Is it possible to import modules from all files in a directory, using a wildcard?

Question

With ES6, I can import several exports from a file like this:

import {ThingA, ThingB, ThingC} from 'lib/things';

However, I like the organization of having one module per file. I end up with imports like this:

import ThingA from 'lib/things/ThingA';
import ThingB from 'lib/things/ThingB';
import ThingC from 'lib/things/ThingC';

I would love to be able to do this:

import {ThingA, ThingB, ThingC} from 'lib/things/*';

or something similar, with the understood convention that each file contains one default export, and each module is named the same as its file.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

I don't think this is possible, but afaik the resolution of module names is up to module loaders so there might a loader implementation that does support this.

Until then, you could use an intermediate "module file" at lib/things/index.js that just contains

export * from 'ThingA';
export * from 'ThingB';
export * from 'ThingC';

and it would allow you to do

import {ThingA, ThingB, ThingC} from 'lib/things';

Answer 2

Just a variation on the theme already provided in the answer, but how about this:

In a Thing,

export default function ThingA () {}

In things/index.js,

export {default as ThingA} from './ThingA'
export {default as ThingB} from './ThingB'
export {default as ThingC} from './ThingC'

Then to consume all the things elsewhere,

import * as things from './things'
things.ThingA()

Or to consume just some of things,

import {ThingA,ThingB} from './things'

Answer 3

The current answers suggest a workaround but it's bugged me why this doesn't exist, so I've created a babel plugin which does this.

Install it using:

npm i --save-dev babel-plugin-wildcard

then add it to your .babelrc with:

{
    "plugins": ["wildcard"]
}

see the repo for detailed install info

---

This allows you to do this:

import * as Things from './lib/things';

// Do whatever you want with these :D
Things.ThingA;
Things.ThingB;
Things.ThingC;

again, the repo contains further information on what exactly it does, but doing it this way avoids creating index.js files and also happens at compile-time to avoid doing readdirs at runtime.

Also with a newer version you can do exactly like your example:

 import { ThingsA, ThingsB, ThingsC } from './lib/things/*';

works the same as the above.

Answer 4

Great gugly muglys! This was harder than it needed to be.

Export one flat default

This is a great opportunity to use spread (... in { ...Matters, ...Contacts } below:

// imports/collections/Matters.js
export default {           // default export
  hello: 'World',
  something: 'important',
};

// imports/collections/Contacts.js
export default {           // default export
  hello: 'Moon',
  email: '[email protected]',
};

// imports/collections/index.js
import Matters from './Matters';      // import default export as var 'Matters'
import Contacts from './Contacts';

export default {  // default export
  ...Matters,     // spread Matters, overwriting previous properties
  ...Contacts,    // spread Contacts, overwriting previosu properties
};

// imports/test.js
import collections from './collections';  // import default export as 'collections'

console.log(collections);

Then, to run babel compiled code from the command line (from project root /):

$ npm install --save-dev @babel/core @babel/cli @babel/preset-env @babel/node 
(trimmed)

$ npx babel-node --presets @babel/preset-env imports/test.js 
{ hello: 'Moon',
  something: 'important',
  email: '[email protected]' }

Export one tree-like default

If you'd prefer to not overwrite properties, change:

// imports/collections/index.js
import Matters from './Matters';     // import default as 'Matters'
import Contacts from './Contacts';

export default {   // export default
  Matters,
  Contacts,
};

And the output will be:

$ npx babel-node --presets @babel/preset-env imports/test.js
{ Matters: { hello: 'World', something: 'important' },
  Contacts: { hello: 'Moon', email: '[email protected]' } }

Export multiple named exports w/ no default

If you're dedicated to DRY, the syntax on the imports changes as well:

// imports/collections/index.js

// export default as named export 'Matters'
export { default as Matters } from './Matters';  
export { default as Contacts } from './Contacts'; 

This creates 2 named exports w/ no default export. Then change:

// imports/test.js
import { Matters, Contacts } from './collections';

console.log(Matters, Contacts);

And the output:

$ npx babel-node --presets @babel/preset-env imports/test.js
{ hello: 'World', something: 'important' } { hello: 'Moon', email: '[email protected]' }

Import all named exports

// imports/collections/index.js

// export default as named export 'Matters'
export { default as Matters } from './Matters';
export { default as Contacts } from './Contacts';

// imports/test.js

// Import all named exports as 'collections'
import * as collections from './collections';

console.log(collections);  // interesting output
console.log(collections.Matters, collections.Contacts);

Notice the destructuring import { Matters, Contacts } from './collections'; in the previous example.

$ npx babel-node --presets @babel/preset-env imports/test.js
{ Matters: [Getter], Contacts: [Getter] }
{ hello: 'World', something: 'important' } { hello: 'Moon', email: '[email protected]' }

In practice

Given these source files:

/myLib/thingA.js
/myLib/thingB.js
/myLib/thingC.js

Creating a /myLib/index.js to bundle up all the files defeats the purpose of import/export. It would be easier to make everything global in the first place, than to make everything global via import/export via index.js "wrapper files".

