no-useless-return removes return statements in unreachable code

[benjie]

Tell us about your environment

• ESLint Version: v5.16.0 (via the ESLint.org/demo website)
• Node Version: ESLint.org/demo website
• npm Version: ESLint.org/demo website

What parser (default, Babel-ESLint, etc.) are you using?

ESLint.org/demo default

Please show your full configuration:

This eslint.org/demo configuration (configured with just the no-useless-return rule)

What did you do? Please include the actual source code causing the issue, as well as the command that you used to run ESLint.

function foo(arg) {
  throw new Error("Debugging...");

  if (!arg) {
    return; // < This return incorrectly gets removed by auto-fix
  }

  console.log(arg);
}

Using eslint.org/demo link above

I added a throw statement to the top of my function to aid debugging, and the critical return statement from later in the code was dropped which I only discovered after removing the throw statement and strange errors occurring.

What did you expect to happen?

return; statement should be flagged in unreachable code if and only if it would be flagged in equivalent reachable code. (At least that's how I read the comment in the source code.)

If we were to remove the throw line, the return; statement would not be flagged; therefore it should not be flagged with the throw statement present.

What actually happened? Please include the actual, raw output from ESLint.

5:5 Unnecessary return statement. and fixed code removes the return statement. (See eslint.org/demo link)

Are you willing to submit a pull request to fix this bug?

This is currently beyond my ESLint skillset.