Node.js create folder or use existing - javascript

I already have read the documentation of Node.js and, unless if I missed something, it does not tell what the parameters contain in certain operations, in particular fs.mkdir(). As you can see in the documentation, it's not very much.
Currently, I have this code, which tries to create a folder or use an existing one instead:
fs.mkdir(path,function(e){
if(!e || (e && e.code === 'EEXIST')){
//do something with contents
} else {
//debug
console.log(e);
}
});
But I wonder is this the right way to do it? Is checking for the code EEXIST the right way to know that the folder already exists? I know I can do fs.stat() before making the directory, but that would already be two hits to the filesystem.
Secondly, is there a complete or at least a more detailed documentation of Node.js that contains details as to what error objects contain, what parameters signify etc.

Edit: Because this answer is very popular, I have updated it to reflect up-to-date practices.
Node >=10
The new { recursive: true } option of Node's fs now allows this natively. This option mimics the behaviour of UNIX's mkdir -p. It will recursively make sure every part of the path exist, and will not throw an error if any of them do.
(Note: it might still throw errors such as EPERM or EACCESS, so better still wrap it in a try {} catch (e) {} if your implementation is susceptible to it.)
Synchronous version.
fs.mkdirSync(dirpath, { recursive: true })
Async version
await fs.promises.mkdir(dirpath, { recursive: true })
Older Node versions
Using a try {} catch (err) {}, you can achieve this very gracefully without encountering a race condition.
In order to prevent dead time between checking for existence and creating the directory, we simply try to create it straight up, and disregard the error if it is EEXIST (directory already exists).
If the error is not EEXIST, however, we ought to throw an error, because we could be dealing with something like an EPERM or EACCES
function ensureDirSync (dirpath) {
try {
return fs.mkdirSync(dirpath)
} catch (err) {
if (err.code !== 'EEXIST') throw err
}
}
For mkdir -p-like recursive behaviour, e.g. ./a/b/c, you'd have to call it on every part of the dirpath, e.g. ./a, ./a/b, .a/b/c

Good way to do this is to use mkdirp module.
$ npm install mkdirp
Use it to run function that requires the directory. Callback is called after path is created or if path did already exists. Error err is set if mkdirp failed to create directory path.
var mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
mkdirp('/tmp/some/path/foo', function(err) {
// path exists unless there was an error
});

If you want a quick-and-dirty one liner, use this:
fs.existsSync("directory") || fs.mkdirSync("directory");

The node.js docs for fs.mkdir basically defer to the Linux man page for mkdir(2). That indicates that EEXIST will also be indicated if the path exists but isn't a directory which creates an awkward corner case if you go this route.
You may be better off calling fs.stat which will tell you whether the path exists and if it's a directory in a single call. For (what I'm assuming is) the normal case where the directory already exists, it's only a single filesystem hit.
These fs module methods are thin wrappers around the native C APIs so you've got to check the man pages referenced in the node.js docs for the details.

You can use this:
if(!fs.existsSync("directory")){
fs.mkdirSync("directory", 0766, function(err){
if(err){
console.log(err);
// echo the result back
response.send("ERROR! Can't make the directory! \n");
}
});
}

I propose a solution without modules (accumulate modules is never recommended for maintainability especially for small functions that can be written in a few lines...) :
LAST UPDATE :
In v10.12.0, NodeJS impletement recursive options :
// Create recursive folder
fs.mkdir('my/new/folder/create', { recursive: true }, (err) => { if (err) throw err; });
UPDATE :
// Get modules node
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
// Create
function mkdirpath(dirPath)
{
if(!fs.accessSync(dirPath, fs.constants.R_OK | fs.constants.W_OK))
{
try
{
fs.mkdirSync(dirPath);
}
catch(e)
{
mkdirpath(path.dirname(dirPath));
mkdirpath(dirPath);
}
}
}
// Create folder path
mkdirpath('my/new/folder/create');

You can also use fs-extra, which provide a lot frequently used file operations.
Sample Code:
var fs = require('fs-extra')
fs.mkdirs('/tmp/some/long/path/that/prob/doesnt/exist', function (err) {
if (err) return console.error(err)
console.log("success!")
})
fs.mkdirsSync('/tmp/another/path')
docs here: https://github.com/jprichardson/node-fs-extra#mkdirsdir-callback

