Global Objects

These objects are available in all modules. Some of these objects aren't actually in the global scope but in the module scope - this will be noted.

Table of Contents #

global #

The global namespace object.

In browsers, the top-level scope is the global scope. That means that in browsers if you're in the global scope var something will define a global variable. In Node this is different. The top-level scope is not the global scope; var something inside a Node module will be local to that module.

process #

The process object. See the process object section.

console #

Used to print to stdout and stderr. See the stdio section.

Buffer #

Used to handle binary data. See the buffers section.

require() #

To require modules. See the Modules section. require isn't actually a global but rather local to each module.

require.resolve() #

Use the internal require() machinery to look up the location of a module, but rather than loading the module, just return the resolved filename.

require.cache #

Modules are cached in this object when they are required. By deleting a key value from this object, the next require will reload the module.

__filename #

The filename of the code being executed. This is the resolved absolute path of this code file. For a main program this is not necessarily the same filename used in the command line. The value inside a module is the path to that module file.

Example: running node example.js from /Users/mjr

console.log(__filename);
// /Users/mjr/example.js

__filename isn't actually a global but rather local to each module.

__dirname #

The name of the directory that the currently executing script resides in.

Example: running node example.js from /Users/mjr

console.log(__dirname);
// /Users/mjr

__dirname isn't actually a global but rather local to each module.

module #

A reference to the current module. In particular module.exports is the same as the exports object. See src/node.js for more information. module isn't actually a global but rather local to each module.

exports #

An object which is shared between all instances of the current module and made accessible through require(). exports is the same as the module.exports object. See src/node.js for more information. exports isn't actually a global but rather local to each module.

setTimeout(cb, ms) #

clearTimeout(t) #

setInterval(cb, ms) #

clearInterval(t) #

The timer functions are global variables. See the timers section.

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