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What does 'if (!module.parent)' mean in NodeJS?

In NodeJS applications you often see code like

module_parent_example.js
if (!module.parent) {
    app.listen(3000);
}

This means: Run app.listen(3000) only if you are running the file

Suppose this code is in index.js. In this case, the code will only be executed if you run index.js directly (i.e. using node index.js) and not if index.js is required from another file (by require('./index.js');).

If index.js is required from another Javascript module (i.e. file), module.parent will be set to that module.

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