Import JavaScript file and call functions using webpack, ES6, ReactJS

Named exports:

Let’s say you create a file called utils.js, with utility functions that you want to make available for other modules (e.g. a React component). Then you would make each function a named export:

export function add(x, y) {
  return x + y
}

export function mutiply(x, y) {
  return x * y
}

Assuming that utils.js is located in the same directory as your React component, you can use its exports like this:

import { add, multiply } from './utils.js';
...
add(2, 3) // Can be called wherever in your component, and would return 5.

Or if you prefer, place the entire module’s contents under a common namespace:

import * as utils from './utils.js'; 
...
utils.multiply(2,3)

Default exports:

If you on the other hand have a module that only does one thing (could be a React class, a normal function, a constant, or anything else) and want to make that thing available to others, you can use a default export. Let’s say we have a file log.js, with only one function that logs out whatever argument it’s called with:

export default function log(message) {
  console.log(message);
}

This can now be used like this:

import log from './log.js';
...
log('test') // Would print 'test' in the console.

You don’t have to call it log when you import it, you could actually call it whatever you want:

import logToConsole from './log.js';
...
logToConsole('test') // Would also print 'test' in the console.

Combined:

A module can have both a default export (max 1), and named exports (imported either one by one, or using * with an alias). React actually has this, consider:

import React, { Component, PropTypes } from 'react';