What is actual difference between res.send
and res.json
as both seems to perform same operation of responding to client.
The methods are identical when an object or array is passed, but res.json()
will also convert non-objects, such as null
and undefined
, which are not valid JSON.
The method also uses the json replacer
and json spaces
application settings, so you can format JSON with more options. Those options are set like so:
app.set('json spaces', 2);
app.set('json replacer', replacer);
And passed to a JSON.stringify()
like so:
JSON.stringify(value, replacer, spacing);
// value: object to format
// replacer: rules for transforming properties encountered during stringifying
// spacing: the number of spaces for indentation
This is the code in the res.json()
method that the send method doesn't have:
var app = this.app;
var replacer = app.get('json replacer');
var spaces = app.get('json spaces');
var body = JSON.stringify(obj, replacer, spaces);
The method ends up as a res.send()
in the end:
this.charset = this.charset || 'utf-8';
this.get('Content-Type') || this.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
return this.send(body);