require()'ing a CoffeeScript file from a JavaScript file or REPL

Question

I'm using Node.js and wanting to incorporate CoffeeScript into my workflow. I have two use-cases:

I want to be able to write JavaScript files which require() CoffeeScript modules
I want to be able to load CoffeeScript modules from within the node REPL

For case #1: I can just compile from .coffee to .js and require() the .js module, as a workaround.

For case #2: Right now I'm eval()ing the output of coffee-script.compile().

Is there a better, more unified way to do this?

That REPL is very primitive compared to the node one: it lacks colour, autocompletion, multi-line statements etc — nicolaskruchten
– nicolaskruchten, Commented Jan 22, 2011 at 19:06

TheHippo · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-10 13:05:01Z

95

The coffee-script module registers its extension once required.

$ echo 'console.log "works"' > module.coffee

$ echo '
> require("coffee-script")
> require("./module")
> ' > test.js

$ node test.js
works

$ node
> require('coffee-script'); require('./module')
works
{}

Edit: This behaviour has changed with the relase of CoffeeScript 1.7.0. Now you need to do:

require('coffee-script/register');

edited Feb 10, 2014 at 13:05

TheHippo

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answered Jan 22, 2011 at 16:39

matyr

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3 Comments

nicolaskruchten Over a year ago

Huh, why didn't I think of that? :)

vaughan Over a year ago

require.extensions is now deprecated and there is no alternative yet.

Gunchars Over a year ago

I expect it to stick around as it's a stable feature and, as you mentioned, there are not alternatives yet.

Zearin · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-02 15:51:42Z

12

A more versatile solution would be to use better-require.

npm install better-require

It lets you require() CoffeeScript files, no pre-compilation needed. (It also lets you require() a bunch of other file formats: CoffeeScript, clojurescript, yaml, xml, etc.)

In the case of CoffeeScript, it simply requires the coffee-script module.

require('better-require')();
var myModule = require('./mymodule.coffee');
var clojurescriptModule = require('./mymodule.cljs');
// etc.

Disclosure: I wrote better-require.

edited Jan 2, 2013 at 15:51

Zearin

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answered Nov 1, 2012 at 15:19

Olivier Lalonde

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2 Comments

flow Over a year ago

the central problem with require.extensions—that registering an extension changes global state, for your entire application—is, sadly, not addressed by better-require, meaning that things will break if any of your 3rd party sub-modules happen to depend upon a different version of, say, Yaml, or CoffeeScript.

shaunc Over a year ago

better-require also doesn't load ".litcoffee" modules by default, whereas they can be loaded via require('coffee-script/register');

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