ReferenceError: fetch is not defined

Question

I have this error when I compile my code in node.js, how can I fix it?

RefernceError: fetch is not defined

This is the function I am doing, it is responsible for recovering information from a specific movie database.

function getMovieTitles(substr){  
  pageNumber=1;
  let url = 'https://jsonmock.hackerrank.com/api/movies/search/?Title=' + substr + "&page=" + pageNumber;
  fetch(url).then((resp) => resp.json()).then(function(data) {
    let movies = data.data;
    let totPages = data.total_pages;
    let sortArray = [];
    for(let i=0; i<movies.length;i++){
        sortArray.push(data.data[i].Title);
     }
    for(let i=2; i<=totPages; i++){
           let newPage = i;
           let url1 = 'https://jsonmock.hackerrank.com/api/movies/search/?Title=' + substr + "&page=" + newPage;

          fetch(url1).then(function(response) {
              var contentType = response.headers.get("content-type");
              if(contentType && contentType.indexOf("application/json") !== -1) {
                return response.json().then(function(json) {
                  //console.log(json); //uncomment this console.log to see the JSON data.

                 for(let i=0; i<json.data.length;i++){
                    sortArray.push(json.data[i].Title);
                 }

                 if(i==totPages)console.log(sortArray.sort());

                });
              } else {
                console.log("Oops, we haven't got JSON!");
              }
            });

        }
  })
  .catch(function(error) {
    console.log(error);
  });   
}

Answer 1

For those also using typescript on node-js and are getting a ReferenceError: fetch is not defined error

npm install these packages:

    "amazon-cognito-identity-js": "3.0.11"
    "node-fetch": "^2.3.0"

Then include:

import Global = NodeJS.Global;
export interface GlobalWithCognitoFix extends Global {
    fetch: any
}
declare const global: GlobalWithCognitoFix;
global.fetch = require('node-fetch');

Answer 2

Best one is Axios library for fetching. use npm i --save axios for installng and use it like fetch, just write axios instead of fetch and then get response in then().

Answer 3

You have to use the isomorphic-fetch module to your Node project because of Node does not contain Fetch API yet. for fixing this problem run below command:

npm install --save isomorphic-fetch es6-promise

After installation use below code in your project:

import "isomorphic-fetch"

Hope this answer helps you.

Answer 4

The fetch API is not implemented in Node.

You need to use an external module for that, like node-fetch.

Install it in your Node application like this

npm i node-fetch --save

then put the line below at the top of the files where you are using the fetch API:

const fetch = require("node-fetch");

Answer 5

If it has to be accessible with a global scope

global.fetch = require("node-fetch");

This is a quick dirty fix, try to eliminate the usage in production code.

Answer 6

You can use cross-fetch from @lquixada

Platform agnostic: browsers, node or react native

Install

npm install --save cross-fetch

Usage

With promises:

import fetch from 'cross-fetch';
// Or just: import 'cross-fetch/polyfill';

fetch('//api.github.com/users/lquixada')
  .then(res => {
    if (res.status >= 400) {
      throw new Error("Bad response from server");
    }
    return res.json();
  })
  .then(user => {
    console.log(user);
  })
  .catch(err => {
    console.error(err);
  });

With async/await:

import fetch from 'cross-fetch';
// Or just: import 'cross-fetch/polyfill';

(async () => {
  try {
    const res = await fetch('//api.github.com/users/lquixada');

    if (res.status >= 400) {
      throw new Error("Bad response from server");
    }

    const user = await res.json();

    console.log(user);
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
  }
})();