Here is the ES6 code which I use to create a directory (when it doesn't exist):
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
function createDirectory(directoryPath) {
const directory = path.normalize(directoryPath);
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
fs.stat(directory, (error) => {
if (error) {
if (error.code === 'ENOENT') {
fs.mkdir(directory, (error) => {
if (error) {
reject(error);
} else {
resolve(directory);
}
});
} else {
reject(error);
}
} else {
resolve(directory);
}
});
});
}
const directoryPath = `${__dirname}/test`;
createDirectory(directoryPath).then((path) => {
console.log(`Successfully created directory: '${path}'`);
}).catch((error) => {
console.log(`Problem creating directory: ${error.message}`)
});
Note:
In the beginning of the createDirectory function, I normalize the path to guarantee that the path seperator type of the operating system will be used consistently (e.g. this will turn C:\directory/test into C:\directory\test (when being on Windows)
fs.exists is deprecated, that's why I use fs.stat to check if the directory already exists
If a directory doesn't exist, the error code will be ENOENT (Error NO ENTry)
The directory itself will be created using fs.mkdir
I prefer the asynchronous function fs.mkdir over it's blocking counterpart fs.mkdirSync and because of the wrapping Promise it will be guaranteed that the path of the directory will only be returned after the directory has been successfully created

You'd better not to count the filesystem hits while you code in Javascript, in my opinion.
However, (1) stat & mkdir and (2) mkdir and check(or discard) the error code, both ways are right ways to do what you want.

create dynamic name directory for each user... use this code
***suppose email contain user mail address***
var filessystem = require('fs');
var dir = './public/uploads/'+email;
if (!filessystem.existsSync(dir)){
filessystem.mkdirSync(dir);
}else
{
console.log("Directory already exist");
}

Just as a newer alternative to Teemu Ikonen's answer, which is very simple and easily readable, is to use the ensureDir method of the fs-extra package.
It can not only be used as a blatant replacement for the built in fs module, but also has a lot of other functionalities in addition to the functionalities of the fs package.
The ensureDir method, as the name suggests, ensures that the directory exists. If the directory structure does not exist, it is created. Like mkdir -p. Not just the end folder, instead the entire path is created if not existing already.
the one provided above is the async version of it. It also has a synchronous method to perform this in the form of the ensureDirSync method.

You can do all of this with the File System module.
const
fs = require('fs'),
dirPath = `path/to/dir`
// Check if directory exists.
fs.access(dirPath, fs.constants.F_OK, (err)=>{
if (err){
// Create directory if directory does not exist.
fs.mkdir(dirPath, {recursive:true}, (err)=>{
if (err) console.log(`Error creating directory: ${err}`)
else console.log('Directory created successfully.')
})
}
// Directory now exists.
})
You really don't even need to check if the directory exists. The following code also guarantees that the directory either already exists or is created.
const
fs = require('fs'),
dirPath = `path/to/dir`
// Create directory if directory does not exist.
fs.mkdir(dirPath, {recursive:true}, (err)=>{
if (err) console.log(`Error creating directory: ${err}`)
// Directory now exists.
})

#Liberateur's answer above did not work for me (Node v8.10.0).
Little modification did the trick but I am not sure if this is a right way. Please suggest.
// Get modules node
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
// Create
function mkdirpath(dirPath)
{
try {
fs.accessSync(dirPath, fs.constants.R_OK | fs.constants.W_OK);
}
catch(err) {
try
{
fs.mkdirSync(dirPath);
}
catch(e)
{
mkdirpath(path.dirname(dirPath));
mkdirpath(dirPath);
}
}
}
// Create folder path
mkdirpath('my/new/folder/create');

const fs = require('fs');
const folderName = '/Users/joe/test';
try {
if (!fs.existsSync(folderName)) {
fs.mkdirSync(folderName);
}
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
For documentation and more examples, please see here https://nodejs.dev/learn/working-with-folders-in-nodejs

Raugaral's answer but with -p functionality. Ugly, but it works:
function mkdirp(dir) {
let dirs = dir.split(/\\/).filter(asdf => !asdf.match(/^\s*$/))
let fullpath = ''
// Production directory will begin \\, test is on my local drive.
if (dirs[0].match(/C:/i)) {
fullpath = dirs[0] + '\\'
}
else {
fullpath = '\\\\' + dirs[0] + '\\'
}
// Start from root directory + 1, build out one level at a time.
dirs.slice(1).map(asdf => {
fullpath += asdf + '\\'
if (!fs.existsSync(fullpath)) {
fs.mkdirSync(fullpath)
}
})
}//mkdirp

