JavaScript export
export
Used to export functions to make them available for imports in external modules, and other scripts.
The export
statement is used when creating JavaScript modules to export functions, objects, or primitive values from the module so they can be used by other programs with the import
statement.
Exported modules are in strict mode
whether you declare them as such or not. The export statement cannot be used in embedded scripts.
Syntax
// Exporting individual features export let name1, name2, …, nameN; // also var, const export let name1 = …, name2 = …, …, nameN; // also var, const export function functionName(){...} export class ClassName {...} // Export list export { name1, name2, …, nameN }; // Renaming exports export { variable1 as name1, variable2 as name2, …, nameN }; // Default exports export default expression; export default function (…) { … } // also class, function* export default function name1(…) { … } // also class, function* export { name1 as default, … }; // Aggregating modules export * from …; export { name1, name2, …, nameN } from …; export { import1 as name1, import2 as name2, …, nameN } from …; export { default } from …;
nameN
Identifier to be exported (so that it can be imported via import
in another script).
Description
There are two different types of export, named and default. You can have multiple named exports per module but only one default export. Each type corresponds to one of the above syntax:
Named exports:
// export features declared earlier export { myFunction, myVariable }; // export individual features (can export var, let, // const, function, class) export let myVariable = Math.sqrt(2); export myFunction() { ... };
Default exports:
// export feature declared earlier as default export { myFunction as default }; // export individual features as default export default myFunction() { ... } export default class { .. }
Named exports are useful to export several values. During the import, it is mandatory to use the same name of the corresponding object.
But a default export can be imported with any name for example:
// file test.js let k; export default k = 12;
// some other file import m from './test'; // note that we have the freedom to use import m instead of import k, because k was default export console.log(m); // will log 12
You can also rename named exports to avoid naming conflicts:
export { myFunction as function1,
myVariable as variable };
And aggregate submodules together in a parent module so that they are available to import from that module.
// In parentModule.js export { myFunction, myVariable } from 'childModule1.js'; export { myClass } from 'childModule2.js'; // In top-level module import { myFunction, myVariable, myClass } from 'parentModule.js'
ExamplesSection
Using named exportsSection
In a module module.js
, we could include the following code:
// module "my-module.js" function cube(x) { return x * x * x; } const foo = Math.PI + Math.SQRT2; var graph = { options: { color:'white', thickness:'2px' }, draw: function() { console.log('From graph draw function'); } } export { cube, foo, graph };
Then in the top-level module included in your HTML page, we could have:
import { cube, foo, graph } from 'my-module.js'; graph.options = { color:'blue', thickness:'3px' }; graph.draw(); console.log(cube(3)); // 27 console.log(foo); // 4.555806215962888
It is important to note the following:
- You need to include this script in your HTML with a
<script>
element of type="module", so that it gets recognised as a module and dealt with appropriately. - You can't run JS modules via a
file://
URL — you'll get CORS errors. You need to run it via an HTTP server.
Using the default exportSection
If we want to export a single value or to have a fallback value for your module, you could use a default export:
// module "my-module.js" export default function cube(x) { return x * x * x; }
Then, in another script, it is straightforward to import the default export:
import cube from './my-module.js'; console.log(cube(3)); // 27