Webpack not converting ES6 to ES5

Question

I'm very new to Webpack. I think I'm doing it incorrectly. I would like to convert an ES6 function to ES5 function using babel. So I did some research and I found babel-loader. However, I'm not sure what I'm doing.

I ran npm install babel-loader --save-dev and it got added into my package.json

// package.json

{
  "name": "kanban",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "kanban",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-core": "^6.3.21",
    "babel-loader": "^6.2.0",
    "html-webpack-plugin": "^1.7.0",
    "json-loader": "^0.5.4",
    "webpack": "^1.12.9"
  }
}

// webpack.config.js

var path = require('path');
var HtmlwebpackPlugin =  require('html-webpack-plugin');

const PATHS = {
  app: path.join(__dirname, 'app'),
  build: path.join(__dirname, 'build')
};

module.exports = {
  entry: PATHS.app,
  output: {
    path: PATHS.build,
    filename: 'bundle.js'
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlwebpackPlugin({
      title: 'Kanban app'
    })
  ],
  module: {
    loaders: [
      { test: /\.js$/, loader: 'babel-loader' }
    ]
  }
};

// app/index.js - I just added some random useless function in ES6 syntax. I was hoping I'll see the ES5 format in my bundle.js file but it didn't change. It's still ES6 syntax in bundle.js

var component = require('./component');
var app = document.createElement('div');
document.body.appendChild('app');
app.appendChild(component());

let myJson = {
  prop: 'myProp'
};

let fives = [];
nums = [1, 2, 5, 15, 25, 32];

// Statement bodies
nums.forEach(function (v) {
  if (v % 5 === 0) {
    fives.push(v);
  }
}, this);

console.log(fives);

let sum = (a, b) => a + b;

// app/component.js

module.exports = function() {
  var element = document.createElement('h1');
  element.innerHTML = 'hello world';
  return element;
};

What do you expect it would do? You must compile your script with babel in the console or in a task runner (grunt, gulp, ...). babeljs.io/docs/usage/cli — Ludovic C
Thanks a lot. I thought Webpack will do it for me via babel-loader. — devwannabe
What I would like to happen is for Webpack to call babel and as much as possible to not use grunt or gulp — devwannabe
I found this in 2 seconds on google all you need. Please search a little bit before asking! 2ality.com/2015/04/webpack-es6.html — Ludovic C
Ludo, when i did a search, this S.O. question is what came up. And I'm glad it did because i got exactly the answer I was looking for (thanks, @dreyescat) without my having to search through full page tutorials like the one you linked to (which, while sometimes great also sometimes don't have the specific answer I need). Everyone learns in different ways, and for me, Stack Overflow is often my preferred way to get a quick answer. So I'm glad OP asked the question. — Jeremy Moritz

dreyescat dreyescat · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-21T21:53:49

If you want to compile ES6 to ES5 you need to install Babel ES2015 preset.

npm install babel-preset-es2015

Then you need to enable this preset. One way to enable this ES6 to ES5 compilation is using babel-loader query string:

  module: {
    loaders: [
      {
        test: /\.js$/,
        loader: 'babel-loader?presets[]=es2015'
      }
    ]
  }

or query option:

  module: {
    loaders: [
      {
        test: /\.js$/,
        loader: 'babel-loader',
        query: {
          presets: ['es2015']
        }
      }
    ]
  }

Webpack not converting ES6 to ES5

5 Answers