enum_constants_ordering

v1.0.0WarningConfigurableCode Organization

This rule flags an enum whose constants are not in the configured order.

An enum is a list a reader scans rather than reads, and finding a constant in an unordered list of twenty means checking all twenty. Ordering also makes an addition show up in a diff as one line in the middle rather than one appended at the end, which is where duplicates hide.

Outside preset: pedantic, this rule reports nothing until configured, because the useful order for an enum is often semantic rather than alphabetical — small, medium, large is correctly ordered and alphabetising it would be a regression. The pedantic preset deliberately chooses alphabetical order for mechanical consistency.

Only the first out-of-order constant is reported: one misplaced name makes every later name look wrong too, and reporting them all would turn one edit into a wall of diagnostics.

This rule is in the pedantic preset.

Don’t

enum Fruit { banana, apple, cherry }

Do

enum Fruit { apple, banana, cherry }

// Still correct with no `order:` configured — a semantic order is
// exactly why less strict presets leave this rule disabled.
enum Size { small, medium, large }

Enabling this rule

Outside preset: pedantic, enabling it by name is not enough — set order::

many_lints.yaml

rules:
  enum_constants_ordering:
    order: alphabetical

Options

analysis_options.yaml

analysis_options.yaml

many_lints:
  rules:
    enum_constants_ordering:
      order: alphabetical

many_lints.yaml

many_lints.yaml

rules:
  enum_constants_ordering:
    order: alphabetical

Option	Type	Default	Description
order	string	—	alphabetical, alphabetical_case_sensitive or by_length. Unset means the rule is silent

Turning this rule off

To disable this rule:

many_lints.yaml

rules:
  enum_constants_ordering: false

To keep the rule on but skip certain paths, use per-rule exclude.

Related rules

• pattern_fields_ordering — Keep pattern fields in a configured order.
• record_fields_ordering — Keep record named fields in a configured order.
• avoid_missing_enum_constant_in_map — Cover every enum constant in a map keyed by that enum.
• prefer_enums_by_name — Use .byName() instead of .firstWhere() to look up enum values by name.