4.x API

app.locals

The app.locals object is a JavaScript object, and its properties are local variables within the application.

app.locals.title
// => 'My App'

app.locals.email
// => 'me@myapp.com'

Once set, the value of app.locals properties persist throughout the life of the application, in contrast with res.locals properties that are valid only for the lifetime of the request.

You can accesss local variables in templates rendered within the application. This is useful for providing helper functions to templates, as well as app-level data. Note, however, that you cannot access local variables in middleware.

app.locals.title = 'My App';
app.locals.strftime = require('strftime');
app.locals.email = 'me@myapp.com';

app.mountpath

The app.mountpath property is the path pattern(s) on which a sub app was mounted.

var express = required('express');

var app = express(); // the main app
var admin = express(); // the sub app

admin.get('/', function (req, res) {
  console.log(admin.mountpath); // /admin
  res.send('Admin Homepage');
})

app.use('/admin', admin); // mount the sub app

It is similar to the baseUrl property of the req object, except req.baseUrl returns the matched URL path, instead of the matched pattern(s).

If a sub-app is mounted on multiple path patterns, app.mountpath returns the list of patterns it is mounted on, as shown in the following example.

var admin = express();

admin.get('/', function (req, res) {
  console.log(admin.mountpath); // [ '/adm*n', '/manager' ]
  res.send('Admin Homepage');
})

var secret = express();
secret.get('/', function (req, res) {
  console.log(secret.mountpath); // /secr*t
  res.send('Admin Secret');
});

admin.use('/secr*t', secret); // load the 'secret' router on '/secr*t', on the 'admin' sub app
app.use(['/adm*n', '/manager'], admin); // load the 'admin' router on '/adm*n' and '/manager', on the parent app

app.on('mount', callback(parent))

The mount event is fired on a sub-app, when it is mounted on a parent app. The parent app is passed to the callback function.

var admin = express();

admin.on('mount', function (parent) {
  console.log('Admin Mounted');
  console.log(parent); // refers to the parent app
});

admin.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Admin Homepage');
});

app.use('/admin', admin);

app.all(path, callback [, callback ...])

This method is like the standard app.METHOD() methods, except it matches all HTTP verbs.

It’s useful for mapping “global” logic for specific path prefixes or arbitrary matches. For example, if you put the following at the top of all other route definitions, it requires that all routes from that point on require authentication, and automatically load a user. Keep in mind that these callbacks do not have to act as end-points: loadUser can perform a task, then call next() to continue matching subsequent routes.

app.all('*', requireAuthentication, loadUser);

Or the equivalent:

app.all('*', requireAuthentication)
app.all('*', loadUser);

Another example is white-listed “global” functionality. The example is much like before, however it only restricts paths that start with “/api”:

app.all('/api/*', requireAuthentication);

app.delete(path, callback [, callback ...])

Routes HTTP DELETE requests to the specified path with the specified callback functions. For more information, see the routing guide.

You can provide multiple callback functions that behave just like middleware, except these callbacks can invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callback(s). You can use this mechanism to impose pre-conditions on a route, then pass control to subsequent routes if there’s no reason to proceed with the current route.

app.delete('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('DELETE request to homepage');
});

app.disable(name)

Sets the Boolean setting name to false, where name is one of the properties from the app settings table. Calling app.set('foo', false) for a Boolean property is the same as calling app.disable('foo').

For example:

app.disable('trust proxy');
app.get('trust proxy');
// => false

app.disabled(name)

Returns true if the Boolean setting name is disabled (false), where name is one of the properties from the app settings table.

app.disabled('trust proxy');
// => true

app.enable('trust proxy');
app.disabled('trust proxy');
// => false

app.enable(name)

Sets the Boolean setting name to true, where name is one of the properties from the app settings table. Calling app.set('foo', true) for a Boolean property is the same as calling app.enable('foo').

app.enable('trust proxy');
app.get('trust proxy');
// => true

app.enabled(name)

Returns true if the setting name is enabled (true), where name is one of the properties from the app settings table.

app.enabled('trust proxy');
// => false

app.enable('trust proxy');
app.enabled('trust proxy');
// => true

app.engine(ext, callback)

Registers the given template engine callback as ext.

By default, Express will require() the engine based on the file extension. For example, if you try to render a “foo.jade” file, Express invokes the following internally, and caches the require() on subsequent calls to increase performance.

app.engine('jade', require('jade').__express);

Use this method for engines that do not provide .__express out of the box, or if you wish to “map” a different extension to the template engine.

For example, to map the EJS template engine to “.html” files:

app.engine('html', require('ejs').renderFile);

In this case, EJS provides a .renderFile() method with the same signature that Express expects: (path, options, callback), though note that it aliases this method as ejs.__express internally so if you’re using “.ejs” extensions you don’t need to do anything.

Some template engines do not follow this convention. The consolidate.js library maps Node template engines to follow this convention, so they work seemlessly with Express.

var engines = require('consolidate');
app.engine('haml', engines.haml);
app.engine('html', engines.hogan);

app.get(name)

Returns the value of name app setting, where name is one of strings in the app settings table. For example:

app.get('title');
// => undefined

app.set('title', 'My Site');
app.get('title');
// => "My Site"

app.get(path, callback [, callback ...])

Routes HTTP GET requests to the specified path with the specified callback functions. For more information, see the routing guide.

You can provide multiple callback functions that behave just like middleware, except these callbacks can invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callback(s). You can use this mechanism to impose pre-conditions on a route, then pass control to subsequent routes if there’s no reason to proceed with the current route.

