applicable, add screenshots to help explain.

[babel-bot]

Hey @serenader2014! We really appreciate you taking the time to report an issue. The collaborators on this project attempt to help as many people as possible, but we're a limited number of volunteers, so it's possible this won't be addressed swiftly.

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[JLHwung]

There are two questions here. The first one is why regexp.search polyfill is applied. The regexp.search polyfill kicks in because window.location could be overwritten as RegExp:

(function (window) {
  window.location = /foo/;
  window.location.search("foo");
})({})

so when Babel sees a pattern like foo.bar.search, it would assume that foo.bar may be a RegExp and inject the regexp.search polyfill if the browser does not support regexp.search.

The other question is why it is applied under chrome 50. Babel uses data in compat-table to determine when the polyfill should apply. However I do notice that chrome 49 is marked as supported on browser-compat-data, which is conflicted with compat-table.

If you have chrome 49 test environment and confirm it works under chrome 49, could you submit a PR to compat-table? Then preset-env will benefit from this change.

[zloirock]

However I do notice that chrome 49 is marked as supported on browser-compat-data, which is conflicted with compat-table.

I wrote many times that compat-table, caniuse and mdn/browser-compat-data are bad data sources for polyfilling. Chrome 49:

[serenader2014]

so when Babel sees a pattern like foo.bar.search, it would assume that foo.bar may be a RegExp and inject the regexp.search polyfill if the browser does not support regexp.search.

That sounds weird to me. So how can I use window.location.search without having a polyfill? Is there anyway to tell babel not to polyfill a specific file?