How can one get the file path of the caller function in node.js?

Question

How can one get the file path of the caller function in node.js?

Here is some sample code from three files:

// foo.js
var myFunc = require("./myFunc");
function foo(){
   myFunc("message");
}

// bar.js
var myFunc = require("./myFunc");
function bar(){
   myFunc("message");
}

// myFunc.js
module.exports = myFunc;
function myFunc(arg1){
   console.log(arg1);
   // Here I need the file path of the caller function
   // For example, "/path/to/foo.js" and "/path/to/bar.js"
}

I need to get the file path of the caller function dynamically, without any extra argument passing, for myFunc.

javascript
node.js

Answer 1

You need to fiddle with the inner workings of v8. See: the wiki entry about the JavaScript Stack Trace API.

I've based a little test on some code in a proposed commit and it seems to work. You end up with an absolute path.

// omfg.js

module.exports = omfg

function omfg() {
  var caller = getCaller()
  console.log(caller.filename)
}

// private

function getCaller() {
  var stack = getStack()

  // Remove superfluous function calls on stack
  stack.shift() // getCaller --> getStack
  stack.shift() // omfg --> getCaller

  // Return caller's caller
  return stack[1].receiver
}

function getStack() {
  // Save original Error.prepareStackTrace
  var origPrepareStackTrace = Error.prepareStackTrace

  // Override with function that just returns `stack`
  Error.prepareStackTrace = function (_, stack) {
    return stack
  }

  // Create a new `Error`, which automatically gets `stack`
  var err = new Error()

  // Evaluate `err.stack`, which calls our new `Error.prepareStackTrace`
  var stack = err.stack

  // Restore original `Error.prepareStackTrace`
  Error.prepareStackTrace = origPrepareStackTrace

  // Remove superfluous function call on stack
  stack.shift() // getStack --> Error

  return stack
}

And a test that includes omfg module:

#!/usr/bin/env node
// test.js

var omfg = require("./omfg")

omfg()

And you will get on the console the absolute path of test.js.

EXPLANATION

This is not so much a "node.js" issue as it is a "v8" issue.

See: Stack Trace Collection for Custom Exceptions

Error.captureStackTrace(error, constructorOpt) adds to the error parameter a stack property, which evaluates by default to a String (by way of FormatStackTrace). If Error.prepareStackTrace(error, structuredStackTrace) is a Function, then it is called instead of FormatStackTrace.

So, we can override Error.prepareStackTrace with our own function that will return whatever we want--in this case, just the structuredStackTrace parameter.

Then, structuredStackTrace[1].receiver is an object representing the caller.

Answer 2

Or instead of fiddling with inner workings of the V8 engine, you use module.parent.filename to get absolute path to the module that required your module. As demonstrated here: https://gist.github.com/capaj/a9ba9d313b79f1dcd9a2