Difference between app.all('*') and app.use('/')

Question

Is there a useful difference between app.all(\'*\', ... ) and app.use(\'/\', ...) in Node.JS Express?

Answer 1

There are two main differences:

1. pattern matching (answer given by Palani)
2. next(route) won't work inside the function body of middleware loaded using app.use . This is stated in the link from the docs:

NOTE: next('route') will work only in middleware functions that were loaded by using the app.METHOD() or router.METHOD() functions.

Link: http://expressjs.com/en/guide/using-middleware.html

The working effect of next('route') can be seen from the following example:

app.get('/',
(req,res,next)=>{console.log("1");
next(route); //The code here skips ALL the following middlewares
}
(req,res,next)=>{next();}, //skipped
(req,res,next)=>{next();}  //skipped
);

//Not skipped
app.get('/',function(req,res,next){console.log("2");next();});