Babel Root Import

Babel plugin to add the opportunity to use import and require with root based paths.

Example

// Usually
import SomeExample from '../../../some/example.js';
const OtherExample = require('../../../other/example.js');

// With Babel-Root-Importer
import SomeExample from '~/some/example.js';
const OtherExample = require('~/other/example.js');

Install

npm install babel-root-import --save-dev

Use

Add a .babelrc file and write:

{
  "plugins": [
    ["babel-root-import"]
  ]
}

or pass the plugin with the plugins-flag on CLI

babel-node myfile.js --plugins babel-root-import

Extras

Custom root-path-suffix

If you want a custom root because for example all your files are in the src/js folder you can define this in your .babelrc file

{
  "plugins": [
    ["babel-root-import", {
      "rootPathSuffix": "src/js"
    }]
  ]
}

Custom root-path-prefix

If you don't like the ~ syntax you can just use your own symbol (for example a @ symbol or \)

{
  "plugins": [
    ["babel-root-import", {
      "rootPathPrefix": "@"
    }]
  ]
}

// Now you can use the plugin like:
import foo from '@/my-file';

Multiple custom prefixes and suffixes

You can supply an array of the above. The plugin will try each prefix/suffix pair in the order they are defined.

{
  "plugins": [
    ["babel-root-import", [{
      "rootPathPrefix": "~", // `~` is the default so you can remove this if you want
      "rootPathSuffix": "src/js"
    }, {
      "rootPathPrefix": "@",
      "rootPathSuffix": "other-src/js"
    }, {
      "rootPathPrefix": "#",
      "rootPathSuffix": "../../src/in/parent" // since we suport relative paths you can also go into a parent directory
    }]]
  ]
}

// Now you can use the plugin like:
import foo from '~/my-file';
const bar = require('@/my-file');

Don't let ESLint be confused

If you use eslint-plugin-import to validate imports it may be necessary to instruct ESLint to ignore root imports. Add the following to your .eslintrc file, replacing ~ with your chosen prefix.

{
  "rules": {
      "import/no-unresolved": [2, { "ignore": ["^[~]"] }]
  },
}

Don't let Flow be confused

If you use Facebook's Flow for type-checking it is necessary to instruct it on how to map your chosen prefix to the root directory. Add the following to your .flowconfig file, replacing ~ with your chosen prefix.

[options]
module.name_mapper='^~\/\(.*\)$' -> '<PROJECT_ROOT>/\1'

FYI

Webpack delivers a similar feature, if you just want to prevent end-less import strings you can also define aliases in the resolve module, at the moment it doesn't support custom/different symbols and multiple/custom suffixes. READ MORE

Change Log

4.1.5 - 2016-11-17

• Compile new version and release again

4.1.4 - 2016-11-15

• Improve support for relative paths (e.g. referencing parent folders via ../) (thanks to @Hizoul)

4.1.3 - 2016-09-14

• Support paths (thanks to @sivael)

4.1.0 - 2016-08-20

• Use relative paths instead of absolute ones (thanks to @nescalante)

4.0.0 - 2016-06-29

• Almost everything changed, thanks to @sheepsteak, @gingur, @olalonde

3.2.2 - 2016-02-20

• Fix custom suffix in path, missing / in generated paths

3.2.0 - 2016-02-19

• Support Windows-Filesystem
• Add possibility to configure a custom rootPath-Symbol (instead of ~ you can use whatever you like)

3.1.0 - 2015-12-01

• Add possibility config the custom root path

3.0.1 - 2015-11-30

• Updated plugin to new babel6 API
• Splitted tests and functions into two scopes with single tests
• Removed the "extra-root" param for the .babelrc since this is no yet supported in babel6

2.0.1 - 2015-11-15

Breaking Change to Babel 5

• Updated to Babel 6
• Added integration tests

1.0.1 - 2015-08-07

• Added / updated tests
• Implemented ESlint