Express.js req.app Property

The req.app property holds the reference to the instance of the Express application that is using the middleware.

Syntax:

req.app

Parameter: No parameters.

Return Value: Object

Installation of express module:

1. You can visit the link to Install express module. You can install this package by using this command.

   npm install express

2. After installing the express module, you can check your express version in command prompt using the command.

   npm version express

3. After that, you can just create a folder and add a file for example, index.js. To run this file you need to run the following command.

   node index.js

Example 1: Filename: index.js

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var PORT = 3000;

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  console.log(req.app);
  res.send();
});

app.listen(PORT, function(err){
    if (err) console.log(err);
    console.log("Server listening on PORT", PORT);
});

Steps to run the program:

1. The project structure will look like this:
   
2. Make sure you have installed express module using the following command:

   npm install express

3. Run index.js file using below command:

   node index.js

   Output:

   Server listening on PORT 3000
   

4. Now open your browser and go to http://localhost:3000/, now you can see the following output on your console:

   Server listening on PORT 3000
   { [EventEmitter: app]
     _events: [Object: null prototype] 
       { mount: [Function: onmount] },
     _eventsCount: 1,
     _maxListeners: undefined,
     setMaxListeners: [Function: setMaxListeners],
     getMaxListeners: [Function: getMaxListeners],
     . . .
    _router:
      { [Function: router]
        params: {},
        _params: [],
        caseSensitive: false,
        mergeParams: undefined,
        strict: false,
        stack: [ [Layer], [Layer], [Layer] ] } }
   

Example 2: Filename: index.js

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var PORT = 3000;

app.get('/user', function (req, res) {
  console.log(req.app._eventsCount);
  res.send();
});

app.listen(PORT, function(err){
    if (err) console.log(err);
    console.log("Server listening on PORT", PORT);
});

Run index.js file using below command:

node index.js

Output:
Now open your browser and make GET request to http://localhost:3000/user, now you can see the following output on your console:

Server listening on PORT 3000
1

Reference: https://expressjs.com/en/4x/api.html#req.path