What is the reason behind requiring an absolute path for res.sendFile() instead of a relative path?

If my index.js is in the same directory as my index.html, with a css folder containing styles.css like this:

/
  |- index.js
  |- index.html
  |- css/styles.css

In the index.html file, I can reference the css style using a relative path that directs to css/styles.css relative to the index.html file:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/styles.css">

However, when my express server's index.js receives a GET request, I need to use an absolute path:

app.get("/", function(req, res) {
  res.sendFile(__dirname + "/index.html");
});

Why does the file system behave differently in the case of specifying paths in index.html versus index.js?

The question seeks to understand why an absolute path is required in the index.js file instead of a relative one (and why errors occur).

Answer №1

To specify a file path, you can opt for using a relative path. This means that the path is determined based on the current working directory. In your Node.js project, this is typically the root directory rather than the root of your static files within the project during development.

  • However, in a production environment where the application may be launched via PM2 or AWS lambda function, the current working directory could be different and less predictable.

If you utilize __dirname to generate an absolute path, it ensures that the path is always relative to the location of the JavaScript module. This is particularly useful when bundling together static files with your JS module.

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