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('GET request to homepage');
});

app.listen(port, [hostname], [backlog], [callback])

Binds and listens for connections on the specified host and port. This method is identical to Node’s http.Server.listen().

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.listen(3000);

The app returned by express() is in fact a JavaScript Function, designed to be passed to Node’s HTTP servers as a callback to handle requests. This makes it easy to provide both HTTP and HTTPS versions of your app with the same code base, as the app does not inherit from these (it is simply a callback):

var express = require('express');
var https = require('https');
var http = require('http');
var app = express();

http.createServer(app).listen(80);
https.createServer(options, app).listen(443);

The app.listen() method is a convenience method for the following (for HTTP only):

app.listen = function() {
  var server = http.createServer(this);
  return server.listen.apply(server, arguments);
};

app.METHOD(path, callback [, callback ...])

Routes an HTTP request, where METHOD is the HTTP method of the request, such as GET, PUT, POST, and so on, in lowercase. Thus, the actual methods are app.get(), app.post(), app.put(), and so on. See below for the complete list.

For more information, see the routing guide.

Express supports the following routing methods corresponding to the HTTP methods of the same names:

You can provide multiple callback functions that behave just like middleware, except that these callbacks can invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callback(s). You can use this mechanism to impose pre-conditions on a route, then pass control to subsequent routes if there is no reason to proceed with the current route.

There is a special routing method, app.all(), that is not derived from any HTTP method. It loads middleware at a path for all request methods.

In the following example, the handler is executed for requests to “/secret” whether using GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, or any other HTTP request method.

app.all('/secret', function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('Accessing the secret section ...')
  next() // pass control to the next handler
})

app.param([name], callback)

Add callback triggers to route parameters, where name is the name of the parameter or an array of them, and function is the callback function. The parameters of the callback function are the request object, the response object, the next middleware, and the value of the parameter, in that order.

For example, when :user is present in a route path, you may map user loading logic to automatically provide req.user to the route, or perform validations on the parameter input.

app.param('user', function(req, res, next, id) {

  // try to get the user details from the User model and attach it to the request object
  User.find(id, function(err, user) {
    if (err) {
      next(err);
    } else if (user) {
      req.user = user;
      next();
    } else {
      next(new Error('failed to load user'));
    }
  });
});

Param callback functions are local to the router on which they are defined. They are not inherited by mounted apps or routers. Hence, param callbacks defined on app will be triggered only by route parameters defined on app routes.

A param callback will be called only once in a request-response cycle, even if the parameter is matched in multiple routes, as shown in the following example.

app.param('id', function (req, res, next, id) {
  console.log('CALLED ONLY ONCE');
  next();
})

app.get('/user/:id', function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('although this matches');
  next();
});

app.get('/user/:id', function (req, res) {
  console.log('and this matches too');
  res.end();
});

By passing only a callback function, you can alter the app.param() API. For example the express-params defines the following callback which allows you to restrict parameters to a given regular expression.

router.get('/user/:id([0-9]+)', function(req, res){
  res.send('user ' + req.params.id);
});

router.get('/range/:range(\\w+\.\.\\w+)', function(req, res){
  var range = req.params.range.split('..');
  res.send('from ' + range[0] + ' to ' + range[1]);
});

app.param(function(name, fn) {
  if (fn instanceof RegExp) {
    return function(req, res, next, val) {
      var captures;
      if (captures = fn.exec(String(val))) {
        req.params[name] = captures;
        next();
      } else {
        next('route');
      }
    }
  }
});

The method could now be used to effectively validate parameters (and optionally parse them to provide capture groups):

// validation rule for id: should be one or more digits
app.param('id', /^\d+$/);

app.get('/user/:id', function(req, res) {
  res.send('user ' + req.params.id);
});

// validation rule for range: should start with one more alphanumeric characters, followed by two dots, and end with one more alphanumeric characters
app.param('range', /^(\w+)\.\.(\w+)?$/);

app.get('/range/:range', function(req, res) {
  var range = req.params.range;
  res.send('from ' + range[1] + ' to ' + range[2]);
});

app.path()

Returns the canonical path of the app, a string.

var app = express()
  , blog = express()
  , blogAdmin = express();

app.use('/blog', blog);
blog.use('/admin', blogAdmin);

console.log(app.path()); // ''
console.log(blog.path()); // '/blog'
console.log(blogAdmin.path()); // '/blog/admin'

The behavior of this method can become very complicated in complex cases of mounted apps: it is usually better to use req.baseUrl to get the canonical path of the app.

app.post(path, callback [, callback ...])

Routes HTTP POST requests to the specified path with the specified callback functions. For more information, see the routing guide.

You can provide multiple callback functions that behave just like middleware, except that these callbacks can invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callback(s). You can use this mechanism to impose pre-conditions on a route, then pass control to subsequent routes if there’s no reason to proceed with the current route.

app.post('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('POST request to homepage');
});

app.put(path, callback [, callback ...])

Routes HTTP PUT requests to the specified path with the specified callback functions. For more information, see the routing guide.

You can provide multiple callback functions that behave just like middleware, except that these callbacks can invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callback(s). You can use this mechanism to impose pre-conditions on a route, then pass control to subsequent routes if there’s no reason to proceed with the current route.

app.put('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('PUT request to homepage');
});

app.render(view, [locals], callback)

Returns the rendered HTML of a view via the callback function. It accepts an optional parameter that is an object containing local variables for the view. It is like res.render(), except it cannot send the rendered view to the client on its own.

app.render('email', function(err, html){
  // ...
});

app.render('email', { name: 'Tobi' }, function(err, html){
  // ...
});

app.route(path)

Returns an instance of a single route, which you can then use to handle HTTP verbs with optional middleware. Use app.route() to avoid duplicate route names (and thus typo errors).

var app = express();

app.route('/events')
.all(function(req, res, next) {
  // runs for all HTTP verbs first
  // think of it as route specific middleware!
})
.get(function(req, res, next) {
  res.json(...);
})
.post(function(req, res, next) {
  // maybe add a new event...
})

app.set(name, value)

Assigns setting name to value, where name is one of the properties from the app settings table.

