React Router is one of the most important libraries that we commonly use in React projects. This library helps us to easily implement routing in single-page applications. Suppose you have a website that includes different pages; with the help of React Router, you can seamlessly navigate between these pages without the need to reload the page.
The main capability of React Router is managing routes and navigation between them. To better understand, imagine a retail site, when you click on a product link, you should go to the product page. By using React Router, you can specify the route associated with the product page and render the corresponding component.
One of the other interesting features of this library is the ability to define parameters in routes easily. For example, if you want to create a page for product details based on the product identifier, you can use dynamic parameters to fetch the product identifier from the URL and render the relevant component accordingly.
Although working with React Router seems simple, it is necessary to have a good understanding of some core React concepts. For example, when using Navigate, React allows you to manage state and props, making it possible to show different pages and maintain related information before the page reloads.
This library usually provides significantly more facilities, such as redirecting users to specific pages, displaying a conditional component based on the URL address, and the possibility of using custom hooks that greatly enhance the user experience.
Simple Code Example
import { BrowserRouter as Router, Routes, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
function App() {
return (
<Router>
<Routes>
<Route path="/" element=<Home /> />
<Route path="about" element=<About /> />
<Route path="contact" element=<Contact /> />
</Routes>
</Router>
);
}
export default App;
import {'{ BrowserRouter as Router, Routes, Route }'} from 'react-router-dom';
This line of code imports the react-router-dom library and enables the use of Router, Routes, and Route components.
function App() {'{'}
This is a component function that defines the main structure of the application.
<Router>{'{'}
This is the main component we need to allow all components and routes to work according to it in a proper routing manner.
<Routes>{'{'}
This component includes all the routing facilities and is the core for defining all routes.
<Route path="/" element=<Home /> />
Each line that uses Route relates a specific path to a particular component. Here, the path 'home/' is associated with the Home component.
export default App;
This line exports the App component as the default export of this module, allowing it to be used in other places.