Redirect with ExpressJS

Redirect with ExpressJS

To use Redirect with ExpressJs, we can use the res.redirect() method. This method redirects the user to a different URL. By default, the status code set is 302 Found.

Syntax

res.redirect ( status, path)

The redirect function takes two parameters as status and path. The status parameter holds the HTTP status code, whereas the path parameter specifies the URL to which the user should be redirected.

To perform a redirect to a new URL, we need to define a routed handle and the define res.redirect() function inside it.

Example

Code

app.get("old-url" , (req,res) => {
	res.redirect(301, "new-url");
});

In the above code, 301 status indicates that the redirection is permanent. Whenever a request is made to the "old-URL," the server will redirect to the "new-URL."

We can also specify the URL directly in the res.redirect function, as shown below.

Code

app.get("old-url" , (req,res) => {
	res.redirect("https://www.codingninjas.com/");
});

Now we will discuss the steps to write a fully functioning program that uses redirect with the help of ExpressJS.

Implementation

Installing expressJS

To create a redirect with ExpressJS, we must install Express.js locally. You can install express.js by the following command.

npm install express

Create the JavaScript file

After we have installed express.js, we should create the main index.js file, which will contain the JavaScript code for redirection.

Code

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const PORT = 3000

app.get("/" , function ( req, res) {
	console.log("redirecting to codingninjas.com");
	res.redirect("https://www.codingninjas.com/");
});

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

Explanation 

First, we import the "express" module using the command require("express").

After that, we create an instance of the express app, which is stored in the const variable app.

Then we declare a const variable PORT and set its value to 3000, which we will use to listen to the incoming requests in the future.

Then we set up the route for the HTTP get method. It takes two arguments, the root path and the callback function. This callback function is executed when a request is made to this route.

Run the index.js file

The last step in running the server is to run the index.js file using the command given below.

node index.js

This will start the server at the specified port, which is 3000.

Output

This output shows that the server has started listening to our application on port 3000. The second line indicates that the server has successfully redirected the user to the indicated website, "codingninjas.com" in our case.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can we redirect with ExpressJS using a different status code?

ExpressJS provides the facility to redirect to any URL with any status code. By default, the status code is set to 302. We can change the status code in the res.redirect() function by passing the new status code as the first parameter.

What are some alternatives to the res.redirect method?

There are many alternatives to the res.redirect() method in Express.js. These alternate methods include manually setting the status code, using res.writeHead() and res.end() to set the headers, or using res.location() and res.statusCode to set the location and status code separately.

How can we redirect to a specific route using URL parameters in ExpressJS?

We can redirect to specific routes with URL parameters in Express.js by constructing the URL with the desired parameters. We can build the required URL as a string with the received parameters and then use it in the res.redirect function.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed about Redirect with ExpressJS. We learnt about various types of redirects and their status codes. We also discussed how to use redirecting in your own application using ExpressJS with a fully functional codeSo now that you have learned about Redirect with ExpressJS, you can also refer to other similar articles.

• Introduction to Express
   
• Creating a simple API with nodeJS and Express
   
• Authenticate Users with Node ExpressJS and Passport.js
   

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