The uses of @use, @forward & @import in Sass

Sass is a stylesheet language that is a preprocessor for CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). It adds features to CSS such as variables, nested rules, and mixins, which can make your stylesheets more maintainable and easier to write.

@use vs @forward

In Sass, you can use the @use directive to import a module and its associated styles, variables, and mixins into your stylesheet.

The @use directive allows you to modularize your stylesheets and make them easier to maintain by breaking them up into smaller, reusable pieces.

On the other hand, the @forward directive allows you to forward a declaration or set of declarations to another module, rather than importing the entire module.

This can be useful if you only need to use a small portion of a module, or if you want to customize the styles in a module by adding or overriding some of the declarations.

Here is an example of how you might use the @use and @forward directives in Sass:

// Define a module with some variables and mixins
@use 'variables' as *;

@mixin font-size($size) {
  font-size: $size;
}

// Import the module and use its variables and mixins
@use 'typography';

h1 {
  @include font-size(48px);
}

// Forward a declaration to another module
@forward 'button';

button {
  @extend .button;
}

@use vs @import

In Sass, you can use the @use and @import directives to include styles, variables, and mixins from other files or modules in your stylesheets.

However, there are some key differences between these directives:

• The @use directive is a newer feature that was introduced in Sass 3.7. It allows you to import a module and its associated styles, variables, and mixins into your stylesheet. You can use the as keyword to specify an alias for the imported module, which can be used to access its declarations.
• The @import directive is the traditional way to include styles, variables, and mixins from other files or modules in Sass. It works similarly to the @use directive, but does not support the as keyword and does not allow you to import specific declarations.

In general, the @use directive is a more powerful and flexible way to include styles, variables, and mixins from other files or modules in Sass.

It allows you to import specific declarations and to specify an alias for the imported module, which can make your stylesheets more maintainable and easier to read.

On the other hand, the @import directive is a simpler and more familiar way to include styles, variables, and mixins from other files or modules in Sass.

It may be a good choice if you are working on a project that does not require the advanced features of the @use directive.

@use vs @forward vs @import in Folder Structure Example

Here is an example of how you might organize your Sass files and use the @use, @forward, and @import directives to modularize and organize your stylesheets:

sass/
├── modules/
│   ├── _variables.scss
│   ├── _typography.scss
│   └── _button.scss
└── main.scss

The _variables.scss file might define some global variables and mixins that you want to use throughout your stylesheets:

$primary-color: #333;
$secondary-color: #777;

@mixin font-size($size) {
  font-size: $size;
}

@mixin font-color($color) {
  color: $color;
}

The _typography.scss file might use the variables and mixins defined in the _variables.scss file to define some styles and mixins for styling text:

@use 'variables' as *;

h1 {
  @include font-size(48px);
  @include font-color($primary-color);
}

h2 {
  @include font-size(36px);
  @include font-color($secondary-color);
}

The _button.scss file might define some styles and mixins for styling buttons:

.button {
  background-color: $primary-color;
  border: none;
  color: #fff;
  cursor: pointer;
  font-size: 16px;
  padding: 8px 16px;
}

In the main stylesheet, you can use the @use directive to import the _variables.scss and _typography.scss files and use their declarations:

@use 'variables';
@use 'typography';

body {
  background-color: $primary-color;
}

p {
  @include font-size(16px);
}

You can also use the @forward directive to forward a declaration to the _button.scss file:

@forward 'button';

button {
  @extend .button;
}

I hope this example helps to clarify how you can use the @use, @forward, and @import directives to modularize and organize your Sass files and stylesheets! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Is @import deprecated?

No, the @import rule is not deprecated in CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). It is a standard feature of CSS that allows you to include styles from other style sheets in your document.

The @import rule has the following syntax:

@import url|string|format;

The url parameter specifies the location of the style sheet to be imported, and can be a URL or a relative path.

The string parameter specifies the contents of the style sheet to be imported, and the format parameter specifies the format of the style sheet.

Here is an example of how you might use the @import rule in CSS:

@import url('styles.css');
@import url('print.css') print;
@import 'custom.css';

In this example, the first @import rule imports the styles.css file, the second @import rule imports the print.css file and applies it only to print media, and the third @import rule imports the contents of the custom.css file.