CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptnode.jsdiscord.js
Base64__
Base64__

Reputation: 107

ReferenceError: Cannot access 'prefixfile' before initialization

i searched stackoverflow before asking this, none really solved my issue

I'm writing a discord bot and I'm writing a way to have custom prefixes. So far, I have this for handling situations where the prefix for a guild isn't in the json file.

const prefixfile = require('./prefixes.json');
function writePrefix(guildid) {
    const currentprefixes = prefixfile;
    
    currentprefixes[guildid] = "!";
    fs.writeFile('./prefixes.json', JSON.stringify(currentprefixes), output => {
        console.log(output);
    });
    delete require.cache[require.resolve(`./prefixes.json`)];
    const prefixfile = require('./prefixes.json');
}

I get the error ReferenceError: Cannot access 'prefixfile' before initialization

EDIT: I've fixed that issue and got another:

fs.writeFile('./prefixes.json', JSON.stringify(currentprefixes), output => {
        console.log(output);
});

that doesn't write anything to ./prefixes.json, even though currentprefixes has data that should be written.

any ideas?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1898

Answers (2)

Base64__
Base64__

Reputation: 107

like IAmDranged said, the variable prefixfile was not declared in the function. I fixed that by not using a function and moving it all inside my if statement. My other issue was that fs.writeFile() didn't write anything - I fixed by using fs.writeFileSync().

Upvotes: 0

IAmDranged
IAmDranged

Reputation: 3020

Even though a variable named prefixfile is declared outside your function, the first line of your function references the variable declared locally with same name - even though it is still not declared at that point. This happens because all the variables of your program are added to their respective lexical scopes at compile time - before any code has a chance to run.

However, since the local variable is declared with const, trying to access it before it has actually been declared will cause the ReferenceError that you see.

See the TDZ (Temporal Dead Zone) notes for further information on this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/let#temporal_dead_zone_tdz

Upvotes: 1

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