Solve - ReferenceError path is not defined in JavaScript

Solve - ReferenceError path is not defined #

The "ReferenceError: path is not defined" occurs when we use the path module without importing it in a Node.js application. To solve the error, make sure to import the path module before using it - import path from 'path'.

To solve the error, import the path module before using it.

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import path from 'path';

// 👇️ "/dist/index.html"
console.log(path.join('/dist', 'index.html'));

If you need access to the directory name of a path, don't use the __dirname global variable because it's not available when using ES6 modules and you would get the error - "__dirname is not defined".

Here's how to get the directory name using the ES6 modules syntax.

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import path from 'path';
import {fileURLToPath} from 'url';

const filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);

const __dirname = path.dirname(filename);
// 👇️ "/home/john/Desktop/javascript"
console.log('directory-name️', __dirname);

// 👇️ "/home/john/Desktop/javascript/dist/index.html"
console.log(path.join(__dirname, '/dist', 'index.html'));

We used the dirname() method instead of the __dirname global to get the directory name.

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{
  "type": "module",
  // 👇️ ... rest
}

If you're using an older version of Node.js, you can use the require method.

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const path = require('path');

// 👇️ "/dist/index.html"
console.log(path.join('/dist', 'index.html'));