Node.js Web Development - Fourth Edition

Module identifiers and pathnames

Generally speaking, the module name is a pathname, but with the file extension removed. Earlier, when we wrote require('./simple'), Node.js knew to add .js to the filename and load in simple.js. Similarly, Node.js would recognize simple.json or simple.node as the filename legitimately satisfying require('./simple').

There are three types of module identifiers: relative, absolute, and top-level:

• Relative module identifiers: These begin with ./ or ../ and absolute identifiers begin with /. The module name is identical with POSIX filesystem semantics. The resultant pathname is interpreted relative to the location of the file being executed. That is, a module identifier beginning with ./ is looked for in the ...