Import file based on relative path in JavaScript

Question

I have such project structure:

- MyApp
`- firstFolder
 `- firstFile.js
`- secondFolder
 `- thirdFolder
  `- thirdFile.js

How can I import firstFile.js from thirdFile.js?

Something like import myFunc from '../firstFolder/firstFile'; in thirdFile.js, doesn't work.

Solution 1

Description

Here are the pathing options:

../ will go back 1 folder, this is why we go back two folders:

import myFunc from ../../firstFolder/firstFile

So .. takes us back to secondFolder then we need to go back one more folder .. into the MyApp folder. Now we can traverse forward into firstFolder then point to firstFile.

or ./ - this is the present working directory (pwd), which will be thirdFolder from here we will need to go back 2 directories or ../..

import myFunc from ./../../firstFolder/firstFile

Other directory pathing options:

Since you didn't specify the full paths these are incomplete

/ - will start at the root directory of the Operating System

import myFunc from /fullPathtoProject/MyApp/firstFolder/firstFile

~/ this is the current users home directory

import myFunc from ~/pathFromHomeDirectory/MyApp/firstFolder/firstFile

Solution 2

If you use webpack you can tweak the loader to search for files relative to your base directory. Change your webpack.config.js to this

resolve: {
  modules: [
    path.resolve('./'),
    path.resolve('./node_modules')
  ]
},

or, if your sources are all relative to ./src, use path.resolve('./src'). If you want to be more specific you can also take a look at resolve.alias (see the webpack docs here: https://webpack.js.org/configuration/resolve/)

BTW: I'm using next.js in my application, which has its own webpack config, but you can modify it if you put something like

const path = require('path');
module.exports = ({
    webpack: (config, options) => {
        config.resolve.modules.push( path.resolve('./') )
        return config
    },
})

into your next.config.js, in order to modify the default one.

Solution 3

use=>

import myFunc from '../../firstFolder/firstFile';

or

import * as myFunc from '../../firstFolder/firstFile';

Solution 4

in ES5:

You should use two '..' to back 1 folder level

var myFunc = require('../../firstFolder/firstFile');

ES6 (ecmascript6):

import myFunc from '../../firstFolder/firstFile';

View more solutions

Comments

[abc123]

import ../../firstFolder/firstFile.js; or import ./firstFolder/firstFile.js

[Shilly]

Have you tried '../../firstFolder/firstFile', since you need to go two dirs up?

[Yurii N.]

@abc123 second answer doesn't work.

[Michael Freidgeim]

See levelup.gitconnected.com/…

[abc123]

@YuriyN. try / instead of ./ that is a nodejs reference

[Yurii N.]

Thanks for the answer! But abc123 was answered it first.

[abc123]

@YuriyN. k, then you'll need to use ../, can you try ~/, also are you just using these as the first character? can you post the full strings?

[Yurii N.]

I'll try all, and then write results, but I can say now, with certainty, that second variant doesn't work, it relates to current folder.

[Yurii N.]

Nothing work, I tried all these cases, but it doesn't work.

[Matt Yoon]

The example import myFunc from ./firstFolder/firstFile.js is wrong. Single . references the current directory.

[matanster]

Using just a slash prefix rather than ./ works for me with a modern browser. The tilda variant does not. So I think that as is, together with the previous comment this answer is too wrong to be here.

[abc123]

@matanster updated answers with more context; let me know if you desire more.

[abc123]

@MattYoon you are correct

[abc123]

@YuriiN. Please link to questions or give more detail for assistance.