Calling app.set('foo', true) for a Boolean property is the same as calling app.enable('foo'). Similarly, calling app.set('foo', false) for a Boolean property is the same as calling app.disable('foo').

Retrieve the value of a setting with app.get().

app.set('title', 'My Site');
app.get('title'); // "My Site"

Application Settings

If name is one of the application settings, it affects the behavior of the application. The following table lists application settings.

app.set('trust proxy', 'loopback') // specify a single subnet
  app.set('trust proxy', 'loopback, 123.123.123.123') // specify a subnet and an address
  app.set('trust proxy', 'loopback, linklocal, uniquelocal') // specify multiple subnets as CSV
  app.set('trust proxy', ['loopback', 'linklocal', 'uniquelocal']) // specify multiple subnets as an array

app.set('trust proxy', function (ip) {
    if (ip === '127.0.0.1' || ip === '123.123.123.123') return true; // trusted IPs
    else return false;
  })

app.set('etag', function (body, encoding) {
  return generateHash(body, encoding); // consider the function is defined
  })

app.use([path,] function [, function...])

Mounts the middleware function(s) at the path. If path is not specified, it defaults to “/”.

Mounting a middleware at a path will cause the middleware function to be executed whenever the base of the requested path matches the path.

Since path defaults to “/”, middleware mounted without a path will be executed for every request to the app.

// this middleware will be executed for every request to the app
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('Time: %d', Date.now());
  next();
})

Middleware functions are executed sequentially, therefore the order of middleware inclusion is important.

// this middleware will not allow the request to go beyond it
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
  res.send('Hello World');
})

// requests will never reach this route
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Welcome');
})

path can be a string representing a path, a path pattern, a regular expression to match paths, or an array of combinations thereof.

// will match paths starting with /abcd
app.use('/abcd', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

// will match paths starting with /abcd and /abd
app.use('/abc?d', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

// will match paths starting with /abcd, /abbcd, /abbbbbcd and so on
app.use('/ab+cd', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

// will match paths starting with /abcd, /abxcd, /abFOOcd, /abbArcd and so on
app.use('/ab\*cd', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

// will match paths starting with /ad and /abcd
app.use('/a(bc)?d', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

// will match paths starting with /abc and /xyz
app.use(/\/abc|\/xyz/, function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

// will match paths starting with /abcd, /xyza, /lmn, and /pqr
app.use(['/abcd', '/xyza', /\/lmn|\/pqr/], function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

function can be a middleware function, a series of middleware functions, an array of middleware functions, or a combination of all of them. Since router and app implement the middleware interface, you can use them as you would any other middleware function.

app.use(function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

var router = express.Router();
router.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})
app.use(router);

var subApp = express();
subApp.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})
app.use(subApp);

var r1 = express.Router();
r1.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

var r2 = express.Router();
r2.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

app.use(r1, r2);

var r1 = express.Router();
r1.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

var r2 = express.Router();
r2.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
  next();
})

app.use('/', [r1, r2]);

function mw1(req, res, next) { next(); }
function mw2(req, res, next) { next(); }

var r1 = express.Router();
r1.get('/', function (req, res, next) { next(); });

var r2 = express.Router();
r2.get('/', function (req, res, next) { next(); });

var subApp = express();
subApp.get('/', function (req, res, next) { next(); });

app.use(mw1, [mw2, r1, r2], subApp);

Following are some examples of using the express.static middleware in an Express app.

Serve static content for the app from the “public” directory in the application directory:

// GET /style.css etc
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

Mount the middleware at “/static” to serve static content only when their request path is prefixed with “/static”:

// GET /static/style.css etc.
app.use('/static', express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

Disable logging for static content requests by loading the logger middleware after the static middleware:

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.use(logger());

Serve static files from multiple directories, but give precedence to “./public” over the others:

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/files'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/uploads'));

req.app

This property holds a reference to the instance of the express application that is using the middleware.

If you follow the pattern in which you create a module that just exports a middleware in order for requiring it in your main file, then the middleware can access the express instance via req.app

For example:

//index.js
app.get("/viewdirectory", require("./mymiddleware.js"))

//mymiddleware.js
module.exports = function (req, res) {
  res.send("The views directory is " + req.app.get("views"));
});

req.baseUrl

The URL path on which a router instance was mounted. For example:

var greet = express.Router();

greet.get('/jp', function (req, res) {
  console.log(req.baseUrl); // /greet
  res.send('Konichiwa!');
});

app.use('/greet', greet); // load the router on '/greet'

Even if you use a path pattern or a set of path patterns to load the router, the baseUrl property returns the matched string, not the pattern(s). In the following example, the greet router is loaded on two path patterns.

app.use(['/gre+t', '/hel{2}o'], greet); // load the router on '/gre+t' and '/hel{2}o'

When a request is made to /greet/jp, req.baseUrl is “/greet”. When a request is made to /hello/jp, req.baseUrl is “/hello”.

req.baseUrl is similar to the mountpath property of the app object, except app.mountpath returns the matched path pattern(s).

req.body

Contains key-value pairs of data submitted in the request body. By default, it is undefined, and is populated when you use body-parsing middleware such as body-parser and multer.

