node.js require all files in a folder?

Question

How do I require all files in a folder in node.js?

need something like:

files.forEach(function (v,k){
  // require routes
  require('./routes/'+v);
}};

Solution 1

When require is given the path of a folder, it'll look for an index.js file in that folder; if there is one, it uses that, and if there isn't, it fails.

It would probably make most sense (if you have control over the folder) to create an index.js file and then assign all the "modules" and then simply require that.

yourfile.js

var routes = require("./routes");

index.js

exports.something = require("./routes/something.js");
exports.others = require("./routes/others.js");

If you don't know the filenames you should write some kind of loader.

Working example of a loader:

var normalizedPath = require("path").join(__dirname, "routes");

require("fs").readdirSync(normalizedPath).forEach(function(file) {
  require("./routes/" + file);
});

// Continue application logic here

Solution 2

I recommend using glob to accomplish that task.

var glob = require( 'glob' )
  , path = require( 'path' );

glob.sync( './routes/**/*.js' ).forEach( function( file ) {
  require( path.resolve( file ) );
});

Solution 3

Base on @tbranyen's solution, I create an index.js file that load arbitrary javascripts under current folder as part of the exports.

// Load `*.js` under current directory as properties
//  i.e., `User.js` will become `exports['User']` or `exports.User`
require('fs').readdirSync(__dirname + '/').forEach(function(file) {
  if (file.match(/\.js$/) !== null && file !== 'index.js') {
    var name = file.replace('.js', '');
    exports[name] = require('./' + file);
  }
});

Then you can require this directory from any where else.

Solution 4

Another option is to use the package require-dir which let's you do the following. It supports recursion as well.

var requireDir = require('require-dir');
var dir = requireDir('./path/to/dir');

Solution 5

I have a folder /fields full of files with a single class each, ex:

fields/Text.js -> Test class
fields/Checkbox.js -> Checkbox class

Drop this in fields/index.js to export each class:

var collectExports, fs, path,
  __hasProp = {}.hasOwnProperty;

fs = require('fs');    
path = require('path');

collectExports = function(file) {
  var func, include, _results;

  if (path.extname(file) === '.js' && file !== 'index.js') {
    include = require('./' + file);
    _results = [];
    for (func in include) {
      if (!__hasProp.call(include, func)) continue;
      _results.push(exports[func] = include[func]);
    }
    return _results;
  }
};

fs.readdirSync('./fields/').forEach(collectExports);

This makes the modules act more like they would in Python:

var text = new Fields.Text()
var checkbox = new Fields.Checkbox()

View more solutions

Comments

[Trevor Burnham]

To add some clarification: When require is given the path of a folder, it'll look for an index.js in that folder; if there is one, it uses that, and if there isn't, it fails. See github.com/christkv/node-mongodb-native for a real-world example of this: There's an index.js in the root directory that requires ./lib/mongodb, a directory; ./lib/mongodb/index.js' makes everything else in that directory available.

[Rafał Sobota]

require is a synchronous function so there is no benefits from callback. I would use fs.readdirSync instead.

[Richard Clayton]

Thanks, ran into this same problem today and thought "why isn't there a require('./routes/*')?".

[Inc1982]

@TrevorBurnham Thank you! I feel this should be added to the documentation.

[Robert Martin]

@RichardClayton what would the return value be of require('./routes/*')?

[Richard Clayton]

@RobertMartin it's useful when you don't need a handle to anything exported; for instance, if I just wanted to pass an Express app instance to a set of files that would bind routes.

[Robert Martin]

@RichardClayton I get that. I am pointing out that normally require will return the exports object. But in the case of requiring multiple files, it would not be obvious what should be the return value....

[antitoxic]

@TrevorBurnham To add, the main file (i.e. index.js) file of a directory can be changed via package.json in this directory. Like so: {main: './lib/my-custom-main-file.js'}

[Cory Gross]

The return value of require('./directory/*') could be an object with as many properties as there are valid js files in the directory, the name of each property being the basename of the js file, and the value of each being the require of that single file. Its really pretty obvious to me.

[tbranyen]

What is '*'? A file named *.js inside the directory? I'm confused as to what your response means Cory Gross.

[james_womack]

You'd want to guard against non-JS files with something like if (path.extname(file) === '.js') require("./routes/" + file)(app);

[Abhaya]

@TrevorBurnham I'm having to require all the files here like this. I dont know much about node.Is there anything I can do to iterate the objects without having to require every new file everytime github.com/abhayathapa/ember-blogger/blob/master/app/…

[Jason Walton]

Note that the "working example of loader" above is incorrect - readdirSync('./routes') will read the routes directory in the current working directory, when you actually want to load the routes directory in the same folder as the source file. It will appear to work if you run the file from the same folder as the file, but will fail if you try to run it from any other folder. This should be readdirSync(path.join(__dirname, "routes")).

[tbranyen]

Jason, I believe that path.resolve will work as well. I'll update OP with your fix for now and will update to resolve if that works too.

[biofractal]

+1 for require-dir because it automatically excludes the calling file (index) and defaults to the current directory. Perfect.

[Jamie Hutber]

Everybody should use this answer ;)

[ngDeveloper]

Best answer! Easier than all the other options, especially for recursive-child folders that have files you need to include.

[Mnebuerquo]

In npm there are a few more similar packages: require-all, require-directory, require-dir, and others. The most downloaded seems to be require-all, at least in July 2015.

[Admin]

I know this is more than a year old, but you can actually require JSON files too, so perhaps something like /\.js(on)?$/ would be better. Also isn't !== null redundant?

[stephenwil]

Recommend globbing due to the overall control you have over the sets of filespec criteria you can specify.

[Sean Anderson]

require-dir is now the most downloaded (but notably it doesn't support file exclusion at time of writing)

[deepelement]

glob? you mean glob-savior-of-the-nodejs-race. Best answer.

[thewaywewere]

Welcome to SO. Please read this how-to-answer for providing quality answer.

[Matt Westlake]

What variables does it save to? var x = require('x') What is var x in this case?

[danday74]

glob.sync( __dirname + '/routes/**/*.js' )

[lexa-b]

Use map() for save links: const routes = glob.sync('./routes/**/*.js').map(file => require( path.resolve( file ) ));

[givemesnacks]

Three years after Sean's comment above, require-dir added a filter option.

[alwaysbeshels]

Excellent answer, but no need to use path.resolve( file ); ! Simply using require(file); since file is a filename that includes the file path

[Werlious]

One suggestion for this answer, the current regex will match weird things like "serverjslib.js" and convert it to "servelib", which would break things. Notice how the "r" in server was cut off. Thats because your regex is really matching "[any single character]js". Obviously that module name is terrible, but the same goes for things like "express-json.js", "load-json-file.js" or "parse-json.js", mangling the names into "expresson", "loadon-file" and "parseon" respectively. This can be fixed by changing your regex to /\.js$/, matching only the literal dot and js at the end

[Artyom Ionash]

But why is path being requested here?

[SikoSoft]

Warning to anyone trying to use this today with a newer Webpack version that it will cause issues due to lack of polyfill support. A number of the packages glob relies on are no longer provided by Webpack (path, assert, fs). Even with configuring webpack resolve fallbacks, I still could not get the solution here to run in a Webpack project.