diff --git a/ts/smartpath.transform.ts b/ts/smartpath.transform.ts
index 48d68ec..87c7bcb 100644
--- a/ts/smartpath.transform.ts
+++ b/ts/smartpath.transform.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import * as plugins from './smartpath.plugins.js';
  * ------------------------------------------ */
 
 // checks a file
-let makeAbsolute = function (localPathArg: string, baseArg?: string): string {
+export const makeAbsolute = (localPathArg: string, baseArg?: string): string => {
   let absolutePath: string;
   let alreadyAbsolute = plugins.path.isAbsolute(localPathArg);
   if (baseArg && !alreadyAbsolute) {
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ let makeAbsolute = function (localPathArg: string, baseArg?: string): string {
 /* ------------------------------------------ *
  * ------- export functions ----------------- *
  * ------------------------------------------ */
-export let toAbsolute = function (relativeArg: string | string[], baseArg?: string): any {
+export const toAbsolute =  (relativeArg: string | string[], baseArg?: string): string | string[] => {
   if (typeof relativeArg === 'string') {
     return makeAbsolute(relativeArg, baseArg);
   } else if (Array.isArray(relativeArg)) {
@@ -36,6 +36,6 @@ export let toAbsolute = function (relativeArg: string | string[], baseArg?: stri
       'smartpath.absolute() could not make sense of the input. ' +
         'Input is neither String nor Array'
     );
-    return false;
+    return null;
   }
 };