This example shows how to use body-parsing middleware to populate req.body.

var app = require('express')();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var multer = require('multer'); 

app.use(bodyParser.json()); // for parsing application/json
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true })); // for parsing application/x-www-form-urlencoded
app.use(multer()); // for parsing multipart/form-data

app.post('/', function (req, res) {
  console.log(req.body);
  res.json(req.body);
})

req.cookies

When using cookie-parser middleware, this property is an object that contains cookies sent by the request. If the request contains no cookies, it defaults to {}.

// Cookie: name=tj
req.cookies.name
// => "tj"

For more information, issues, or concerns, see cookie-parser.

req.fresh

Indicates whether the request is “fresh.” It is the opposite of req.stale.

It is true if the cache-control request header doesn’t have a no-cache directive and any of the following is true:

• The if-modified-since request header is specified and last-modified request header is equal to or eariler than the modified response header.
• The if-none-match request header is *.
• The if-none-match request header, after being parsed into its directives, does not match the etag response header.

req.fresh
// => true

For more information, issues, or concerns, see fresh.

req.hostname

Contains the hostname from the “Host” HTTP header.

// Host: "example.com:3000"
req.hostname
// => "example.com"

req.ip

The remote IP address of the request.

If the trust proxy is setting enabled, it is the upstream address; see Express behind proxies for more information.

req.ip
// => "127.0.0.1"

req.ips

When the trust proxy setting is true, this property contains an array of IP addresses specified in the “X-Forwarded-For” request header. Otherwise, it contains an empty array.

For example, if “X-Forwarded-For” is “client, proxy1, proxy2”, req.ips would be ["client", "proxy1", "proxy2"], where “proxy2” is the furthest downstream.

For more information on the trust proxy setting, see app.set.

req.originalUrl

This property is much like req.url; however, it retains the original request URL, allowing you to rewrite req.url freely for internal routing purposes. For example, the “mounting” feature of app.use() will rewrite req.url to strip the mount point.

// GET /search?q=something
req.originalUrl
// => "/search?q=something"

req.params

An object containing properties mapped to the named route “parameters”. For example, if you have the route /user/:name, then the “name” property is available as req.params.name. This object defaults to {}.

// GET /user/tj
req.params.name
// => "tj"

When you use a regular expression for the route definition, capture groups are provided in the array using req.params[n], where n is the n^th capture group. This rule is applied to unnamed wild card matches with string routes such as /file/*:

// GET /file/javascripts/jquery.js
req.params[0]
// => "javascripts/jquery.js"

req.path

Contains the path part of the request URL.

// example.com/users?sort=desc
req.path
// => "/users"

req.protocol

The request protocol string, “http” or “https” when requested with TLS. When the “trust proxy” setting trusts the socket address, the value of the “X-Forwarded-Proto” header (“http” or “https”) field will be trusted and used if present.

req.protocol
// => "http"

req.query

An object containing a property for each query string parameter in the route. If there is no query string, it is the empty object, {}.

// GET /search?q=tobi+ferret
req.query.q
// => "tobi ferret"

// GET /shoes?order=desc&shoe[color]=blue&shoe[type]=converse
req.query.order
// => "desc"

req.query.shoe.color
// => "blue"

req.query.shoe.type
// => "converse"

req.route

The currently-matched route, a string. For example:

app.get('/user/:id?', function userIdHandler(req, res) {
  console.log(req.route);
  res.send('GET');
})

Example output from the previous snippet:

{ path: '/user/:id?',
  stack:
   [ { handle: [Function: userIdHandler],
       name: 'userIdHandler',
       params: undefined,
       path: undefined,
       keys: [],
       regexp: /^\/?$/i,
       method: 'get' } ],
  methods: { get: true } }

req.secure

A Boolean that is true if a TLS connection is established. Equivalent to:

'https' == req.protocol;

req.signedCookies

When using cookie-parser middleware, this property contains signed cookies sent by the request, unsigned and ready for use. Signed cookies reside in a different object to show developer intent; otherwise, a malicious attack could be placed on req.cookie values (which are easy to spoof). Note that signing a cookie does not make it “hidden” or encrypted; but simply prevents tampering (because the secret used to sign is private). If no signed cookies are sent, the property defaults to {}.

// Cookie: user=tobi.CP7AWaXDfAKIRfH49dQzKJx7sKzzSoPq7/AcBBRVwlI3
req.signedCookies.user
// => "tobi"

For more information, issues, or concerns, see cookie-parser.

req.stale

Indicates whether the request is “stale,” and is the opposite of req.fresh. For more information, see req.fresh.

req.stale
// => true

req.subdomains

An array of subdomains in the domain name of the request.

// Host: "tobi.ferrets.example.com"
req.subdomains
// => ["ferrets", "tobi"]

req.xhr

A Boolean value that is true if the request’s “X-Requested-With” header field is “XMLHttpRequest”, indicating that the request was issued by a client library such as jQuery.

req.xhr
// => true

req.accepts(types)

Checks if the specified content types are acceptable, based on the request’s Accept HTTP header field. The method returns the best match, or if none of the specified content types is acceptable, returns undefined (in which case, the application should respond with 406 "Not Acceptable").

The type value may be a single MIME type string (such as “application/json”), an extension name such as “json”, a comma-delimited list, or an array. For a list or array, the method returns the best match (if any).

// Accept: text/html
req.accepts('html');
// => "html"

// Accept: text/*, application/json
req.accepts('html');
// => "html"
req.accepts('text/html');
// => "text/html"
req.accepts('json, text');
// => "json"
req.accepts('application/json');
// => "application/json"

// Accept: text/*, application/json
req.accepts('image/png');
req.accepts('png');
// => undefined

// Accept: text/*;q=.5, application/json
req.accepts(['html', 'json']);
req.accepts('html, json');
// => "json"

For more information, or if you have issues or concerns, see accepts.

req.acceptsCharsets(charset [, ...])

