Why is it necessary to use the dot operator before the optional chaining - before a function?

Question

So this is the pic

so as you can see why do I have to use the dot operator after trying to do the optional chaining ?

I tried to exclude it but then it shows error.

Any help is appreciated.

Because that's the syntax for the feature. – Pointy May 13 '21 at 17:10 — Pointy, May 13 '21 at 17:10
@Pointy thanks man, didn't know that. – Regexes May 13 '21 at 17:11 — Regexes, May 13 '21 at 17:11

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '21 at 17:11

2

The reason is that ? and ?. are two different things. Only the latter is Option chaining, so if you remove the period, you have a start of a ternary operation.

Also note that The optional chaining ?. is not an operator, but a special syntax construct src

answered May 13 '21 at 17:11

Daniel

28,755
15
87
134

Thanks for the help man – Regexes May 13 '21 at 17:14

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '21 at 17:11

That's how the syntax was specified.

Why? Because without the dot, the ? is ambiguous and could the the begin of a conditional operator expression (… ? (…) : …) instead. To make parsing easier (not having to lookahead and find a matching :), the dot that immediately follows the question mark is required.

Why is it necessary to use the dot operator before the optional chaining - before a function?

2 Answers2