When working with Node.js, you may have come across the terms module.exports
and exports
. These two keywords are used to export functions, objects, or values from a module to be used in other parts of your code. While they may seem similar, there are some key differences between them.
The Basics
Let’s start with a brief overview of each keyword:
module.exports
: This is the actual object that is returned as the result of arequire
call. It can be any JavaScript value, such as a function, object, or primitive.exports
: This is a shorthand reference tomodule.exports
. Initially,exports
is set to reference the same object asmodule.exports
. However, if you reassignexports
to a new value, it will no longer referencemodule.exports
.
Using module.exports
When you want to export a single function or object from a module, you can assign it directly to module.exports
. Here’s an example:
module.exports = {
greet: function(name) {
console.log("Hello, " + name + "!");
}
};
In the above code, we are exporting an object with a single function called greet
. This can be imported into another module using require
and used like this:
const greeter = require('./greeter');
greeter.greet('John');
The output of the above code would be:
Hello, John!
Using exports
If you want to export multiple functions or objects from a module, you can use the exports
shorthand. Here’s an example:
exports.sayHello = function() {
console.log("Hello!");
};
exports.sayGoodbye = function() {
console.log("Goodbye!");
};
In the above code, we are exporting two functions, sayHello
and sayGoodbye
. These can be imported and used in another module like this:
const greetings = require('./greetings');
greetings.sayHello();
greetings.sayGoodbye();
The output of the above code would be:
Hello!
Goodbye!
Conclusion
Both module.exports
and exports
serve the same purpose of exporting values from a module in Node.js. However, it’s important to understand the differences between them. If you are exporting a single function or object, you can assign it directly to module.exports
. If you are exporting multiple functions or objects, you can use the exports
shorthand. Just remember that if you reassign exports
to a new value, it will no longer reference module.exports
.
That’s it for this blog post! I hope you found it helpful in understanding the differences between module.exports
and exports
in Node.js. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.
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