Default route in Express.js

Question

I'm writing an application with node.js and express.

I have setup a default route as this :

app.get('/', function(req, res){
  res.sendfile('./views/index.html');
});

This works fine when I goto /localhost:port/

But in the URL when I type anything after that, /localhost:port/blah I get 404 ERROR which makes sense.

I want to setup a default route so that no matter what I type in the URL after localhost:port/ it should all get back the same html file.

I tried changing / to * :

app.get('*', function(req, res){
  res.sendfile('./views/index.html');
});

but after I do this I start getting this error in the console and nothing shows up:

Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token <

in all of my Javascript files: :3000/scripts/myscript.js:1

somehow my javascript file show the content of HTML

===EDIT====

I used this and it worked fine for first level urls: like loclhost:port/blah

app.use(function(req, res){
    res.sendfile('./views/index.html');
});

but when the URLs are multilevel, I see the same problem as described earlier localhost:port/blah/foo The problem here is that router is looking for public directory under /blah folder for all the javascript and CSS files in this case, which does not exist. And it's returning the default HTML file. How do I fix this?

==================EDIT POSTING THE WHOLE CODE =========================================

var http = require('http');
var express = require('express');
var api = require('./routes/api');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var app = express();


mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/mydb');

app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);
app.set('view engine', 'jade');

app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(express.cookieParser('your secret here'));
app.use(express.session());
app.use(app.router);

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

app.get('/api/user/:userid', api.getUserInfo);

app.get('/', function(req, res){
  res.sendfile('./views/index.html');
});

http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
  console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});

In addition to this, I have an HTML with a myscript linked in it,

<script type="text/javascript" src="./scripts/myscript.js" ></script>

Your site is loading your JS files and these request are probably served by your "catch-all" .get '*'. Browser expects JavaScript file but gets your index.html. This indicates you don't really want ALL your URLs to be served with index.html. — Jakub Fedyczak, Mar 26 '14 at 21:21
Hmm. You would think that because it comes first, the `app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));` line should take precedence. :/ — Scimonster, Mar 26 '14 at 21:24

score 33 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 17 '16 at 15:37

33

Add this route at the after of all your previous routes

app.get('*',function (req, res) {
        res.redirect('/');
    });

This will redirect any route not handled to the index "/"

answered Jun 17 '16 at 15:37

dam1

3,536
3
22
18

This does work, but for some reason `request.url` always contains "/" instead of a full path which was specified. – humkins Apr 26 '17 at 08:56

score 28 · Accepted Answer · edited May 02 '21 at 11:14

28

As stated here, you can add this middleware just after your routing logic:

   app.use(function(req, res){
       res.send(404);
   });

You might find this answer also useful.

Of course, you need to adapt the res.send() part to meet your needs.

edited May 02 '21 at 11:14

João Pimentel Ferreira

14,289
10
80
109

answered Mar 26 '14 at 21:24

jpgc

764
5
19

1

I added this app.use(function(req, res){ res.sendfile('./views/index.html'); }); and it worked for url/anything , but there is still a problem, when I type two levels in my url like localhost:port/anything/anything it throws up the same error as mentioned above. – sublime Mar 26 '14 at 21:53
ok the problem is when I say localhost:port/blah/anything, All the GET requests for javascript files are under /blah directory which does not exist, and so it is returning the HTML file. – sublime Mar 26 '14 at 22:01

Michael Warner · Answer 3 · 2015-08-04T21:00:59.067

4

With the newer version of express I would suggest using res.sendStatus as res.send has been deprecated.

Express v3

app.use(function(req, res){
   res.send(404);
});

Express v4

app.use(function(req, res){
   res.sendStatus(404);
});

edited Aug 04 '15 at 21:00

answered Aug 04 '15 at 20:53

Michael Warner

3,879
3
21
45

In Express 4.x you can also use `res.status(404).send('Sorry, we cannot find that!')` if you don't want to use the predefined status message for the status code ( `Not Found` in this case) – RubenLaguna Sep 18 '21 at 07:26

Default route in Express.js

3 Answers3