When I write this in the console in the devtools:
const response = await fetch("http://localhost:5001/api/products", {
headers: {"Content-Type":"application/json"}
});
const products = await response.json();
I am able to successfully get the data.
But when I run my node project with the same code in a JS file I get the following error:
Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected reserved word
await can't be used outside of an async function, unless you are on Node 14.3.0+ and using ESM. Wrap the code in a block like (async () => { /* your code here /* })(); and you should be good to go.
I have been going over async/await and after going over several articles, I decided to test things myself. However, I can't seem to wrap my head around why this does not work:
async function main() {
var value = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
console.log('inside: ' + value);
return value;
}
var text = main();
console.log('outside: ' + text);
The console outputs the following (node v8.6.0) :
> outside: [object Promise]
> inside: Hey there
Why does the log message inside the function execute afterwards? I thought the reason async/await was created was in order to perform synchronous execution using asynchronous tasks.
Is there a way could I use the value returned inside the function without using a .then() after main()?
I can't seem to wrap my head around why this does not work.
Because main returns a promise; all async functions do.
At the top level, you must either:
Use top-level await (proposal, MDN; ES2022, broadly supported in modern environments) that allows top-level use of await in a module.
or
Use a top-level async function that never rejects (unless you want "unhandled rejection" errors).
or
Use then and catch.
#1 top-level await in a module
You can use await at the top-level of a module. Your module won't finish loading until the promise you await settles (meaning any module waiting for your module to load won't finish loading until the promise settles). If the promise is rejected, your module will fail to load. Typically, top-level await is used in situations where your module won't be able to do its work until the promise is settled and won't be able to do it at all unless the promise is fulfilled, so that's fine:
const text = await main();
console.log(text);
If your module can continue to work even if the promise is rejected, you could wrap the top-level await in a try/catch:
// In a module, once the top-level `await` proposal lands
try {
const text = await main();
console.log(text);
} catch (e) {
// Deal with the fact the chain failed
}
// `text` is not available here
when a module using top-level await is evaluated, it returns a promise to the module loader (like an async function does), which waits until that promise is settled before evaluating the bodies of any modules that depend on it.
You can't use await at the top level of a non-module script, only in modules.
#2 - Top-level async function that never rejects
(async () => {
try {
const text = await main();
console.log(text);
} catch (e) {
// Deal with the fact the chain failed
}
// `text` is not available here
})();
// `text` is not available here, either, and code here is reached before the promise settles
// and before the code after `await` in the main function above runs
Notice the catch; you must handle promise rejections / async exceptions, since nothing else is going to; you have no caller to pass them on to (unlike with #1 above, where your "caller" is the module loader). If you prefer, you could do that on the result of calling it via the catch function (rather than try/catch syntax):
(async () => {
const text = await main();
console.log(text);
})().catch(e => {
// Deal with the fact the chain failed
});
// `text` is not available here, and code here is reached before the promise settles
// and before the code after `await` in the main function above runs
...which is a bit more concise, though it somewhat mixes models (async/await and explicit promise callbacks), which I'd normally otherwise advise not to.
Or, of course, don't handle errors and just allow the "unhandled rejection" error.
#3 - then and catch
main()
.then(text => {
console.log(text);
})
.catch(err => {
// Deal with the fact the chain failed
});
// `text` is not available here, and code here is reached before the promise settles
// and the handlers above run
The catch handler will be called if errors occur in the chain or in your then handler. (Be sure your catch handler doesn't throw errors, as nothing is registered to handle them.)
Or both arguments to then:
main().then(
text => {
console.log(text);
},
err => {
// Deal with the fact the chain failed
}
);
// `text` is not available here, and code here is reached before the promise settles
// and the handlers above run
Again notice we're registering a rejection handler. But in this form, be sure that neither of your then callbacks throws any errors, since nothing is registered to handle them.
2021 answer: you can now use top level await in the current stable version of node
Most of the answers above are a little out of date or very verbose, so here's a quick example for node 14 onwards.
