Can't export function expression: "TypeError: xxx is not a function"

Question

I was trying to follow basic guide on modules. I've created test_module.js

var textFunction = function() {
    console.log("text");
};

exports = textFunction;

And then I tried to use it in my app.js:

var textFunction = ('./test_module');

textFunction();

But I get an error:

 TypeError: textFunction is not a function

Am I doing something wrong? Or it was a very old guide?

PS: exports works only if I declare it like this:

exports.text = function() {
    console.log("text");
}

Answer 1

exports is a local variable. Assigning to it won't change the exported value. You want to assign to module.exports directly:

module.exports = textFunction;

---

module.exports and exports initially refer to the same value (an object), but assigning to exports won't change module.exports, which is what counts. exports exists for convenience.

---

The other issue is that you are not properly requiring the module, but that may just be a typo. You should be doing

var textFunction = require('./test_module');

var textFunction = ('./test_module'); just assigns the string './test_module' to textFunction and we all know that strings are not functions.