Why can't i redefine the Body Variable?

Question

I am trying to redefine an JavaScript variable in an .catch , but that does not work.

index.js:

const Restra = async function(username) {
    let status;

    const Fetch = require("node-fetch"),
        Url = "https://instagram.com/" + username + "/?__a=1"

        let Body = await Fetch(Url).then((res) => {
            status = res.status
            return res.json()
        })
        .catch((e) =>  {
            if(status === 404) return console.error("Status Code response was 404. Try an other Account Username")
            Body = null
        })

    return console.log(Body)
}

Restra("whaterverusernamethathopefullynotexists")

Console Output:

C:\Users\Dimitri\Restra>node. Status Code response was 404. Try an other Account Username undefined

Answer 1

What .catch does is, if the Promise it's being called on rejects, the catch turns it into a Promise that resolves to the value returned in the catch . Since your catch isn't returning anything, although you reassign Body to null , once the .catch and the whole Promise chain finishes, the undefined is assigned to Body .

Return null inside the catch instead:

 const Restra = async function(username) { const Url = "https://instagram.com/" + username + "/?__a=1" const Body = await fetch(Url).then((res) => { status = res.status if (status === 404) { console.error("Status Code response was 404. Try an other Account Username"); // Go to the catch: } return res.json() }).catch((e) => { return null; }) return console.log(Body) } Restra("whaterverusernamethathopefullynotexists")

Answer 2

A far as I understand you want to overwrite body with null but you are returning the console.log() before overwriting Body so it never reaches that line.