Uncaught syntaxerror: ambiguous indirect export: default

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Uncaught SyntaxError: Ambiguous Indirect Export – Default

This error occurs when there is an ambiguity while exporting a default value from a module. To understand this error, let’s first discuss how exports and imports work in ES6 modules.

Exporting from a Module

In ES6 modules, we can use the export keyword to make values, functions, or classes accessible to other modules. There are two ways to export items from a module:

Named Exports: Use the export keyword followed by the name of the item to be exported. Each item can be individually imported in other modules using its name.
Default Export: Use the export default syntax to export a single item as the default export of the module. Unlike named exports, a default export can be imported using any name in other modules.

Importing into a Module

In order to use exported items from another module, we need to import them. We have the following import options:

Named Imports: Import multiple named exports by specifying their names inside curly braces ({}). The names must match the exported names exactly.
Default Import: Import the default export using any desired name. Only one default export can exist per module.
Mixed Imports: Combine named and default imports in a single import statement. It allows importing specific named exports alongside the default export.

The Error Scenario

The error Uncaught SyntaxError: Ambiguous Indirect Export - Default is thrown when there is a conflict between a default import and a named import with the same name. The JavaScript runtime engine finds this ambiguous and cannot determine which exported value should be assigned to the imported name.

Let’s consider an example to understand this better:

// file: moduleA.js
export default "Default Export";
export const namedExport = "Named Export";

// file: moduleB.js
import namedExport from './moduleA.js';    // Error: Uncaught SyntaxError: Ambiguous Indirect Export - Default
console.log(namedExport); // will throw an error

In the above example, we have a default export in moduleA.js with the value "Default Export" and a named export with the value "Named Export". However, in moduleB.js, we try to import the named export using the same name namedExport. This results in the “Ambiguous Indirect Export – Default” error because the JavaScript engine cannot determine whether namedExport refers to the default export or the named export.

Solution

To resolve this error, we can either change the name of the named import or alias the imported default export. Let’s modify the example to fix the error:

// file: moduleB.js
import { namedExport as myNamedExport } from './moduleA.js';
console.log(myNamedExport); // "Named Export"

In the modified code, we are importing the named export as myNamedExport instead of using the ambiguous name namedExport. Now, the error is resolved, and we can access the named export correctly.

Alternatively, if we need to import the default export, we can alias it using the as keyword:

// file: moduleB.js
import namedExport, { namedExport as myNamedExport } from './moduleA.js';
console.log(namedExport);      // "Default Export"
console.log(myNamedExport);    // "Named Export"

In the above example, we alias the named export as myNamedExport but still import the default export using the same name namedExport. Both can coexist since they are assigned to different variables.

By avoiding conflicting names and using proper aliasing, we can resolve the “Ambiguous Indirect Export – Default” error and ensure the correct import and use of exported values from modules in JavaScript.

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Uncaught syntaxerror: ambiguous indirect export: default