module.exports vs exports in Node.js

Question

I\'ve found the following contract in a Node.js module:

module.exports = exports = nano = function database_module(cfg) {...}

I wonder what

Answer 1

From the docs

The exports variable is available within a module's file-level scope, and is assigned the value of module.exports before the module is evaluated.

It allows a shortcut, so that module.exports.f = ... can be written more succinctly as exports.f = .... However, be aware that like any variable, if a new value is assigned to exports, it is no longer bound to module.exports:

It is just a variable pointing to module.exports.