If you want a particular file, import thingA from './myLib/thingA'; in your own projects.

Creating a "wrapper file" with exports for the module only makes sense if you're packaging for npm or on a multi-year multi-team project.

Made it this far? See the docs for more details.

Also, yay for Stackoverflow finally supporting three `s as code fence markup.

Answer 5

You now can use async import():

import fs = require('fs');

and then:

fs.readdir('./someDir', (err, files) => {
 files.forEach(file => {
  const module = import('./' + file).then(m =>
    m.callSomeMethod();
  );
  // or const module = await import('file')
  });
});

Answer 6

Similar to the accepted question but it allows you to scale without the need of adding a new module to the index file each time you create one:

./modules/moduleA.js

export const example = 'example';
export const anotherExample = 'anotherExample';

./modules/index.js

// require all modules on the path and with the pattern defined
const req = require.context('./', true, /.js$/);

const modules = req.keys().map(req);

// export all modules
module.exports = modules;

./example.js

import { example, anotherExample } from './modules'

Answer 7

I've used them a few times (in particular for building massive objects splitting the data over many files (e.g. AST nodes)), in order to build them I made a tiny script (which I've just added to npm so everyone else can use it).

Usage (currently you'll need to use babel to use the export file):

$ npm install -g folder-module
$ folder-module my-cool-module/

Generates a file containing:

export {default as foo} from "./module/foo.js"
export {default as default} from "./module/default.js"
export {default as bar} from "./module/bar.js"
...etc

Then you can just consume the file:

import * as myCoolModule from "my-cool-module.js"
myCoolModule.foo()

Answer 8

Just an other approach to @Bergi's answer

// lib/things/index.js
import ThingA from './ThingA';
import ThingB from './ThingB';
import ThingC from './ThingC';

export default {
 ThingA,
 ThingB,
 ThingC
}

Uses

import {ThingA, ThingB, ThingC} from './lib/things';

Answer 9

You can use require as well:

const moduleHolder = []

function loadModules(path) {
  let stat = fs.lstatSync(path)
  if (stat.isDirectory()) {
    // we have a directory: do a tree walk
    const files = fs.readdirSync(path)
    let f,
      l = files.length
    for (var i = 0; i < l; i++) {
      f = pathModule.join(path, files[i])
      loadModules(f)
    }
  } else {
    // we have a file: load it
    var controller = require(path)
    moduleHolder.push(controller)
  }
}

Then use your moduleHolder with dynamically loaded controllers:

  loadModules(DIR) 
  for (const controller of moduleHolder) {
    controller(app, db)
  }

Answer 10

If you are using webpack. This imports files automatically and exports as api namespace.

So no need to update on every file addition.

import camelCase from "lodash-es";
const requireModule = require.context("./", false, /\.js$/); // 
const api = {};

requireModule.keys().forEach(fileName => {
  if (fileName === "./index.js") return;
  const moduleName = camelCase(fileName.replace(/(\.\/|\.js)/g, ""));
  api[moduleName] = {
    ...requireModule(fileName).default
  };
});

export default api;

For Typescript users;

import { camelCase } from "lodash-es"
const requireModule = require.context("./folderName", false, /\.ts$/)

interface LooseObject {
  [key: string]: any
}

const api: LooseObject = {}

requireModule.keys().forEach(fileName => {
  if (fileName === "./index.ts") return
  const moduleName = camelCase(fileName.replace(/(\.\/|\.ts)/g, ""))
  api[moduleName] = {
    ...requireModule(fileName).default,
  }
})

export default api

Answer 11

This is not exactly what you asked for but, with this method I can Iterate throught componentsList in my other files and use function such as componentsList.map(...) which I find pretty usefull !

import StepOne from './StepOne';
import StepTwo from './StepTwo';
import StepThree from './StepThree';
import StepFour from './StepFour';
import StepFive from './StepFive';
import StepSix from './StepSix';
import StepSeven from './StepSeven';
import StepEight from './StepEight';

const componentsList= () => [
  { component: StepOne(), key: 'step1' },
  { component: StepTwo(), key: 'step2' },
  { component: StepThree(), key: 'step3' },
  { component: StepFour(), key: 'step4' },
  { component: StepFive(), key: 'step5' },
  { component: StepSix(), key: 'step6' },
  { component: StepSeven(), key: 'step7' },
  { component: StepEight(), key: 'step8' }
];

export default componentsList;

Answer 12

I was able to take from user atilkan's approach and modify it a bit:

For Typescript users;

require.context('@/folder/with/modules', false, /\.ts$/).keys().forEach((fileName => {
    import('@/folder/with/modules' + fileName).then((mod) => {
            (window as any)[fileName] = mod[fileName];
            const module = new (window as any)[fileName]();

            // use module
});

}));

Answer 13

if you don't export default in A, B, C but just export {} then it's possible to do so

// things/A.js
export function A() {}

// things/B.js
export function B() {}

// things/C.js
export function C() {}

// foo.js
import * as Foo from ./thing
Foo.A()
Foo.B()
Foo.C()