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Global objects

These objects are available in all modules. The following variables may appear to be global but are not. They exist only in the scope of modules, see the module system documentation:

The objects listed here are specific to Node.js. There are built-in objects that are part of the JavaScript language itself, which are also globally accessible.

Class: AbortController

A utility class used to signal cancelation in selected Promise-based APIs. The API is based on the Web API AbortController.

const ac = new AbortController();

ac.signal.addEventListener('abort', () => console.log('Aborted!'),
                           { once: true });

ac.abort();

console.log(ac.signal.aborted);  // Prints true copy

abortController.abort([reason])

  • reason <any> An optional reason, retrievable on the AbortSignal's reason property.

Triggers the abort signal, causing the abortController.signal to emit the 'abort' event.

abortController.signal

Class: AbortSignal

The AbortSignal is used to notify observers when the abortController.abort() method is called.

Static method: AbortSignal.abort([reason])

Returns a new already aborted AbortSignal.

Static method: AbortSignal.timeout(delay)
  • delay <number> The number of milliseconds to wait before triggering the AbortSignal.

Returns a new AbortSignal which will be aborted in delay milliseconds.

Static method: AbortSignal.any(signals)
  • signals <AbortSignal[]> The AbortSignals of which to compose a new AbortSignal.

Returns a new AbortSignal which will be aborted if any of the provided signals are aborted. Its abortSignal.reason will be set to whichever one of the signals caused it to be aborted.

Event: 'abort'

The 'abort' event is emitted when the abortController.abort() method is called. The callback is invoked with a single object argument with a single type property set to 'abort':

const ac = new AbortController();

// Use either the onabort property...
ac.signal.onabort = () => console.log('aborted!');

// Or the EventTarget API...
ac.signal.addEventListener('abort', (event) => {
  console.log(event.type);  // Prints 'abort'
}, { once: true });

ac.abort(); copy

The AbortController with which the AbortSignal is associated will only ever trigger the 'abort' event once. We recommended that code check that the abortSignal.aborted attribute is false before adding an 'abort' event listener.

Any event listeners attached to the AbortSignal should use the { once: true } option (or, if using the EventEmitter APIs to attach a listener, use the once() method) to ensure that the event listener is removed as soon as the 'abort' event is handled. Failure to do so may result in memory leaks.

abortSignal.aborted
  • Type: <boolean> True after the AbortController has been aborted.
abortSignal.onabort

An optional callback function that may be set by user code to be notified when the abortController.abort() function has been called.

abortSignal.reason

An optional reason specified when the AbortSignal was triggered.

const ac = new AbortController();
ac.abort(new Error('boom!'));
console.log(ac.signal.reason);  // Error: boom! copy
abortSignal.throwIfAborted()

If abortSignal.aborted is true, throws abortSignal.reason.

Class: Blob

See <Blob>.

Class: Buffer

Used to handle binary data. See the buffer section.

Class: ByteLengthQueuingStrategy

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ByteLengthQueuingStrategy.

__dirname

This variable may appear to be global but is not. See __dirname.

__filename

This variable may appear to be global but is not. See __filename.

atob(data)

Stability: 3 - Legacy. Use Buffer.from(data, 'base64') instead.

Global alias for buffer.atob().

BroadcastChannel

See <BroadcastChannel>.

btoa(data)

Stability: 3 - Legacy. Use buf.toString('base64') instead.

Global alias for buffer.btoa().

clearImmediate(immediateObject)

clearImmediate is described in the timers section.

clearInterval(intervalObject)

clearInterval is described in the timers section.

clearTimeout(timeoutObject)

clearTimeout is described in the timers section.

Class: CompressionStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of CompressionStream.

console

Used to print to stdout and stderr. See the console section.

Class: CountQueuingStrategy

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of CountQueuingStrategy.

Crypto

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-global-webcrypto CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <Crypto>. This global is available only if the Node.js binary was compiled with including support for the node:crypto module.

crypto

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-global-webcrypto CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of the Web Crypto API.

CryptoKey

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-global-webcrypto CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <CryptoKey>. This global is available only if the Node.js binary was compiled with including support for the node:crypto module.

CustomEvent

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-global-customevent CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of the CustomEvent Web API.

Class: DecompressionStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of DecompressionStream.

Event

A browser-compatible implementation of the Event class. See EventTarget and Event API for more details.

EventTarget

A browser-compatible implementation of the EventTarget class. See EventTarget and Event API for more details.

exports

This variable may appear to be global but is not. See exports.

fetch

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-fetch CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of the fetch() function.

