How to use "import" in Node.js?

Question

I tried to deploy my project developed using React and Node.js to Heroku, but after issuing git push heroku master, I got an error:

2020-06-05T02:12:18.092681+00:00 app[web.1]: import express from "express";
2020-06-05T02:12:18.092682+00:00 app[web.1]: ^^^^^^^
2020-06-05T02:12:18.092682+00:00 app[web.1]:
2020-06-05T02:12:18.092683+00:00 app[web.1]: SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier
2020-06-05T02:12:18.092683+00:00 app[web.1]: at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:718:23)

I googled and it is said that Node.js doesn't support ES6 syntax, and I can solve it by using babel. But I don't know how to configure it.

Below are my files:

.babelrc.json:

{
  "presets": [
    [
      "@babel/preset-env",
      {
        "targets": {
          "node": "current"
        }
      }
    ]
  ]
}

package.json:

{
  "name": "react_e-commerce",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "nodemon --watch backend --exec babel-node backend/server.js",
    "build": "rimraf dist && babel backend -d dist",
    "heroku-postbuild": "npm run build && cd e-commerce && npm install && npm run build"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "body-parser": "^1.19.0",
    "dotenv": "^8.2.0",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "jsonwebtoken": "^8.5.1",
    "mongoose": "^5.9.16"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@babel/cli": "^7.10.1",
    "@babel/core": "^7.10.1",
    "@babel/node": "^7.10.1",
    "@babel/preset-env": "^7.10.1",
    "babel-cli": "^6.26.0",
    "mkdirp": "^1.0.4",
    "nodemon": "^2.0.4",
    "rimraf": "^3.0.2"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node": "12.4.0",
    "npm": "6.9.0"
  }
}

And my whole project is on https://github.com/powerseed/e-commerce-React The e-commerce folder is for frontend.

Thanks in advance!

You _can_ use import in node. If you're on Node v13 or higher, just add `"type": "module"` to your `package.json` file. — Evan Conrad, Jun 05 '20 at 02:39

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 05 '20 at 02:34

2

You can just use require if you want. Here are the details on why there are two ways to bring in files. The difference between "require(x)" and "import x"

answered Jun 05 '20 at 02:34

georgedum

491
3
10

jimmont · Answer 2 · 2020-12-22T07:10:26.270

per the Nodejs docs I was able to use the following to run node node-module.js and similar may work in your situation--I'm unfamiliar with the specific node version you're working with currently, but the "type":"module" option would likely allow it--I'm using Nodejs v15 at the moment.

package.json

{
    "type": "module"
}

node-module.js

import * as os from 'os';
import defaultstuff, { stuff } from './node-import-stuff.js';

console.log(123 === stuff, defaultstuff, Object.keys(os));

node-import-stuff.js

export const stuff = 123;
export default stuff;

How to use "import" in Node.js?

2 Answers2