Create Separate Routes File in Node Express.js

This tutorial will teach you how to create a separate route file in Node.js. Routing describes how an application’s endpoints (URIs) respond to client requests. You define routing by using Express app object methods that correspond to HTTP methods, such as an app.get() for GET requests and app.post() for POST requests, and even PUT and DELETE requests.

To avoid clustering of all routes in our index.js, we create route files in Express.js. It will help us to separate routes by creating separate files for each.

Creating Separate Routes File in Node Express.js

We will be using the express module for the same. To install express, type this on terminal

npm i express

In the index.js file first, include the module using require() the method and define the app and port for the same.

const express=require('express')
const app=express();
const PORT=8080

And we call app.listen() to make sure the port is running

app.listen(PORT,()=>{
    console.log("Server is running")
})

Now we create a folder called routes, where we will save all our route file

For example, we have created User.js and contact.js

In User.js

We will include the Express module and also an express.Router() function to create a new router object. And then we specify our endpoint. In this example, we are using the get method likewise you can specify all the methods for route /user.

const express=require('express')
const router=express.Router()
router.get("/",(req,res)=>{
    res.send("User route is displaying data")
})

Finally, we export this module

module.exports=router;

Now similarly we do that in our other route file,

Contact.js

const express=require('express')
const router=express.Router()
router.get("/",(req,res)=>{
    res.send("Contact route is displaying data")
})
module.exports=router;

Now in our index.js file

Now we define variables that are associated with their respective route

const userRoute=require('./routes/User')
const contactRoute=require('./routes/Contact')

And then, we use the app.use() to use the routes.

app.use("/user",userRoute)
app.use("/contact",contactRoute)

Here’s the complete code,

Index.js

const express=require('express')
const app=express();
const PORT=8080
const userRoute=require('./routes/User')
const contactRoute=require('./routes/Contact')
app.use("/user",userRoute)
app.use("/contact",contactRoute)
app.listen(PORT,()=>{
    console.log("Server is running")
})

User.js

const express=require('express')
const router=express.Router()
router.get("/",(req,res)=>{
    res.send("User route is displaying data")
})
module.exports=router;

Contact.js

const express=require('express')
const router=express.Router()
router.get("/",(req,res)=>{
    res.send("Contact route is displaying data")
})
module.exports=router;

Output

2 responses to “Create Separate Routes File in Node Express.js”

1. Shikha says:

   November 16, 2022 at 2:45 pm

   Good article. Helped me a lot. Can’t wait for more articles on node Js from you.

   Reply
2. ck says:

   November 16, 2022 at 9:27 pm

   Never thought routes folder is this important. Thanks a lot!!!

   Reply