Node.js v0.7.5 Manual & Documentation
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.
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.