caller

What is caller?

The 'caller' npm package is used to identify the calling function or module in a Node.js application. It helps in debugging, logging, and tracing the flow of execution by providing information about the caller of a function.

What are caller's main functionalities?

Get the calling function

This feature allows you to get the file path of the calling function. In the example, 'caller()' is used inside 'exampleFunction' to log the file path of 'anotherFunction' which called 'exampleFunction'.

const caller = require('caller');

function exampleFunction() {
  console.log('Caller:', caller());
}

function anotherFunction() {
  exampleFunction();
}

anotherFunction();

Get the calling module

This feature allows you to get the file path of the calling module. In the example, 'caller()' is used inside 'exampleFunction' to log the file path of the module that required 'exampleFunction'.

const caller = require('caller');

module.exports = function exampleFunction() {
  console.log('Caller module:', caller());
};

const exampleFunction = require('./exampleFunction');

exampleFunction();

Other packages similar to caller

callsite

The 'callsite' package provides a way to get detailed information about the call stack, including file paths, line numbers, and function names. It offers more detailed stack trace information compared to 'caller', which focuses on the immediate caller.

stack-trace

The 'stack-trace' package allows you to capture and manipulate stack traces in Node.js. It provides more comprehensive stack trace information and is useful for advanced debugging and error handling, whereas 'caller' is more lightweight and focused on identifying the immediate caller.

README

caller

Figure out your caller (thanks to @substack).

Initialization Time Caller

// foo.js

var bar = require('bar');

// bar.js

var caller = require('caller');
console.log(caller()); // `/path/to/foo.js`

Runtime Caller

// foo.js

var bar = require('bar');
bar.doWork();

// bar.js

var caller = require('caller');

exports.doWork = function () {
    console.log(caller());  // `/path/to/foo.js`
};

Depth

Caller also accepts a depth argument for tracing back further (defaults to 1).

// foo.js

var bar = require('bar');
bar.doWork();

// bar.js

var baz = require('baz');

exports.doWork = function () {
    baz.doWork();
};

// baz.js

var caller = require('caller');

exports.doWork = function () {
    console.log(caller(2));  // `/path/to/foo.js`
};

Changelog

v1.1.0 (March 9, 2022)

• fix: handle case where Error class is wrapped (#10)