Returns the first accepted charset of the specified character sets, based on the request’s Accept-Charset HTTP header field. If none of the specified charsets is accepted, returns false.

For more information, or if you have issues or concerns, see accepts.

req.acceptsEncodings(encoding [, ...])

Returns the first accepted encoding of the specified encodings, based on the request’s Accept-Encoding HTTP header field. If none of the specified encodings is accepted, returns false.

For more information, or if you have issues or concerns, see accepts.

req.acceptsLanguages(lang [, ...])

Returns the first accepted language of the specified languages, based on the request’s Accept-Language HTTP header field. If none of the specified languages is accepted, returns false.

For more information, or if you have issues or concerns, see accepts.

req.get(field)

Returns the specified HTTP request header field (case-insensitive match). The Referrer and Referer fields are interchangeable.

req.get('Content-Type');
// => "text/plain"

req.get('content-type');
// => "text/plain"

req.get('Something');
// => undefined

Aliased as req.header(field).

req.is(type)

Returns true if the incoming request’s “Content-Type” HTTP header field matches the MIME type specified by the type parameter. Returns false otherwise.

// With Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
req.is('html');
req.is('text/html');
req.is('text/*');
// => true

// When Content-Type is application/json
req.is('json');
req.is('application/json');
req.is('application/*');
// => true

req.is('html');
// => false

For more information, or if you have issues or concerns, see type-is.

req.param(name [, defaultValue])

Return the value of param name when present.

// ?name=tobi
req.param('name')
// => "tobi"

// POST name=tobi
req.param('name')
// => "tobi"

// /user/tobi for /user/:name 
req.param('name')
// => "tobi"

Lookup is performed in the following order:

• req.params
• req.body
• req.query

Optionally, you can specify defaultValue to set a default value if the parameter is not found in any of the request objects.

res.app

This property holds a reference to the instance of the express application that is using the middleware.

res.app is identical to the req.app property in the request object.

res.headersSent

Boolean property that indicates if the app sent HTTP headers for the response.

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  console.log(res.headersSent); // false
  res.send('OK');
  console.log(res.headersSent); // true
})

res.locals

An object that contains response local variables scoped to the request, and therefore available only to the view(s) rendered during that request / response cycle (if any). Otherwise, this property is identical to app.locals.

This property is useful for exposing request-level information such as the request path name, authenticated user, user settings, and so on.

app.use(function(req, res, next){
  res.locals.user = req.user;
  res.locals.authenticated = ! req.user.anonymous;
  next();
});

res.append(field [, value])

Appends the specified value to the HTTP response header field. If the header is not already set, it creates the header with the specified value. The value parameter can be a string or an array.

Note: calling res.set() after res.append() will reset the previously-set header value.

res.append('Link', ['<http://localhost/>', '<http://localhost:3000/>']);
res.append('Set-Cookie', 'foo=bar; Path=/; HttpOnly');
res.append('Warning', '199 Miscellaneous warning');

res.attachment([filename])

Sets the HTTP response Content-Disposition header field to “attachment”. If a filename is given, then it sets the Content-Type based on the extension name via res.type(), and sets the Content-Disposition “filename=” parameter.

res.attachment();
// Content-Disposition: attachment

res.attachment('path/to/logo.png');
// Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="logo.png"
// Content-Type: image/png

res.cookie(name, value [, options])

Sets cookie name to value. The value parameter may be a string or object converted to JSON.

The options parameter is an object that can have the following properties.

For example:

res.cookie('name', 'tobi', { domain: '.example.com', path: '/admin', secure: true });
res.cookie('rememberme', '1', { expires: new Date(Date.now() + 900000), httpOnly: true });

The maxAge option is a convenience option for setting “expires” relative to the current time in milliseconds. The following is equivalent to the second example above.

res.cookie('rememberme', '1', { maxAge: 900000, httpOnly: true })

You can pass an object as the value parameter; it is then serialized as JSON and parsed by bodyParser() middleware.

res.cookie('cart', { items: [1,2,3] });
res.cookie('cart', { items: [1,2,3] }, { maxAge: 900000 });

When using cookie-parser middleware, this method also supports signed cookies. Simply include the signed option set to true. Then res.cookie() will use the secret passed to cookieParser(secret) to sign the value.

res.cookie('name', 'tobi', { signed: true });

Later you may access this value through the req.signedCookie object.

res.clearCookie(name [, options])

Clears the cookie specified by name. For details about the options object, see res.cookie().

res.cookie('name', 'tobi', { path: '/admin' });
res.clearCookie('name', { path: '/admin' });

res.download(path [, filename] [, fn])

Transfers the file at path as an “attachment”. Typically, browsers will prompt the user for download. By default, the Content-Disposition header “filename=” parameter is path (this typically appears in the brower dialog). Override this default with the filename parameter.

When an error ocurrs or transfer is complete, the method calls the optional callback function fn. This method uses res.sendFile() to transfer the file.

res.download('/report-12345.pdf');

res.download('/report-12345.pdf', 'report.pdf');

res.download('/report-12345.pdf', 'report.pdf', function(err){
  if (err) {
    // Handle error, but keep in mind the response may be partially-sent
    // so check res.headersSent
  } else {
    // decrement a download credit, etc.
  }
});

res.end([data] [, encoding])

Ends the response process. Inherited from Node’s http.ServerResponse.

