path.join vs path.resolve with __dirname

Question

Yes there is a difference between the functions but the way you are using them in this case will result in the same outcome.

path.join returns a normalized path by merging two paths together. It can return an absolute path, but it doesn't necessarily always do so.

For instance:

path.join('app/libs/oauth', '/../ssl')

resolves to app/libs/ssl

path.resolve, on the other hand, will resolve to an absolute path.

For instance, when you run:

path.resolve('bar', '/foo');

The path returned will be /foo since that is the first absolute path that can be constructed.

However, if you run:

path.resolve('/bar/bae', '/foo', 'test');

The path returned will be /foo/test again because that is the first absolute path that can be formed from right to left.

If you don't provide a path that specifies the root directory then the paths given to the resolve function are appended to the current working directory. So if your working directory was /home/mark/project/:

path.resolve('test', 'directory', '../back');

resolves to

/home/mark/project/test/back

Using __dirname is the absolute path to the directory containing the source file. When you use path.resolve or path.join they will return the same result if you give the same path following __dirname. In such cases it's really just a matter of preference.

const absolutePath = path.join(__dirname, some, dir);

vs.

const absolutePath = path.resolve(__dirname, some, dir);

path.join will concatenate __dirname which is the directory name of the current file concatenated with values of some and dir with platform-specific separator.

Whereas

path.resolve will process __dirname, some and dir i.e. from right to left prepending it by processing it.

If any of the values of some or dir corresponds to a root path then the previous path will be omitted and process rest by considering it as root

In order to better understand the concept let me explain both a little bit more detail as follows:-

The path.join and path.resolve are two different methods or functions of the path module provided by nodejs.

Where both accept a list of paths but the difference comes in the result i.e. how they process these paths.

path.join concatenates all given path segments together using the platform-specific separator as a delimiter, then normalizes the resulting path. While the path.resolve() process the sequence of paths from right to left, with each subsequent path prepended until an absolute path is constructed.

When no arguments supplied

The following example will help you to clearly understand both concepts:-

My filename is index.js and the current working directory is E:\MyFolder\Pjtz\node

const path = require('path');

console.log("path.join() : ", path.join());
// outputs .
console.log("path.resolve() : ", path.resolve());
// outputs current directory or equivalent to __dirname

Result

λ node index.js
path.join() :  .
path.resolve() :  E:\MyFolder\Pjtz\node

path.resolve() method will output the absolute path whereas the path.join() returns . representing the current working directory if nothing is provided

When some root path is passed as arguments

const path=require('path');

console.log("path.join() : " ,path.join('abc','/bcd'));
console.log("path.resolve() : ",path.resolve('abc','/bcd'));

Result i

λ node index.js
path.join() :  abc\bcd
path.resolve() :  E:\bcd

path.join() only concatenates the input list with platform-specific separator while the path.resolve() process the sequence of paths from right to left, with each subsequent path prepended until an absolute path is constructed.

From the doc for path.resolve:

The resulting path is normalized and trailing slashes are removed unless the path is resolved to the root directory.

But path.join keeps trailing slashes

So

__dirname = '/';
path.resolve(__dirname, 'foo/'); // '/foo'
path.join(__dirname, 'foo/'); // '/foo/'

In Simplest` Terms:

When you use path.resolve() It does the following

from left to right-

• concatenate the right most parameters with / directly with the root path to make an absolute path (check the examples)
• and then concatenates anything without / as a directory

for example

path.resolve('/a', 'b', 'c');     returns    C:\a\b\c
path.resolve('/a', '/b', 'c');    returns    C:\b\c
path.resolve('/a', '/b', '/c');   returns    C:\c

---

While using join() simply concatenates every parameter from left to right whether they have / or not

path.join("/a", "b", "/c", "d")   simply returns   "\a\b\c\d"