Node.js v5.12.0 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.

Class: Buffer#

Used to handle binary data. See the buffer section.

__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.

For instance, given two modules: a and b, where b is a dependency of a and there is a directory structure of:

  • /Users/mjr/app/a.js
  • /Users/mjr/app/node_modules/b/b.js

References to __dirname within b.js will return /Users/mjr/app/node_modules/b while references to __dirname within a.js will return /Users/mj/app.

__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.

clearImmediate(immediateObject)#

clearImmediate is described in the timers section.

clearInterval(intervalObject)#

clearInterval is described in the timers section.

clearTimeout(timeoutObject)#

clearTimeout is described in the timers section.

console#

Used to print to stdout and stderr. See the