Use to quickly end the response without any data. If you need to respond with data, instead use methods such as res.send() and res.json().

res.end();
res.status(404).end();

res.format(object)

Performs content-negotiation on the Accept HTTP header on the request object, when present. It uses req.accepts() to select a handler for the request, based on the acceptable types ordered by their quality values. If the header is not specified, the first callback is invoked. When no match is found, the server responds with 406 “Not Acceptable”, or invokes the default callback.

The Content-Type response header is set when a callback is selected. However, you may alter this within the callback using methods such as res.set() or res.type().

The following example would respond with { "message": "hey" } when the Accept header field is set to “application/json” or “*/json” (however if it is “*/*”, then the response will be “hey”).

res.format({
  'text/plain': function(){
    res.send('hey');
  },

  'text/html': function(){
    res.send('<p>hey</p>');
  },

  'application/json': function(){
    res.send({ message: 'hey' });
  },

  'default': function() {
    // log the request and respond with 406
    res.status(406).send('Not Acceptable');
  }
});

In addition to canonicalized MIME types, you may also use extension names mapped to these types for a slightly less verbose implementation:

res.format({
  text: function(){
    res.send('hey');
  },

  html: function(){
    res.send('<p>hey</p>');
  },

  json: function(){
    res.send({ message: 'hey' });
  }
});

res.get(field)

Returns the HTTP response header specified by field. The match is case-insensitive.

res.get('Content-Type');
// => "text/plain"

res.json([body])

Sends a JSON response. This method is identical to res.send() with an object or array as the parameter. However, you can use it to convert other values to JSON, such as null, and undefined. (although these are technically not valid JSON).

res.json(null)
res.json({ user: 'tobi' })
res.status(500).json({ error: 'message' })

res.jsonp([body])

Sends a JSON response with JSONP support. This method is identical to res.json(), except that it opts-in to JSONP callback support.

res.jsonp(null)
// => null

res.jsonp({ user: 'tobi' })
// => { "user": "tobi" }

res.status(500).jsonp({ error: 'message' })
// => { "error": "message" }

By default, the JSONP callback name is simply callback. Override this with the jsonp callback name setting.

The following are some examples of JSONP responses using the same code:

// ?callback=foo
res.jsonp({ user: 'tobi' })
// => foo({ "user": "tobi" })

app.set('jsonp callback name', 'cb');

// ?cb=foo
res.status(500).jsonp({ error: 'message' })
// => foo({ "error": "message" })

res.links(links)

Joins the links provided as properties of the parameter to populate the response’s Link HTTP header field.

res.links({
  next: 'http://api.example.com/users?page=2',
  last: 'http://api.example.com/users?page=5'
});

yields:

Link: <http://api.example.com/users?page=2>; rel="next", 
      <http://api.example.com/users?page=5>; rel="last"

res.location(path)

Sets the response Location HTTP header field based on the specified path parameter; for example:

res.location('/foo/bar');
res.location('foo/bar');
res.location('http://example.com');
res.location('../login');
res.location('back');

The path parameter can be any of the paths as for res.redirect(): an absolute URL, a path relative to application root, a path relative to current mount path, and so on.

For example, if your application is mounted at /blog, the following would set the location header to /blog/admin:

res.location('admin')

res.redirect([status,] path)

Redirects to the URL dervied from the specified path, with specified HTTP status code status. If you don’t specify status, the status code defaults to “302 “Found”.

res.redirect('/foo/bar');
res.redirect('http://example.com');
res.redirect(301, 'http://example.com');
res.redirect('../login');

Redirects can be a fully-qualified URL for redirecting to a different site:

res.redirect('http://google.com');

Redirects can be relative to the root of the host name. For example, if the application is on http://example.com/admin/post/new, the following would redirect to the URL http://example.com/admin:

res.redirect('/admin');

Redirects can be relative to the current URL. For example, from http://example.com/blog/admin/ (notice the trailing slash), the following would redirect to the URL http://example.com/blog/admin/post/new.

res.redirect('post/new');

Redirecting to post/new from http://example.com/blog/admin (no trailing slash), will redirect to http://example.com/blog/post/new.

If you found the above behavior confusing, think of path segments as directories (with trailing slashes) and files, it will start to make sense.

Path-relative redirects are also possible. If you were on http://example.com/admin/post/new, the following would redirect to http//example.com/admin/post:

res.redirect('..');

A back redirection redirects the request back to the referer, defaulting to / when the referer is missing.

res.redirect('back');    

res.render(view [, locals] [, callback])

Renders a view and sends the rendered HTML string to the client. Optional parameters:

• locals, an object whose properties define local variables for the view.
• callback, a callback function. If provided, the method returns both the possible error and rendered string, but does not perform an automated response. When an error occurs, the method invokes next(err) internally.

// send the rendered view to the client
res.render('index');

// if a callback is specified, the rendered HTML string has to be sent explicitly
res.render('index', function(err, html) {
  res.send(html);
});

// pass a local variable to the view
res.render('user', { name: 'Tobi' }, function(err, html) {
  // ...
});

res.send([body])

Sends the HTTP response.

The body parameter can be a Buffer object, a String, an object, or an Array. For example:

res.send(new Buffer('whoop'));
res.send({ some: 'json' });
res.send('<p>some html</p>');
res.status(404).send('Sorry, we cannot find that!');
res.status(500).send({ error: 'something blew up' });

This method performs many useful tasks for simple non-streaming responses: For example, it automatically assigns the Content-Length HTTP response header field (unless previously defined) and provides automatic HEAD and HTTP cache freshness support.

