require statement not part of import statement javascript

Understanding the require Statement in JavaScript

As a JavaScript developer, I have come across the terms require and import quite often. While both of them are used for importing modules in JavaScript, they have different syntax and functionality.

The Role of require Statement in JavaScript

The require statement is a built-in function in Node.js that is used to load modules. It is not part of the ES6 specification but is widely used in Node.js development.

The require statement allows us to use modules in our Node.js application by importing them. It follows the CommonJS format, which means that it loads the entire module synchronously and returns its module.exports object.

Difference between require and import Statements

The main difference between require and import statements is their syntax and functionality. While require is used in Node.js, import is used in modern browsers that support ES6 modules.

The import statement also has a few advantages over require. It allows us to load modules asynchronously, which means that the browser can continue to load other scripts while waiting for the module to load. It also allows us to load only specific parts of a module instead of the entire module.

Using require Statement in JavaScript

To use the require statement in our Node.js application, we need to specify the module we want to import and assign it to a variable.

// importing the 'fs' module
const fs = require('fs');

// using the imported module
fs.readFile('example.txt', function (err, data) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log(data);
});

In the above example, we are importing the fs module and using its readFile method to read the contents of the example.txt file.

Conclusion

The require statement is an important part of Node.js development that allows us to use modules in our applications. While it has some limitations compared to the import statement, it is still widely used in Node.js development.