Importing node modules from root directory using es6 and babel-node

Question

I'm writing a node app with es6 using babel transpiler.

I have 2 files index.js & my-module.js on my root directory

- index.js - my-module.js

my-module.js

export let myFunc = () => { console.log('myFunc was called!!!'); }

index.js

import {myFunc} from './my-module'; myFunc();

if I run the following line from the command line everything works as expected.

$ babel-node index.js >> myFunc was called!!!

but if I remove the dot when importing my-module:

import {myFunc} from '/my-module'; myFunc();

I'm getting an error:

Error: Cannot find module '/my-module'

Any reason why I can't import modules using an absolute path? anyway to change .babelrc config to support it?

Thanks

Brigand · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-26 09:06:27Z

Like (almost) any tool '/x' means 'x' in the root of your filesystem. Babel doesn't actually look at the paths, it just compiles

import {myFunc} from '/my-module';

into

var _myModule = require('/my-module');

And node actually looks up the module.

If you really want to import relative to the root of the project, you could use a plugin. I recommend using something that isn't very ambiguous, and make sure you document this for the next person reading your code!

Here's an example where we use a leading ~ to mean project relative. You could use anything you like e.g. ^ would also be good.

Example Input:

import {a} from '~my-module'; import {b} from '/my-module'; import {c} from './my-module';

scripts/babel-plugin-project-relative-require.js

module.exports = function (babel) { // get the working directory var cwd = process.cwd(); return new babel.Transformer("babel-plugin-project-relative-require", { ImportDeclaration: function(node, parent) { // probably always true, but let's be safe if (!babel.types.isLiteral(node.source)) { return node; } var ref = node.source.value; // ensure a value, make sure it's not home relative e.g. ~/foo if (!ref || ref[0] !== '~' || ref[1] === '/') { return node; } node.source.value = cwd + '/' + node.source.value.slice(1); return node; } }); };

.babelrc

{ "plugins": [ "./scripts/babel-plugin-project-relative-require.js" ] }

Output (if run in /tmp):

'use strict'; var _tmpMyModule = require('/tmp/my-module'); var _myModule = require('/my-module'); var _myModule2 = require('./my-module');

btw when running your attached plugin I get the following: TypeError: The plugin "./scripts/babel-plugin-project-relative-require.js" didn't export a Plugin instance
@Gavriguy update babel? Make sure the local and global versions are up to date, npm i -g babel@latest; npm i -D babel-core@latest
Once I packaged the plugin as a node module ( ` npm install github.com/gavriguy/babel-plugin-project-relative-require.git --save` ) it works like a charm. much appreciated @FakeRainBrigand

Michael J. Zoidl · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-31 06:48:03Z

41

The solution from FakeRainBrigand/Gavriguy is good and works well. So i decided to develop a plugin which you can easily install with npm in and use a simple Babel-Plugin.

https://github.com/michaelzoidl/babel-root-import

Hope this helps...

edited Aug 31, 2015 at 6:48

answered Aug 11, 2015 at 8:55

Michael J. Zoidl

1,78616 silver badges13 bronze badges

2 Comments

Borjante Over a year ago

This plugin has some troubles working on Windows given the sourcePath of windows operating systems. On Linux it works fine thought

Michael J. Zoidl Over a year ago

Check again :) We support windows since the last release \o/

vtambourine · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-26 10:07:47Z

First of all, Babel is just a transpiler from ES2015 to ES5 syntax. Its job is to transpile this:

import {myFunc} from '/my-module'

into this:

var _myModule = require('/my-module');

Actual module requiring performed by Node, and how Node does it you can read in details here: https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_file_modules

To summary, ./module means path to module relative to local directory, /module is an absolute path to module, module triggers Node to look for module in local node_modules directory and all ascending.

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