When the parameter is a Buffer object, the method sets the Content-Type response header field to “application/octet-stream”, unless previously defined as shown below:

res.set('Content-Type', 'text/html');
res.send(new Buffer('<p>some html</p>'));

When the parameter is a String, the method sets the Content-Type to “text/html”:

res.send('<p>some html</p>');

When the parameter is an Array or Object, Express responds with the JSON representation:

res.send({ user: 'tobi' });
res.send([1,2,3]);

res.sendFile(path [, options] [, fn])

Transfers the file at the given path. Sets the Content-Type response HTTP header field based on the filename’s extension. Unless the root option is set in the options object, path must be an absolute path of the file.

The details of the options object is listed in the following table.

The method invokes the callback function fn(err) when the transfer is complete or when an error occurs. If the callback function is specified and an error occurs, the callback function must explicitly handle the response process either by ending the request-response cycle, or by passing control to the next route.

Here is an example of using res.sendFile with all its arguments.

app.get('/file/:name', function (req, res, next) {

  var options = {
    root: __dirname + '/public/',
    dotfiles: 'deny',
    headers: {
        'x-timestamp': Date.now(),
        'x-sent': true
    }
  };

  var fileName = req.params.name;
  res.sendFile(fileName, options, function (err) {
    if (err) {
      console.log(err);
      res.status(err.status).end();
    }
    else {
      console.log('Sent:', fileName);
    }
  });

})

res.sendFile provides fine-grained support for file serving as illustrated in the following example:

app.get('/user/:uid/photos/:file', function(req, res){
  var uid = req.params.uid
    , file = req.params.file;

  req.user.mayViewFilesFrom(uid, function(yes){
    if (yes) {
      res.sendFile('/uploads/' + uid + '/' + file);
    } else {
      res.status(403).send('Sorry! you cant see that.');
    }
  });
});

For more information, or if you have issues or concerns, see send.

res.sendStatus(statusCode)

Set the response HTTP status code to statusCode and send its string representation as the response body.

res.sendStatus(200); // equivalent to res.status(200).send('OK')
res.sendStatus(403); // equivalent to res.status(403).send('Forbidden')
res.sendStatus(404); // equivalent to res.status(404).send('Not Found')
res.sendStatus(500); // equivalent to res.status(500).send('Internal Server Error')

If an unsupported status code is specified, the HTTP status is still set to statusCode and the string version of the code is sent as the response body.

res.sendStatus(2000); // equivalent to res.status(2000).send('2000')

More about HTTP Status Codes

res.set(field [, value])

Sets the response’s HTTP header field to value. To set multiple fields at once, pass an object as the parameter.

res.set('Content-Type', 'text/plain');

res.set({
  'Content-Type': 'text/plain',
  'Content-Length': '123',
  'ETag': '12345'
})

Aliased as res.header(field [, value]).

res.status(code)

Use this method to set the HTTP status for the response. It is a chainable alias of Node’s response.statusCode.

res.status(403).end();
res.status(400).send('Bad Request');
res.status(404).sendFile('/absolute/path/to/404.png');

res.type(type)

Sets the Content-Type HTTP header to the MIME type as determined by mime.lookup() for the specified type. If type contains the “/” character, then it sets the Content-Type to type.

res.type('.html');              // => 'text/html'
res.type('html');               // => 'text/html'
res.type('json');               // => 'application/json'
res.type('application/json');   // => 'application/json'
res.type('png');                // => image/png:

res.vary(field)

Adds the field to the Vary response header, if it is not there already.

res.vary('User-Agent').render('docs');

A router object is an isolated instance of middleware and routes. You can think of it as a “mini-application,” capable only of performing middleware and routing functions. Every Express application has a built-in app router.

A router behaves like middleware itself, so you can use it as an argument to app.use() or as the argument to another router’s use() method.

The top-level express object has a Router() function that creates a new router object.

Router([options])

Create a new router as follows:

var router = express.Router([options]);

The optional options parameter specifies the behavior of the router.

You can add middleware and HTTP method routes (such as get, put, post, and so on) to router just like an application.

// invoked for any requests passed to this router
router.use(function(req, res, next) {
  // .. some logic here .. like any other middleware
  next();
});

// will handle any request that ends in /events
// depends on where the router is "use()'d"
router.get('/events', function(req, res, next) {
  // ..
});

You can then use a router for a particular root URL in this way separating your routes into files or even mini-apps.

// only requests to /calendar/* will be sent to our "router"
app.use('/calendar', router);

router.all(path, [callback, ...] callback)

This method functions just like the router.METHOD() methods, except that it matches all HTTP verbs.

This method is extremely useful for mapping “global” logic for specific path prefixes or arbitrary matches. For example, if you placed the following route at the top of all other route definitions, it would require that all routes from that point on would require authentication, and automatically load a user. Keep in mind that these callbacks do not have to act as end points; loadUser can perform a task, then call next() to continue matching subsequent routes.

router.all('*', requireAuthentication, loadUser);

Or the equivalent:

router.all('*', requireAuthentication)
router.all('*', loadUser);

Another example of this is white-listed “global” functionality. Here the example is much like before, but it only restricts paths prefixed with “/api”:

router.all('/api/*', requireAuthentication);

router.METHOD(path, [callback, ...] callback)

The router.METHOD() methods provide the routing functionality in Express, where METHOD is one of the HTTP methods, such as GET, PUT, POST, and so on, in lowercase. Thus, the actual methods are router.get(), router.post(), router.put(), and so on.

You can provide multiple callbacks, and all are treated equally, and behave just like middleware, except that these callbacks may invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callback(s). You can use this mechanism to perform pre-conditions on a route then pass control to subsequent routes when there is no reason to proceed with the route matched.

