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I've always used require("<something>") such as require("http"), but recently I've seen in a Node.Js tutorial on YouTube that the guy in the videos initially started with require("<something>") only to see in his later videos that he uses require("node:<something>") instead.

I've looked through the Node.JS documentation every now and then for some other bits on information and either Node.Js does not use require("node:<something>") everywhere, or I have been extremely oblivious to that node:.

I've ran a few Google searches on node: and tried to look on Node.Js' documentation about this specific thing, but didn't really find much.

From my tests, I could not find a difference between the two and I do tend to believe that there isn't any, but thought I'd ask here just to be safe.

Adrian Constantinescu
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1 Answers1

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In Node.js, the require() function is used to load modules and files. The syntax require("something") is used to load a module or file named "something" from the local file system or from the installed node_modules directory.

On the other hand, require("node:something") is used to load a module that is part of the Node.js core modules. This syntax allows you to explicitly specify that you want to load a module from the Node.js built-in modules, rather than from the local file system or an installed package.

The use of node: prefix is helpful in cases where there might be a module with the same name in both the Node.js core modules and the local file system or installed packages. By specifying node:something, you ensure the module is loaded from the Node.js core modules.

It's worth noting that using require("node:something") is typically not necessary for most common use cases, as the core modules are automatically resolved without explicitly specifying the node: prefix. The prefix is primarily used to disambiguate module names in rare cases where conflicts may arise.

Hope this makes things clear.

Abubakar Dar
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