how to get request path with express req object
Javascriptnode.jsExpressJavascript Problem Overview
I'm using express + node.js and I have a req object, the request in the browser is /account but when I log req.path I get '/' --- not '/account'.
//auth required or redirect
app.use('/account', function(req, res, next) {
console.log(req.path);
if ( !req.session.user ) {
res.redirect('/login?ref='+req.path);
} else {
next();
}
});
req.path is / when it should be /account ??
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
After having a bit of a play myself, you should use:
console.log(req.originalUrl)
Solution 2 - Javascript
In some cases you should use:
req.path
This gives you the path, instead of the complete requested URL. For example, if you are only interested in which page the user requested and not all kinds of parameters the url:
/myurl.htm?allkinds&ofparameters=true
req.path will give you:
/myurl.html
Solution 3 - Javascript
To supplement, here is an example expanded from the documentation, which nicely wraps all you need to know about accessing the paths/URLs in all cases with express:
app.use('/admin', function (req, res, next) { // GET 'http://www.example.com/admin/new?a=b'
console.dir(req.originalUrl) // '/admin/new?a=b' (WARNING: beware query string)
console.dir(req.baseUrl) // '/admin'
console.dir(req.path) // '/new'
console.dir(req.baseUrl + req.path) // '/admin/new' (full path without query string)
next()
})
Based on: https://expressjs.com/en/api.html#req.originalUrl
Conclusion: As c1moore's answer states, use:
var fullPath = req.baseUrl + req.path;
Solution 4 - Javascript
UPDATE 8 YEARS LATER:
req.path was already doing exactly same thing that I mentioned here. I don't remember how this answer solved issue and accepted as a correct answer but currently it's not a valid answer. Please ignore this answer. Thanks @mhodges for mentioning this.
Original answer:
If you want to really get only "path" without querystring, you can use url library to parse and get only path part of url.
var url = require('url');
//auth required or redirect
app.use('/account', function(req, res, next) {
var path = url.parse(req.url).pathname;
if ( !req.session.user ) {
res.redirect('/login?ref='+path);
} else {
next();
}
});
Solution 5 - Javascript
It should be:
req.url
express 3.1.x
Solution 6 - Javascript
//auth required or redirect
app.use('/account', function(req, res, next) {
console.log(req.path);
if ( !req.session.user ) {
res.redirect('/login?ref='+req.path);
} else {
next();
}
});
> req.path is / when it should be /account ??
The reason for this is that Express subtracts the path your handler function is mounted on, which is '/account' in this case.
Why do they do this?
Because it makes it easier to reuse the handler function. You can make a handler function that does different things for req.path === '/' and req.path === '/goodbye' for example:
function sendGreeting(req, res, next) {
res.send(req.path == '/goodbye' ? 'Farewell!' : 'Hello there!')
}
Then you can mount it to multiple endpoints:
app.use('/world', sendGreeting)
app.use('/aliens', sendGreeting)
Giving:
/world ==> Hello there!
/world/goodbye ==> Farewell!
/aliens ==> Hello there!
/aliens/goodbye ==> Farewell!
Solution 7 - Javascript
For version 4.x you can now use the req.baseUrl in addition to req.path to get the full path. For example, the OP would now do something like:
//auth required or redirect
app.use('/account', function(req, res, next) {
console.log(req.baseUrl + req.path); // => /account
if(!req.session.user) {
res.redirect('/login?ref=' + encodeURIComponent(req.baseUrl + req.path)); // => /login?ref=%2Faccount
} else {
next();
}
});
Solution 8 - Javascript
This can produce different results when calling directly in base module i.e. main file (e.g. index.js or app.js) vs calling from inside module via app.use() middleware i.e. route file (e.g. routes/users.js).
API call:
http://localhost:8000/api/users/profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en
We'll be comparing our outputs against above API call
1) First, we'll see the result from inside module:
We'll be placing our user module inside routes directory, with one route
routes/users.js
const router = (require('express')).Router();
router.get('/profile/:id/:details', (req, res) => {
console.log(req.protocol); // http or https
console.log(req.hostname); // only hostname (abc.com, localhost, etc)
console.log(req.headers.host); // hostname with port number (if any)
console.log(req.header('host')); // <same as above>
console.log(req.route.path); // exact defined route
console.log(req.baseUrl); // base path or group prefix
console.log(req.path); // relative path except path
console.log(req.url); // relative path with query|search params
console.log(req.originalUrl); // baseURL + url
// Full URL
console.log(`${req.protocol}://${req.header('host')}${req.originalUrl}`);
res.sendStatus(200);
});
module.exports = router;
index.js
const app = (require('express'))();
const users = require('./routes/users');
app.use('/api/users', users);
const server = require('http').createServer(app);
server.listen(8000, () => console.log('server listening'));
Output
> http ....................................................................................... [protocol]
> localhost .............................................................................. [hostname]
> localhost:8000 ..................................................................... [headers.host]
> localhost:8000 ..................................................................... [header('host')]
> /profile/:id/:details ........................................................ [route.path]
> /api/users ............................................................................. [baseUrl]
> /profile/123/summary .......................................................... [path]
> /profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en ........................ [url]
> /api/users/profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en ..... [originalUrl]
> Full URL:
> http://localhost:8000/api/users/profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en
2) Now, directly from main module:
We'll define our route right in the starting file (i.e. app.js or index.js)
index.js
const app = (require('express'))();
app.get('/api/users/profile/:id/:details', (req, res) => {
console.log(req.protocol); // http or https
console.log(req.hostname); // only hostname (abc.com, localhost, etc)
console.log(req.headers.host); // hostname with port number (if any)
console.log(req.header('host')); // <same as above>
console.log(req.route.path); // exact defined route
console.log(req.baseUrl); // base path or group prefix
console.log(req.path); // relative path except path
console.log(req.url); // relative path with query|search params
console.log(req.originalUrl); // baseURL + url
// Full URL
console.log(`${req.protocol}://${req.header('host')}${req.originalUrl}`);
res.sendStatus(200);
});
const server = require('http').createServer(app);
server.listen(8000, () => console.log('server listening'));
Output
> http ........................................................................ [protocol]
> localhost ............................................................... [hostname]
> localhost:8000 ...................................................... [headers.host]
> localhost:8000 ...................................................... [header('host')]
> /profile/:id/:details ......................................... [route.path]
> .............................................................................. [baseUrl]
> /profile/123/summary ........................................... [path]
> /profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en ......... [url]
> /profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en ......... [originalUrl]
> Full URL:
> http://localhost:8000/api/users/profile/123/summary?view=grid&leng=en
We can clearly see in above output that the only difference is of baseUrl which is empty string here. So, the originalUrl also changes & looks same as the url
Solution 9 - Javascript
> req.route.path is working for me
var pool = require('../db');
module.exports.get_plants = function(req, res) {
// to run a query we can acquire a client from the pool,
// run a query on the client, and then return the client to the pool
pool.connect(function(err, client, done) {
if (err) {
return console.error('error fetching client from pool', err);
}
client.query('SELECT * FROM plants', function(err, result) {
//call `done()` to release the client back to the pool
done();
if (err) {
return console.error('error running query', err);
}
console.log('A call to route: %s', req.route.path + '\nRequest type: ' + req.method.toLowerCase());
res.json(result);
});
});
};
after executing I see the following in the console and I get perfect result in my browser.
Express server listening on port 3000 in development mode
A call to route: /plants
Request type: get