Syntaxerror: cannot use 'import.meta' outside a module [SOLVED]

The syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module happen when you are working with JavaScript.

If you are wondering why this error happens, keep on reading!

In this article, we’ll discuss how to resolve the cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module, a syntaxerror in JavaScript.

Apart from you’ll also understand what this error message is all about and the solutions to fix this error.

What is “uncaught syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module”?

The error message syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module raised when you are trying to use import.meta outside an ES module.

It simply means that you’re using ‘import.meta’ in a place where it’s not allowed. Also, this error is triggered when the JavaScript file is not being imported as a module.

What is “import.meta”?

An import.meta is a meta-property introduced in ECMAScript 2020 that contains metadata about the current module. It can only be used within an ES module.

Why does the “cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module” synataxerror occur?

The syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module occurs when the ‘import.meta’ syntax in JavaScript is used outside of a module.

In JavaScript, ‘import.meta’ is a special way to get information about the current module, like its file URL.

JavaScript modules are designed to work within certain module systems, like CommonJS or ECMAScript modules, and ‘import.meta’ can only be used inside these modules.

How to fix the “syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module”?

To resolve uncaught syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module, you can change the module type to ECMAScript Modules (ESM). This can be done by making modifications to the package.json file.

You need to replace the “main” property with “module” and add a new property called “type” set to “module”.

The “module” property specifies the entry point for ESM modules, while the “type” property indicates the type of module used in your project.

By making these changes, you are configuring your project to use ECMAScript Modules, which allows you to use the ‘import.meta’ syntax correctly.

Here are the following solutions you can use if you are still confused about how to do it.

Convert the script into an ECMAScript Module

If you encounter this error while using the import.meta syntax, it indicates that your script needs to be treated as an ECMAScript module.

To do this, you can convert your script file into an ECMAScript module by changing the script tag type to module.

To fix the error, set the type attribute to module when loading the script in your HTML code.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  </head>

  <body>

    <!--  set the type to module -->
    <script type="module" src="index.js"></script>✅

  </body>
</html>

Here’s an example of how the modified package.json file would look like:

{
  "name": "your-package-name",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Your package description",
  "main": "index.js",
  "module": "index.js",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node index.js"
  },
  "author": "Your Name",
  "license": "MIT"
}

The “main” property specifies the entry point for your package, which is set to “index.js.”

The “module” property is already set to “index.js,” indicating that the entry point is an ECMAScript module.

In addition to that, the “type” property is added and set to “module” to explicitly define the type of module used by the project.

On the other hand, it’s important to note that when you add “type”: “module” to the package.json file, the entire project is treated as ECMAScript Modules (ESM).

It means you won’t be able to use the require() function anywhere in your code, as require() is specific to CommonJS modules.

Use CommonJS instead of ESM

If you prefer to use CommonJS instead of ESM, you can modify your existing code accordingly.

Replace the import statements with require() statements to import the necessary modules.

Also, you should remove any references to import.meta in your code, as it is not supported in CommonJS modules.

Let’s take a look at this example below:

const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const { fileURLToPath } = require('url');
const { sum } = require('./utils.js');

const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);

const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res)

Conclusion

In conclusion, the error message syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module raised when you are trying to use import.meta outside an ES module.

To fix this error you can change the module type to ECMAScript Modules (ESM). This can be done by making modifications to the package.json file.

You need to replace the “main” property with “module” and add a new property called “type” set to “module”.

This article already provides solutions to fix this error message. By executing the solutions above, you can master this SyntaxError with the help of this guide.

You could also check out other SyntaxError articles that may help you in the future if you encounter them.

We are hoping that this article helps you fix the error. Thank you for reading itsourcecoders 😊

Syntaxerror: cannot use ‘import.meta’ outside a module