Make a file called runme.mjs:
import * as util from "util";
import { exec as lameExec } from "child_process";
const exec = util.promisify(lameExec);
const log = console.log.bind(console);
// Top level await works now
const { stdout, stderr } = await exec("ls -la");
log("Output:\n", stdout);
log("\n\nErrors:\n", stderr);
Run node runme.mjs
Output:
total 20
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike mike 4096 Aug 12 12:05 .
drwxr-xr-x 30 mike mike 4096 Aug 12 11:05 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike mike 130 Aug 12 12:01 file.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike mike 770 Aug 12 12:12 runme.mjs
Errors:
Top-Level await has moved to stage 3 stage 4 (see namo's comment), so the answer to your question How can I use async/await at the top level? is to just use await:
const text = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
console.log('outside: ' + text)
Of if you want a main() function: add await to the call to main() :
async function main() {
var value = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
console.log('inside: ' + value);
return value;
}
var text = await main();
console.log('outside: ' + text)
Compatibility
v8 since Oct 2019
the REPL in Chrome DevTools, Node.js and Safari web inspector
Node v13.3+ behind the flag --harmony-top-level-await
TypeScript 3.8+ (issue)
Deno since Oct 2019
Webpack#v5.0.0-alpha.15
To give some further info on top of current answers:
The contents of a node.js file are currently concatenated, in a string-like way, to form a function body.
For example if you have a file test.js:
// Amazing test file!
console.log('Test!');
Then node.js will secretly concatenate a function that looks like:
function(require, __dirname, ... perhaps more top-level properties) {
// Amazing test file!
console.log('Test!');
}
The major thing to note, is that the resulting function is NOT an async function. So you cannot use the term await directly inside of it!
But say you need to work with promises in this file, then there are two possible methods:
Don't use await directly inside the function
Don't use await at all
Option 1 requires us to create a new scope (and this scope can be async, because we have control over it):
// Amazing test file!
// Create a new async function (a new scope) and immediately call it!
(async () => {
await new Promise(...);
console.log('Test!');
})();
Option 2 requires us to use the object-oriented promise API (the less pretty but equally functional paradigm of working with promises)
// Amazing test file!
// Create some sort of promise...
let myPromise = new Promise(...);
// Now use the object-oriented API
myPromise.then(() => console.log('Test!'));
It would be interesting to see node add support for top-level await!
You can now use top level await in Node v13.3.0
import axios from "axios";
const { data } = await axios.get("https://api.namefake.com/");
console.log(data);
run it with --harmony-top-level-await flag
node --harmony-top-level-await index.js
The actual solution to this problem is to approach it differently.
Probably your goal is some sort of initialization which typically happens at the top level of an application.
The solution is to ensure that there is only ever one single JavaScript statement at the top level of your application. If you have only one statement at the top of your application, then you are free to use async/await at every other point everwhere (subject of course to normal syntax rules)
Put another way, wrap your entire top level in a function so that it is no longer the top level and that solves the question of how to run async/await at the top level of an application - you don't.
This is what the top level of your application should look like:
import {application} from './server'
application();
i like this clever syntax to do async work from an entrypoint
void async function main() {
await doSomeWork()
await doMoreWork()
}()
Other solutions were lacking some important details for POSIX compliance:
You need to ...
Report a 0 exit status on success and non-zero on fail.
Emit errors to stderr output stream.
#!/usr/bin/env node
async function main() {
// ... await stuff ...
}
// POSIX compliant apps should report an exit status
main()
.then(() => {
process.exit(0);
})
.catch(err => {
console.error(err); // Writes to stderr
process.exit(1);
});
If you're using a command line parser like commander, you may not need a main().
Example:
#!/usr/bin/env node
import commander from 'commander'
const program = new commander.Command();
program
.version("0.0.1")
.command("some-cmd")
.arguments("<my-arg1>")
.action(async (arg1: string) => {
// run some async action
});
program.parseAsync(process.argv)
.then(() => {
process.exit(0)
})
.catch(err => {
console.error(err.message || err);
if (err.stack) console.error(err.stack);
process.exit(1);
});
Node -
You can run node --experimental-repl-await while in the REPL. I'm not so sure about scripting.
Deno -
Deno already has it built in.
For Browser you need to add type="module"
without type="module"
<script>
const resp = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users');
const users = await resp.json();
console.log(users)
</script>
with type="module"
<!--script type="module" src="await.js" -->
<script type="module">
const resp = await fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users');
const users = await resp.json();
console.log(users)
</script>
You need to add type in package.json
"type": "module"
You are good to go.
import axios from 'axios';
const res = await axios.get('https://api.github.com/users/wesbos');
console.log(res.data);
Remember if you change type of document then you must have to write code in ES6 way.
