Edit on GitHub

Routing

Routing refers to how an application’s endpoints (URIs) respond to client requests. For an introduction to routing, see Basic routing.

You define routing using methods of the Express app object that correspond to HTTP methods; for example, app.get() to handle GET requests and app.post to handle POST requests. For a full list, see app.METHOD. You can also use app.all() to handle all HTTP methods and app.use() to specify middleware as the callback function (See Using middleware for details).

These routing methods specify a callback function (sometimes called a “handler function”) that Express automatically runs when the application receives a request matching the specified route (endpoint) and HTTP method. In other words, the application “listens” for requests that match the specified route(s) and method(s), and when it detects a match, it calls the specified callback function.

In fact, the routing methods can have more than one callback function as arguments. With multiple callback functions, it is important to provide next as an argument to the callback function and then call next() within the body of the function to hand off control to the next callback.

The following code is an example of a very basic route.

index.cjs
const express = require('express');
const app = express();


// respond with "hello world" when a GET request is made to the homepage
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('hello world');
});

Route methods

A route method is derived from one of the HTTP methods, and is attached to an instance of the express class.

The following code is an example of routes that are defined for the GET and the POST methods to the root of the app.

// GET method route
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('GET request to the homepage');
});


// POST method route
app.post('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('POST request to the homepage');
});

Express supports methods that correspond to all HTTP request methods: get, post, and so on. For a full list, see app.METHOD.

There is a special routing method, app.all(), used to load middleware functions at a path for all HTTP request methods. For example, the following handler is executed for requests to the route "/secret" whether using GET, QUERY, POST, PUT, DELETE, or any other HTTP request method supported in the http module.

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

Route paths

Route paths, in combination with a request method, define the endpoints at which requests can be made. Route paths can be strings or regular expressions. They can also capture values from the URL, as described in Route parameters below.

Note

Express uses path-to-regexp v8 for matching the route paths; see the path-to-regexp documentation for all the possibilities in defining route paths. Express Playground Router is a handy tool for testing basic Express routes, although it does not support pattern matching.

String paths

String paths match requests exactly. The dot (.) and hyphen (-) are interpreted literally.

Warning

Query strings are not part of the route path.
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('root');
});


app.get('/about', (req, res) => {
  res.send('about');
});


app.get('/random.text', (req, res) => {
  res.send('random.text');
});

Caution

The characters ?, +, *, [], (), and ! are reserved and cannot be used as literal characters in route paths, and braces are reserved for optional segments. Use \ to escape them if needed.

Regular expressions

You can also use regular expressions as route paths. This is useful when you need more complex matching logic.

// Matches any path containing "a"
app.get(/a/, (req, res) => {
  res.send('/a/');
});


// Matches paths ending with "fly" (butterfly, dragonfly, etc.)
app.get(/.*fly$/, (req, res) => {
  res.send('/.*fly$/');
});

Route parameters

Route parameters are named URL segments that are used to capture the values specified at their position in the URL. The captured values are populated in the req.params object, with the name of the route parameter specified in the path as their respective keys. They come in three forms: named parameters (:name), wildcards (*name), and optional segments, which wrap either of them in braces.

Named parameters

Named parameters capture a single path segment at their position in the URL, or part of one when combined with literal characters, as shown further below.

Route path: /users/:userId/books/:bookId
Request URL: http://localhost:3000/users/34/books/8989
req.params: { "userId": "34", "bookId": "8989" }

To define routes with route parameters, simply specify the route parameters in the path of the route as shown below.

app.get('/users/:userId/books/:bookId', (req, res) => {
  res.send(req.params);
});

In TypeScript, @types/express infers the parameters from the route path, so in the handler above req.params.userId and req.params.bookId are already typed as string with no extra annotation. Reading a name that is not in the route (such as req.params.other) is a type error. You only need to annotate the parameters when the handler is defined separately from the route, because the type checker can no longer see the path. In that case, pass them as the first type argument of Request:

import { type Request, type Response } from 'express';


const sendParams = (req: Request<{ userId: string; bookId: string }>, res: Response) => {
  res.send(req.params);
};


app.get('/users/:userId/books/:bookId', sendParams);

Caution

The name of route parameters must be a valid JavaScript identifier. Other names can be used by quoting them, for example :"user-name".

Since the hyphen (-) and the dot (.) are interpreted literally, they can be used along with route parameters for useful purposes.

Route path: /flights/:from-:to
Request URL: http://localhost:3000/flights/LAX-SFO
req.params: { "from": "LAX", "to": "SFO" }
Route path: /plantae/:genus.:species
Request URL: http://localhost:3000/plantae/Prunus.persica
req.params: { "genus": "Prunus", "species": "persica" }

Caution

Regexp characters are not supported inside string paths, so a parameter cannot be restricted with a suffix such as :userId(\d+). Use an array of paths or a full regular expression instead. See the path route matching syntax for more information.

