Silly express

_posts/2018-09-16-the-most-important-middleware.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: The single most important middleware for Express
+tags:
+- javascript
+- opinion
+---
+
+Almost every web framework I have used in the past five years shares the same
+stupid flaw: mishandling of redundant slashes. Invariably this causes problems
+when some script _somewhere_ joins URL segments together with multiple slashes
+in them, and ends up receiving a 404.
+
+
+The following [ExpressJS](https://expressjs.com/) middleware will properly neutralize redundant slashes
+before the routing layer takes over.
+
+```
+  /*
+   * Remove redundant slashes in the URL for properly routing
+   *
+   * For example: //authentication -> /authentication which ensures that the
+   * request is routed correctly
+   */
+  app.all('*', (request, response, next) => {
+    request.url = request.url.replace(/\/+/, '/');
+    next();
+  });
+```
+