Now with ECMAScript22, we can use await at the top-level module.
This is an example with ( await top-level ):
const response = await fetch("...");
console.log(response):
an other example without (await top-level )
async function callApi() {
const response = await fetch("...");
console.log(response)
}
callApi()
In NodeJS 14.8+, you can use top-level await module (#3 solution). You can rename also .js to .mjs (ES module) instead of .js (.cjs CommonJS).
If your only goal is to control the execution order of asynchronous code mixed with other code for testing purposes, you could wrap the entire top-level code inside of an immediately-invoked function expression (IIFE) defined as an async function. In the example from the question, you would then add await before calling main().
You can use this pattern when your code is not already in an async function or at the top level body of a module. In other words, if you're just testing a bunch of code inside of a js file and using tools like Live Server, RunJs, or any other type of JavaScript playground to watch the console window, wrap all of your code in an IIFE defined as async and use the await keyword when you want to wait for asynchronous code to finish before executing the next line.
let topLevelIIFE = (async () => {
async function main() {
var value = await Promise.resolve('Hey there');
console.log('inside: ' + value);
return value;
}
var text = await main();
console.log('outside: ' + text);
})()
You would not need to use this pattern when running the code specified in the body of the IIFE inside of the REPL in Chrome DevTools or another browser REPL tool that behaves similarly.
Since main() runs asynchronously it returns a promise. You have to get the result in then() method. And because then() returns promise too, you have to call process.exit() to end the program.
main()
.then(
(text) => { console.log('outside: ' + text) },
(err) => { console.log(err) }
)
.then(() => { process.exit() } )
I am trying to do something like this on global scope in nodejs REPL. As per my understanding both the following statements are valid. see docs
let x = await Promise.resolve(2);
let y = await 2;
However, both these statements are throwing an error.
Can somebody explain why?
my node version is v8.9.4
Update
When using Node, the file currently must have an .mjs extension to work.
Top level awaits can be used in browser modules. When used the script tag must include the type attribute which must be set to module:
<script src="/script.js" type="module"></script>
const start = Date.now()
console.log('Pre call.')
await delayedCall()
console.log('Duration:', Date.now() - start)
function delayedCall() {
return new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(() => resolve(), 2000))
}
Working Node Example -- Run node ./index.mjs in the terminal.
Working Browser Example
Supported Versions
Old Answer
await can only be used within a function that is labeled async, so there are two ways you can approach this.
Note:
There is a proposal in place that may eventually allow the usage of Top level await calls.
The first way is to create a self invoked function like this:
(async function() {
let x = await Promise.resolve(2)
let y = await 2
console.log(x, y)
})()
Or the second way is to use .then()
Promise.resolve(2).then(async data => {
let x = data
let y = await 2
console.log(x, y)
})
This proposal is currently in stage 3 of the TC39 process. LINK
You can use this feature in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox as of now. You can use top level await without async in console.
https://twitter.com/addyosmani/status/1080365576218759168
As of version 13.3, Node.js support Top-level await.
Top-level await means you can now use await operator outside an async function. So both examples are correct:
(async function() {
await Promise.resolve(console.log('Hello await!'));
}());
// or
await Promise.resolve(console.log('Hello await!'));
Note: Top-level await only works at the top level of modules. There is no support for classic scripts or non-async functions.
Just keep in mind, that the await operator is used to wait for a Promise. It does NOT matter if you are using an await operator with a value other than a Promise. For example, the name variable in the displayName()` function:
async function displayName() {
const name = await 'unclexo';
console.log(name);
}
displayName(); // outputs 'unclexo'
As the value of the name variable is not a Promise, it converts the value to a resolved Promise, and waits for it. It happens under the hood.
The old behavior
MDN doc says
The await operator is used to wait for a Promise. It can only be used
inside an async function.
since node 10, you can run node process with --experimental-repl-await to allow top level await
https://nodejs.org/api/repl.html#repl_await_keyword
async function getTen() {
return 10;
}
(async () => {
let ten = await getTen();
console.log(ten);
})();
Source: https://javascript.plainenglish.io/5-javascript-interview-questions-to-identify-outstanding-developers-859a71c3d7f
Top-level-await is supported in Node.js version 13.3 or above
Example:
await Promise.resolve(console.log('🎉')); // → 🎉
(Though the question is about REPL, a note on running as script file. Set {"type": "module"} package.json or use the file name extension .mjs)
You could wrap all the code in the global scope in an async function.
