title: Why is __dirname not defined in node REPL?
body: <p>From the node manual I see that I can get the directory of a file with <code>__dirname</code>, but from the REPL this seems to be undefined. Is this a misunderstanding on my side or where is the error?</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ node
  &gt; console.log(__dirname)
  ReferenceError: __dirname is not defined
      at repl:1:14
      at REPLServer.eval (repl.js:80:21)
      at Interface.&lt;anonymous&gt; (repl.js:182:12)
      at Interface.emit (events.js:67:17)
      at Interface._onLine (readline.js:162:10)
      at Interface._line (readline.js:426:8)
      at Interface._ttyWrite (readline.js:603:14)
      at ReadStream.&lt;anonymous&gt; (readline.js:82:12)
      at ReadStream.emit (events.js:88:20)
      at ReadStream._emitKey (tty.js:320:10)
  </code></pre>