Wildcards

Wildcards match any path after a prefix. Like other route parameters they must have a name, but they are captured as an array of path segments instead of a string.

app.get('/files/*filepath', (req, res) => {
  // GET /files/images/logo.png
  console.dir(req.params.filepath);
  // => [ 'images', 'logo.png' ]
  res.send(`File: ${req.params.filepath.join('/')}`);
});

To also match the root path, wrap the wildcard in braces:

// Matches / , /foo , /foo/bar , etc.
app.get('/{*splat}', (req, res) => {
  // GET / => req.params = {}, splat is omitted
  // GET /foo/bar => req.params.splat = [ 'foo', 'bar' ]
  res.send('ok');
});

Optional segments

Use braces to define optional segments in a route path. When the segment is not present, the parameter is omitted from req.params.

app.get('/:file{.:ext}', (req, res) => {
  // GET /image.png => req.params = { file: 'image', ext: 'png' }
  // GET /image => req.params = { file: 'image' }
  res.send('ok');
});

The braces can also wrap a whole parameter to make it optional. Note that everything inside the braces is optional, so the position of the slash matters:

app.get('/user/{:id}', (req, res) => {
  // GET /user/42 => req.params = { id: '42' }
  // GET /user/ => req.params = {}
  // GET /user => 404, only the parameter is optional
  res.send('ok');
});


app.get('/order{/:id}', (req, res) => {
  // GET /order/42 => req.params = { id: '42' }
  // GET /order => req.params = {}, the whole segment is optional
  res.send('ok');
});

Do not confuse the position of the slash in the route path with the strict routing setting, which is about the request URL: it controls whether a URL ending in a slash that the route path does not require still matches. For example, a request for /order/ matches the /order{/:id} route by default, but returns a 404 error when strict routing is enabled; the trailing slash of /user/ is unaffected because the /user/{:id} route requires it. All the requests commented in the examples above behave the same regardless of that setting.

Route handlers

You can provide multiple callback functions that behave like middleware to handle a request. The only exception is that these callbacks might invoke next('route') to bypass the remaining route callbacks. 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('/user/:id', (req, res, next) => {
  if (req.params.id === '0') {
    return next('route');
  }
  res.send(`User ${req.params.id}`);
});


app.get('/user/:id', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Special handler for user ID 0');
});

In this example:

  • GET /user/5 → handled by first route → sends “User 5”
  • GET /user/0 → first route calls next('route'), skipping to the next matching /user/:id route

Route handlers can be in the form of a function, an array of functions, or combinations of both, as shown in the following examples.

A single callback function can handle a route. For example:

app.get('/example/a', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello from A!');
});

More than one callback function can handle a route (make sure you specify the next object). For example:

app.get(
  '/example/b',
  (req, res, next) => {
    console.log('the response will be sent by the next function ...');
    next();
  },
  (req, res) => {
    res.send('Hello from B!');
  }
);

An array of callback functions can handle a route. For example:

const cb0 = function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('CB0');
  next();
};


const cb1 = function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('CB1');
  next();
};


const cb2 = function (req, res) {
  res.send('Hello from C!');
};


app.get('/example/c', [cb0, cb1, cb2]);

A combination of independent functions and arrays of functions can handle a route. For example:

const cb0 = function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('CB0');
  next();
};


const cb1 = function (req, res, next) {
  console.log('CB1');
  next();
};


app.get(
  '/example/d',
  [cb0, cb1],
  (req, res, next) => {
    console.log('the response will be sent by the next function ...');
    next();
  },
  (req, res) => {
    res.send('Hello from D!');
  }
);

Response methods

The methods on the response object (res) in the following table can send a response to the client, and terminate the request-response cycle. If none of these methods are called from a route handler, the client request will be left hanging.

MethodDescription
res.download()Prompt a file to be downloaded.
res.end()End the response process.
res.json()Send a JSON response.
res.jsonp()Send a JSON response with JSONP support.
res.redirect()Redirect a request.
res.render()Render a view template.
res.send()Send a response of various types.
res.sendFile()Send a file as an octet stream.
res.sendStatus()Set the response status code and send its string representation as the response body.

app.route()

You can create chainable route handlers for a route path by using app.route(). Because the path is specified in a single location, this helps to create modular routes and reduces redundancy and typos. For more information about routes, see the Router() documentation.

Here is an example of chained route handlers that are defined by using app.route().

app
  .route('/book')
  .get((req, res) => {
    res.send('Get a random book');
  })
  .post((req, res) => {
    res.send('Add a book');
  })
  .put((req, res) => {
    res.send('Update the book');
  });

express.Router

Use the express.Router class to create modular, mountable route handlers. A Router instance is a complete middleware and routing system; for this reason, it is often referred to as a “mini-app”.

The following example creates a router as a module, loads a middleware function in it, defines some routes, and mounts the router module on a path in the main app.

Create a router file named birds.js in the app directory, with the following content:

birds.cjs
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();


// middleware that is specific to this router
const timeLog = (req, res, next) => {
  console.log('Time: ', Date.now());
  next();
};
router.use(timeLog);


// define the home page route
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Birds home page');
});
// define the about route
router.get('/about', (req, res) => {
  res.send('About birds');
});


module.exports = router;

Then, load the router module in the app:

index.cjs
const birds = require('./birds');


// ...


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

The app will now be able to handle requests to /birds and /birds/about, as well as call the timeLog middleware function that is specific to the route.

But if the parent route /birds has path parameters, it will not be accessible by default from the sub-routes. To make it accessible, you will need to pass the mergeParams option to the Router constructor.

const router = express.Router({ mergeParams: true });