The following snippet illustrates the most simple route definition possible. Express translates the path strings to regular expressions, used internally to match incoming requests. Query strings are not considered when performing these matches, for example “GET /” would match the following route, as would “GET /?name=tobi”.

router.get('/', function(req, res){
  res.send('hello world');
});

You can also use regular expressions—useful if you have very specific constraints, for example the following would match “GET /commits/71dbb9c” as well as “GET /commits/71dbb9c..4c084f9”.

router.get(/^\/commits\/(\w+)(?:\.\.(\w+))?$/, function(req, res){
  var from = req.params[0];
  var to = req.params[1] || 'HEAD';
  res.send('commit range ' + from + '..' + to);
});

router.param([name,] callback)

Add callback triggers to route paramters, where name is the name of the parameter or an array of them, and function is the callback function. The parameters of the callback function are the request object, the response object, the next middleware, and the value of the parameter, in that order.

For example, when :user is present in a route path, you may map user loading logic to automatically provide req.user to the route, or perform validations on the parameter input.

router.param('user', function(req, res, next, id) {

  // try to get the user details from the User model and attach it to the request object
  User.find(id, function(err, user) {
    if (err) {
      next(err);
    } else if (user) {
      req.user = user;
      next();
    } else {
      next(new Error('failed to load user'));
    }
  });
});

Param callback functions are local to the router on which they are defined. They are not inherited by mounted apps or routers. Hence, param callbacks defined on router will be triggered only by route parameters defined on router routes.

A param callback will be called only once in a request-response cycle, even if the parameter is matched in multiple routes, as shown in the following example.

router.param('id', function (req, res, next, id) {
  console.log('CALLED ONLY ONCE');
  next();
})

router.get('/user/:id', function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('although this matches');
  next();
});

router.get('/user/:id', function (req, res) {
  console.log('and this matches too');
  res.end();
});

By passing only a callback function, you can alter the router.param() API. For example the express-params defines the following callback which allows you to restrict parameters to a given regular expression.

router.param(function(name, fn) {
  if (fn instanceof RegExp) {
    return function(req, res, next, val) {
      var captures;
      if (captures = fn.exec(String(val))) {
        req.params[name] = captures;
        next();
      } else {
        next('route');
      }
    }
  }
});

The method could now be used to effectively validate parameters (and optionally parse them to provide capture groups):

// validation rule for id: should be one or more digits
router.param('id', /^\d+$/);

router.get('/user/:id', function(req, res) {
  res.send('user ' + req.params.id);
});

// validation rule for range: should start with one more alphanumeric characters, followed by two dots, and end with one more alphanumeric characters
router.param('range', /^(\w+)\.\.(\w+)?$/);

router.get('/range/:range', function(req, res) {
  var range = req.params.range;
  res.send('from ' + range[1] + ' to ' + range[2]);
});

The router.use() method also supports named parameters so that your mount points for other routers can benefit from preloading using named parameters.

router.route(path)

Returns an instance of a single route which you can then use to handle HTTP verbs with optional middleware. Use router.route() to avoid duplicate route naming and thus typo errors.

Building on the router.param() example above, the following code shows how to use router.route() to specify various HTTP method handlers.

var router = express.Router();

router.param('user_id', function(req, res, next, id) {
  // sample user, would actually fetch from DB, etc...
  req.user = {
    id: id,
    name: 'TJ'
  };
  next();
});

router.route('/users/:user_id')
.all(function(req, res, next) {
  // runs for all HTTP verbs first
  // think of it as route specific middleware!
  next();
})
.get(function(req, res, next) {
  res.json(req.user);
})
.put(function(req, res, next) {
  // just an example of maybe updating the user
  req.user.name = req.params.name;
  // save user ... etc
  res.json(req.user);
})
.post(function(req, res, next) {
  next(new Error('not implemented'));
})
.delete(function(req, res, next) {
  next(new Error('not implemented'));
})

This apporach re-uses the single ‘/users/:user_id’ path and add handlers for various HTTP methods.

router.use([path], [function, ...] function)

Uses the given middleware function, with optional mount path path, that defaults to “/”.

This method is similar to app.use(). A simple example and usecase is described below. See app.use() for more information.

Middleware is like a plumbing pipe, requests start at the first middleware you define and work their way “down” the middleware stack processing for each path they match.

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var router = express.Router();

// simple logger for this router's requests
// all requests to this router will first hit this middleware
router.use(function(req, res, next) {
  console.log('%s %s %s', req.method, req.url, req.path);
  next();
});

// this will only be invoked if the path starts with /bar from the mount point
router.use('/bar', function(req, res, next) {
  // ... maybe some additional /bar logging ...
  next();
});

// always invoked
router.use(function(req, res, next) {
  res.send('Hello World');
});

app.use('/foo', router);

app.listen(3000);

The “mount” path is stripped and is not visible to the middleware function. The main effect of this feature is that mounted middleware may operate without code changes regardless of its “prefix” pathname.

The order in which you define middleware with router.use() is very important. They are invoked sequentially, thus the order defines middleware precedence. For example, usually a logger is the very first middleware you would use, so every request is logged.

var logger = require('morgan');

router.use(logger());
router.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
router.use(function(req, res){
  res.send('Hello');
});

Now suppose you wanted to ignore logging requests for static files, but to continue logging routes and middleware defined after logger(). You would simply move static() above:

router.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
router.use(logger());
router.use(function(req, res){
  res.send('Hello');
});

Another concrete example is serving files from multiple directories, giving precedence to “./public” over the others:

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/files'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/uploads'));

The router.use() method also supports named parameters so that your mount points for other routers can benefit from preloading using named parameters.