TypeScript Version: 2.7.0-dev.201xxxxx

Contrary to the documentation (https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/modules.html), using import assignment when targeting ES2015/ES6/ESNEXT does NOT emit import statements in the generated JS.

Code

This is my input file:

import m = require('m')
m('123')

$ tsc -t ESNEXT index

Expected behavior:

import * as m from "m"
m('123')

As described by the documentation

Actual behavior:

m('123')

See also this playground (this is 2.4.2, but I tested locally with @latest)

The import is completely omitted

Background info: I am depending on JS libraries which module.exports = someFunction and have the matching declaration file. All this feeds into webpack, which could take care of the module compatibility issues later.

But the import statement is just omitted completely