How to access the function "foo" via the string "foo" in NodeJS?

Question

i.e. what's the equivalent of the browser's "window" object, to which top level functions are attached?

The following code succeeds in the REPL:

var assert = require('assert');
function foo() { };
assert.ok(foo == this["foo"]);

However in a script (or a module) it fails--in both cases "this" is an empty object.

I'm wondering about this so I can easily export all functions visible in a module's namespace--I want to be able to do something like:

function foo() { };
function bar() { };

["foo", "bar"].forEach(function (k) {
    exports[k] = ???;
});

(eval(k) works for the ???, but, ugh.)

The best I could figure out is to export the function when you define it: var foo = exports.foo = function(){...};. Or, you could create your own object containing the functions you'll later export: var fns = {}; fns.foo = function(){...}; ... fns.forEach(...); — Matt Ball
– Matt Ball, Commented Feb 27, 2011 at 14:42

DTrejo · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-22 23:38:52Z

1

Matt Ball's answer is pretty good:

var foo = exports.foo = function() {
  //...
};. 

// Or, you could create your own object containing 
// the functions you'll later export: 

var fns = {}; 

fns.foo = function(){...}; 

// ... 

fns.forEach(/*...*/); 

// – Matt Ball Feb 27 at 14:42

Alternatively,

exports.foo = {
  method1: function() { /*...*/ }
, method2: function() { /*...*/ }
, method3: function() { /*...*/ }
  /*...*/
}

Some modules which exhibit best practices: https://github.com/cloudhead/journey/blob/master/lib/journey.js For browser compat: https://github.com/caolan/async/blob/master/lib/async.js https://github.com/mikeal/request/blob/master/main.js

/fyi #node.js IRC welcomes you: http://bit.ly/nodeIRC

edited Jan 22, 2012 at 23:38

answered Mar 30, 2011 at 5:43

DTrejo

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