Class: File

See <File>.

Class FormData

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-fetch CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <FormData>.

global

Stability: 3 - Legacy. Use globalThis instead.

In browsers, the top-level scope has traditionally been the global scope. This means that var something will define a new global variable, except within ECMAScript modules. In Node.js, this is different. The top-level scope is not the global scope; var something inside a Node.js module will be local to that module, regardless of whether it is a CommonJS module or an ECMAScript module.

Class Headers

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-fetch CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <Headers>.

MessageChannel

The MessageChannel class. See MessageChannel for more details.

MessageEvent

The MessageEvent class. See MessageEvent for more details.

MessagePort

The MessagePort class. See MessagePort for more details.

module

This variable may appear to be global but is not. See module.

PerformanceEntry

The PerformanceEntry class. See PerformanceEntry for more details.

PerformanceMark

The PerformanceMark class. See PerformanceMark for more details.

PerformanceMeasure

The PerformanceMeasure class. See PerformanceMeasure for more details.

PerformanceObserver

The PerformanceObserver class. See PerformanceObserver for more details.

PerformanceObserverEntryList

The PerformanceObserverEntryList class. See PerformanceObserverEntryList for more details.

PerformanceResourceTiming

The PerformanceResourceTiming class. See PerformanceResourceTiming for more details.

performance

The perf_hooks.performance object.

process

The process object. See the process object section.

queueMicrotask(callback)

The queueMicrotask() method queues a microtask to invoke callback. If callback throws an exception, the process object 'uncaughtException' event will be emitted.

The microtask queue is managed by V8 and may be used in a similar manner to the process.nextTick() queue, which is managed by Node.js. The process.nextTick() queue is always processed before the microtask queue within each turn of the Node.js event loop.

// Here, `queueMicrotask()` is used to ensure the 'load' event is always
// emitted asynchronously, and therefore consistently. Using
// `process.nextTick()` here would result in the 'load' event always emitting
// before any other promise jobs.

DataHandler.prototype.load = async function load(key) {
  const hit = this._cache.get(key);
  if (hit !== undefined) {
    queueMicrotask(() => {
      this.emit('load', hit);
    });
    return;
  }

  const data = await fetchData(key);
  this._cache.set(key, data);
  this.emit('load', data);
}; copy

Class: ReadableByteStreamController

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ReadableByteStreamController.

Class: ReadableStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ReadableStream.

Class: ReadableStreamBYOBReader

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ReadableStreamBYOBReader.

Class: ReadableStreamBYOBRequest

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ReadableStreamBYOBRequest.

Class: ReadableStreamDefaultController

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ReadableStreamDefaultController.

Class: ReadableStreamDefaultReader

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of ReadableStreamDefaultReader.

require()

This variable may appear to be global but is not. See require().

Response

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-fetch CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <Response>.

Request

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-fetch CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <Request>.

setImmediate(callback[, ...args])

setImmediate is described in the timers section.

setInterval(callback, delay[, ...args])

setInterval is described in the timers section.

setTimeout(callback, delay[, ...args])

setTimeout is described in the timers section.

structuredClone(value[, options])

The WHATWG structuredClone method.

SubtleCrypto

Stability: 1 - Experimental. Disable this API with the --no-experimental-global-webcrypto CLI flag.

A browser-compatible implementation of <SubtleCrypto>. This global is available only if the Node.js binary was compiled with including support for the node:crypto module.

DOMException

The WHATWG DOMException class. See DOMException for more details.

TextDecoder

The WHATWG TextDecoder class. See the TextDecoder section.

Class: TextDecoderStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of TextDecoderStream.

TextEncoder

The WHATWG TextEncoder class. See the TextEncoder section.

Class: TextEncoderStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of TextEncoderStream.

Class: TransformStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of TransformStream.

Class: TransformStreamDefaultController

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of TransformStreamDefaultController.

URL

The WHATWG URL class. See the URL section.

URLSearchParams

The WHATWG URLSearchParams class. See the URLSearchParams section.

WebAssembly

The object that acts as the namespace for all W3C WebAssembly related functionality. See the Mozilla Developer Network for usage and compatibility.

Class: WritableStream

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of WritableStream.

Class: WritableStreamDefaultController

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of WritableStreamDefaultController.

Class: WritableStreamDefaultWriter

Stability: 1 - Experimental.

A browser-compatible implementation of WritableStreamDefaultWriter.

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Licensed under the MIT License.
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https://nodejs.org/api/globals.html