Difference between destructing export default and module.exports

Question

I've been struggling to destruct my mongo object in another file, my object structure is like below.

  const env = {
       project: 'CRIBBBLE BACKEND',
       url: 'localhost',
       api: {
         url: 'https://api.dribbble.com/v1/',
       },
       port: parseInt(process.env.PORT, 10) || 3000,
       mongo: database,
};

 export default env;

But when I'm trying to import the mongo object in another js file like this { mongo } from 'config' the returned value is undefined. But if I change the export default value to module.exports it works as its expected.

So, I'm just wondering what is the difference between module.exports and export default?

Possible duplicate of [module.exports vs. export default in Node.js and ES6](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40294870/module-exports-vs-export-default-in-node-js-and-es6) — nilobarp, Dec 02 '17 at 06:31

Suren Srapyan · Answer 1 · 2017-12-02T06:34:44.470

3

module.exports is a NodeJS (CommonJS) style of importing and exporting from different files. import/export is ES6 feature of doing the same thing.

If you export defualt you need to import it like import env from 'location'(Look I emit the {} part) and then access the mongo via env.mongo. You can't just get the mongo object directly.

edited Dec 02 '17 at 06:34

answered Dec 02 '17 at 06:30

Suren Srapyan

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So, what is the difference in my case? – Pedram marandi Dec 02 '17 at 06:31
1

Ok but I still do not understand why I'm not able to destruct the returned object with `export default` – Pedram marandi Dec 02 '17 at 08:45

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 02 '17 at 08:51

While you export using export default foo the whole exported foo is available using {default: foo} after import. That's why you cannot access properties you want. Try to import as: import * as bar from './foo' and explore the bar using console.log(bar) to see what's happening underneath. Also for more info have a look: es6 module exports on 2ality.com

Difference between destructing export default and module.exports

2 Answers2