# is-reference

Utility for determining whether an AST node is a reference.

`foo` is a reference in these cases:

```js
console.log( foo );
var foo;
function foo () {}
function bar ( foo ) {}
export { foo as x };
```

`foo` is *not* a reference in these cases:

```js
var obj = { foo: 1 };
console.log( obj.foo );
export { x as foo };
```

In all cases, `foo` is an `Identifier` node, but the two kinds must be treated differently for the purposes of scope analysis etc. (The examples are non-exhaustive.)


## Installation

```bash
npm install is-reference
```


## Usage

Example using [Acorn](https://github.com/ternjs/acorn) and [estree-walker](https://github.com/Rich-Harris/estree-walker):

```js
const { parse } = require( 'acorn' );
const { walk } = require( 'estree-walker' );
const isReference = require( 'is-reference' );

const identifiers = [];
const references = [];

const ast = parse( `var a = b.c;` );

walk( ast, {
	enter ( node, parent ) {
		if ( node.type === 'Identifier' ) identifiers.push( node );
		if ( isReference( node, parent ) ) references.push( node );
	}
});

identifiers.forEach( node => console.log( node.name ) ); // a, b, c
references.forEach( node => console.log( node.name ) ); // a, b
```


## License

MIT