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: '/',
       },
       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?

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./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?

• javascript
• node.js
• babeljs

• Possible duplicate of module.exports vs. export default in Node.js and ES6 – nilobarp Commented Dec 2, 2017 at 6:31

2 Answers 2

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.

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.