What's right way to import a module javascript node.js

Question

I'm a little confused about how to import a module in my node project. I see two ways that are working, but what is the right way; or is there any any difference? I am referring to the case where the module I'm importing is at least one directory up.

Way #1:

const myModule = require('../myModule');

Way #2:

const myModule = require('./../myModule');

Also, I see some imports are done using the file extension, and other don't. What's the correct way?

const myModule = require('./myModule');

or

const myModule = require('./myModule.js');

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Both of these statements refer to the same location. ./ refers to the current directory and ../ to the parent. The first is a short form of the second — Shubham Khatri
– Shubham Khatri, Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 14:20
You might want to read nodejs.org/api/modules.html to get a better idea how the module loader works. It's mostly a project specific choice. Whatever works, works. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 14:24

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

2

There is no difference in the result, both will work. The second is just unnecessarily verbose (which is largely harmless, but I for one wouldn't use ./../myModule.js). The modules documentation says:

A required module prefixed with '/' is an absolute path to the file. For example, require('/home/marco/foo.js') will load the file at /home/marco/foo.js.

A required module prefixed with './' is relative to the file calling require(). That is, circle.js must be in the same directory as foo.js for require('./circle') to find it.

Without a leading '/', './', or '../' to indicate a file, the module must either be a core module or is loaded from a node_modules folder.

Re your edit:

Also, I see some imports are done using the file extension, and other don't. What's the correct way?

That same documentation addresses this just above the earlier quotes:

If the exact filename is not found, then Node.js will attempt to load the required filename with the added extensions: .js, .json, and finally .node.

.js files are interpreted as JavaScript text files, and .json files are parsed as JSON text files. .node files are interpreted as compiled addon modules loaded with dlopen.

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 17, 2017 at 14:20

T.J. Crowder

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6 Comments

jac0117 Over a year ago

Thank you. This is an excellent answer. My apologies for not having read the documentation before asking.

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@jac0117: Since they reorganized the docs a while back, conceptual information is in some ways a bit harder to find than it used to be. (Node has documentation issues in general, sadly, which is unfortunate for such a great tool.)

parwatcodes Over a year ago

@T.J.Crowder suppose mine module is in another folder so require('./../forms/contact) is this absolute path or relative

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@p0k8_: That's relative, and the usual way to write it is ../forms/contact.

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@p0k8_: No, the quotes from the documentation above quite clearly show how to use absolute paths.

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