For example:
// ...global imports...
new Promise (async () => {
// ...all code in the global scope...
}).then()
I was attempting to chain two async functions together, because the first had a conditional return parameter that caused the second to either run, or exit the module. However, I've found odd behavior I can't find in the specs.
async function isInLobby() {
//promise.all([chained methods here])
let exit = false;
if (someCondition) exit = true;
}
This is a bastardized snippet of my code (you can see the full scope here), that simply checks if a player if already in a lobby, but that's irrelevant.
Next we have this async function.
async function countPlayer() {
const keyLength = await scardAsync(game);
return keyLength;
}
This function doesn't need to run if exit === true.
I tried to do
const inLobby = await isInLobby();
This I hoped would await to results, so I can use inLobby to conditionally run countPlayer, however I received a typeerror with no specific details.
Why can't you await an async function outside of the scope of the function? I know it's a sugar promise, so it must be chained to then but why is it that in countPlayer I can await another promise, but outside, I can't await isInLobby?
There is always this of course:
(async () => {
await ...
// all of the script....
})();
// nothing else
This makes a quick function with async where you can use await. It saves you the need to make an async function which is great! //credits Silve2611
Top level await is not supported. There are a few discussions by the standards committee on why this is, such as this Github issue.
There's also a thinkpiece on Github about why top level await is a bad idea. Specifically he suggests that if you have code like this:
// data.js
const data = await fetch( '/data.json' );
export default data;
Now any file that imports data.js won't execute until the fetch completes, so all of your module loading is now blocked. This makes it very difficult to reason about app module order, since we're used to top level Javascript executing synchronously and predictably. If this were allowed, knowing when a function gets defined becomes tricky.
My perspective is that it's bad practice for your module to have side effects simply by loading it. That means any consumer of your module will get side effects simply by requiring your module. This badly limits where your module can be used. A top level await probably means you're reading from some API or calling to some service at load time. Instead you should just export async functions that consumers can use at their own pace.
As of Node.js 14.3.0, the top-level await is supported with a flag:
--experimental-top-level-await
As of Node.js 16.12.0 / 17.0.0, no flag required.
Further details: https://v8.dev/features/top-level-await.
you can do top level await since typescript 3.8
https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-3-8.html#-top-level-await
From the post:
This is because previously in JavaScript (along with most other languages with a similar feature), await was only allowed within the body of an async function. However, with top-level await, we can use await at the top level of a module.
const response = await fetch("...");
const greeting = await response.text();
console.log(greeting);
// Make sure we're a module
export {};
Note there’s a subtlety: top-level await only works at the top level of a module, and files are only considered modules when TypeScript finds an import or an export. In some basic cases, you might need to write out export {} as some boilerplate to make sure of this.
Top level await may not work in all environments where you might expect at this point. Currently, you can only use top level await when the target compiler option is es2017 or above, and module is esnext or system. Support within several environments and bundlers may be limited or may require enabling experimental support.
All version of babel translate an await statement to a _asyncToGenerator call, it obviously has some shortcomings:
Code size grows dramatically
Requires the regeneratorRuntime library
From my understanding of the syntax I think any await should be equivalent to a Promise#then call, so the code below:
try {
let user = await getUser();
console.log(user.name);
}
catch (error) {
console.error(error);
}
is just equivalent to:
let promise$of$getUser$ = getUser();
$promise$of$getUser$.then(
$result$ => console.log($result$),
$error$ => console.error($error$)
);
In this way it is also possible to correctly map multiple await statements or even a mix of Promise#then and await statements to a Promise chain, so I must missed some cases where pure Promise#then is not suitable for await statements.
You can use the other 2 plugins: async-to-generator and async-to-module-method.
There's also an experimental plugin called kneden which does try to do what you are suggesting (async to promise). It's still WIP and doesn't account for all cases and most likely will not be able to.
I think you're overlooking loops:
for (let userId of userIds) {
const user = await getUser(userId);
console.log(user);
}