process.emitWarning

History

process.emitWarning(warning, type?, code?, ctor?): void

Attributes

warning:string | Error

The warning to emit.

type?:string

When warning is a String, type is the name to use for the type of warning being emitted. Default: 'Warning'.

code:string

A unique identifier for the warning instance being emitted.

ctor?:Function

When warning is a String, ctor is an optional function used to limit the generated stack trace. Default: process.emitWarning.

The process.emitWarning() method can be used to emit custom or application specific process warnings. These can be listened for by adding a handler to the 'warning' event.

import { emitWarning } from 'node:process';

// Emit a warning using a string.
emitWarning('Something happened!');
// Emits: (node: 56338) Warning: Something happened!

JavaScript

const { emitWarning } = require('node:process');

// Emit a warning using a string.
emitWarning('Something happened!');
// Emits: (node: 56338) Warning: Something happened!

JavaScript

import { emitWarning } from 'node:process';

// Emit a warning using a string and a type.
emitWarning('Something Happened!', 'CustomWarning');
// Emits: (node:56338) CustomWarning: Something Happened!

JavaScript

const { emitWarning } = require('node:process');

// Emit a warning using a string and a type.
emitWarning('Something Happened!', 'CustomWarning');
// Emits: (node:56338) CustomWarning: Something Happened!

JavaScript

import { emitWarning } from 'node:process';

emitWarning('Something happened!', 'CustomWarning', 'WARN001');
// Emits: (node:56338) [WARN001] CustomWarning: Something happened!

JavaScript

const { emitWarning } = require('node:process');

process.emitWarning('Something happened!', 'CustomWarning', 'WARN001');
// Emits: (node:56338) [WARN001] CustomWarning: Something happened!

JavaScript

In each of the previous examples, an Error object is generated internally by process.emitWarning() and passed through to the 'warning' handler.

import process from 'node:process';

process.on('warning', (warning) => {
  console.warn(warning.name);
  console.warn(warning.message);
  console.warn(warning.code);
  console.warn(warning.stack);
});

JavaScript

process.on('warning', (warning) => {
  console.warn(warning.name);
  console.warn(warning.message);
  console.warn(warning.code);
  console.warn(warning.stack);
});

JavaScript

If warning is passed as an Error object, it will be passed through to the 'warning' event handler unmodified (and the optional type, code and ctor arguments will be ignored):

import { emitWarning } from 'node:process';

// Emit a warning using an Error object.
const myWarning = new Error('Something happened!');
// Use the Error name property to specify the type name
myWarning.name = 'CustomWarning';
myWarning.code = 'WARN001';

emitWarning(myWarning);
// Emits: (node:56338) [WARN001] CustomWarning: Something happened!

JavaScript

const { emitWarning } = require('node:process');

// Emit a warning using an Error object.
const myWarning = new Error('Something happened!');
// Use the Error name property to specify the type name
myWarning.name = 'CustomWarning';
myWarning.code = 'WARN001';

emitWarning(myWarning);
// Emits: (node:56338) [WARN001] CustomWarning: Something happened!

JavaScript

A TypeError is thrown if warning is anything other than a string or Error object.

While process warnings use Error objects, the process warning mechanism is not a replacement for normal error handling mechanisms.

The following additional handling is implemented if the warning type is 'DeprecationWarning':

If the --throw-deprecation command-line flag is used, the deprecation warning is thrown as an exception rather than being emitted as an event.
If the --no-deprecation command-line flag is used, the deprecation warning is suppressed.
If the --trace-deprecation command-line flag is used, the deprecation warning is printed to stderr along with the full stack trace.

Avoiding duplicate warnings

As a best practice, warnings should be emitted only once per process. To do so, place the emitWarning() behind a boolean.

import { emitWarning } from 'node:process';

function emitMyWarning() {
  if (!emitMyWarning.warned) {
    emitMyWarning.warned = true;
    emitWarning('Only warn once!');
  }
}
emitMyWarning();
// Emits: (node: 56339) Warning: Only warn once!
emitMyWarning();
// Emits nothing

JavaScript

const { emitWarning } = require('node:process');

function emitMyWarning() {
  if (!emitMyWarning.warned) {
    emitMyWarning.warned = true;
    emitWarning('Only warn once!');
  }
}
emitMyWarning();
// Emits: (node: 56339) Warning: Only warn once!
emitMyWarning();
// Emits nothing

JavaScript