JSX (JavaScript XML, formally JavaScript Syntax eXtension) is an XML-like extension to the JavaScript language syntax.[1] Initially created by Facebook for use with React, JSX has been adopted by multiple web frameworks.[2]: 5 [3]: 11  Being a syntactic sugar, JSX is generally transpiled into nested JavaScript function calls structurally similar to the original JSX.

Markup

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An example of JSX code:

const App = () => {
   return (
     <div>
       <p>Header</p>
       <p>Content</p>
       <p>Footer</p>
     </div>
   ); 
}

Nested elements

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Multiple elements on the same level need to be wrapped in a single React element such as the <div> element shown above, a fragment delineated by <Fragment> or in its shorthand form <>, or returned as an array.[4][5][3]: 68–69 

Attributes

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JSX provides a range of element attributes designed to mirror those provided by HTML. Custom attributes can also be passed to the component.[6] All attributes will be received by the component as props.

JavaScript expressions

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JavaScript expressions (but not statements) can be used inside JSX with curly brackets {}:[3]: 14–16 

  <h1>{10+1}</h1>

The example above will render:

  <h1>11</h1>

Conditional expressions

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If–else statements cannot be used inside JSX but conditional expressions can be used instead. The example below will render { i === 1 ? 'true' : 'false' } as the string 'true' because i is equal to 1.

const App = () => {
   const i = 1;

   return (
     <div>
       <h1>{ i === 1 ? 'true' : 'false' }</h1>
     </div>
   );
}

The above will render:

<div>
  <h1>true</h1>
</div>

Functions and JSX can be used in conditionals:[3]: 88–90 

const App = () => {
   const sections = [1, 2, 3];

   return (
     <div>
       {sections.map((n,i) => (
           /* 'key' is used by React to keep track of list items and their changes */
           /* Each 'key' must be unique */
           <div key={"section-" + n}>
               Section {n} {i === 0 && <span>(first)</span>}
           </div>
       ))}
     </div>
   );
}

The above will render:

<div>
  <div>Section 1<span>(first)</span></div>
  <div>Section 2</div>
  <div>Section 3</div>
</div>

Code written in JSX requires conversion with a tool such as Babel before it can be understood by web browsers.[7][8]: 5  This processing is generally performed during a software build process before the application is deployed.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Draft: JSX Specification". JSX. Facebook. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  2. ^ Larsen, John (2021). React Hooks in Action With Suspense and Concurrent Mode. Manning. ISBN 978-1720043997.
  3. ^ a b c d Wieruch, Robin. The Road to React. Leanpub. ISBN 978-1720043997.
  4. ^ Clark, Andrew (September 26, 2017). "React v16.0§New render return types: fragments and strings". React Blog.
  5. ^ "React.Component: render". React.
  6. ^ Clark, Andrew (September 26, 2017). "React v16.0§Support for custom DOM attributes". React Blog.
  7. ^ Fischer, Ludovico (2017-09-06). React for Real: Front-End Code, Untangled. Pragmatic Bookshelf. ISBN 9781680504484.
  8. ^ Larsen, John (2021). React Hooks in Action With Suspense and Concurrent Mode. Manning. ISBN 978-1720043997.
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