Related

Cannot find module Error While js files are located in same Directory

I have added a js Module called mongoUtil, which contains the code hereafter, following a suggestion found at this link.
const MongoClient = require( 'mongodb' ).MongoClient;
const url = "mongodb://localhost:27017";
var _db;
module.exports = {
connectToServer: function(callback) {
MongoClient.connect(url, {useNewUrlParser: true}, function(err, client) {
_db = client.db('MyDB');
return callback(err);
});
},
getDb: function() {
return _db;
}
};
I have furthermore used the following line in my app.js Module:
const mongoUtil = require('mongoUtil')
However, I am obtaining the following error while the 2 Modules are located in the same Directory:
Error: Cannot find module 'mongoUtil'
What am I missing?
If you provide a module name to require it will search node_modules for it.
If you want to read a module from the current directory, you need to use the file path. This can be relative: require("./mongoUtil")
The exact documentation is here including a (rather long) pseudocode explanation of how the algorithm of locating a module works.
But in short, there are two basic ways of loading a module:
Using the name of an installed module (may be globally or locally installed), for example require('mongodb'). This would look for the (global or local) node_modules/mongodb folder.
Using a path (absolute or relative), for example require('./mongoUtil'). This would look for a file at the given path - if it's relative, then it is relative to the current file.
So, the solution is to use require('./mongoUtil') and not require('mongoUtil').
This will work:
const mongoUtil = require('./mongoUtil.js');
Or even just the following, since the extension is automatically resolved:
const mongoUtil = require('./mongoUtil');

What causes an EPERM error when traversing my home directory?

I googled
EPERM: operation not permitted
and I got many hits on issues with npm and this error.
This is not my case ( not a duplicate ) as I am not running npm, I am running my own Node code.
I am getting this error:
Error
{
Error: 'EPERM: operation not permitted',
errno: -1,
code: 'EPERM',
syscall: 'scandir',
path: '../../../Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB/'
};
when running the code below on my home directory.
I ran it using both
node getInfo
and
sudo node getInfo
but I get the same error.
This code works fine if I run it on my local repository but when I try to traverse my entire home directory I get the error.
Executed code:
// Libraries
const fs = require('fs');
const h = require('./helper');
// Start recursing here
const start = '../../../';
// API
getThings(start).then(() => {
console.log(data);
}).catch(h.error)
// Accesses the file system and returns an array of files / folders
async function getThings (folder) {
const things = await fs.promises.readdir(folder);
for(let i = 0; i < things.length; i++) {
await getStats(things[i], folder);
}
}
// Gets statistics for each file/folder
async function getStats (thing, folder) {
const path = folder + thing;
const stats = await fs.promises.stat(path);
await checkForFolder(stats, thing, path);
}
// if the file/folder is a folder, recurse and do it again
async function checkForFolder(stats, thing, path){
// logThing(stats, thing, path);
if (stats.isDirectory() ) {
await getThings(path + '/');
}
}
Research
SO - EPERM vs EACCES
'../../../Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB/'
This path is protected by macOS security settings, as it may contain sensitive telephone history data.
If you specifically need to access it in your Node application, you will need to enable full disk access for the application you're using to run this script (e.g, Terminal.app, iTerm, or an IDE) in System Preferences, as shown below. Note that this will give all applications you run in the terminal access to your sensitive personal files; tread carefully.
However, if you don't need to specifically access this path (and you probably shouldn't), a better solution may be to catch errors individually on each call to fs.promises.stat(path). The simplest way of doing this will be to wrap the call to await fs.promises.stat(path) in a try … catch block and either print or ignore errors.

Get the number of files in a directory within Gulp.js?

So far I have tried using the glob-fs package like so:
let cssFileCount;
glob.readdir('public/css/*.css', function (err, files) {
if (err) return console.error(err);
console.log(files);
cssFileCount = (files.length);
});
This works perfectly fine with the path to my JS files public/js/*.js however when I use my public/css/*.css it returns an empty array although the directory has css files in it. When I use the js path it returns an array with a list of files. I then use .length to check the number of files.
Is there any other way I can check the number of files within a directory using Globbing?
An alternative is to simply use the node's standard file system api with a basic filter as such:
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path')
fs.readdr('public/css', function(err, files) {
if (err) return console.error(err);
const cssFiles = files.filter(file => path.extname(file).toLowerCase() === '.css'));
console.log(cssFiles);
cssFileCount = (cssFiles.length);
});
You cannot use glob on this approach, but from your problem statement it's not truly needed, as your file filter is quite basic (i.e. extension).

Node JS Error when copying file across partition. How to resolve this issue? [duplicate]

I'm trying to move a file from one partition to another in a Node.js script. When I used fs.renameSync I received Error: EXDEV, Cross-device link. I'd copy it over and delete the original, but I don't see a command to copy files either. How can this be done?
You need to copy and unlink when moving files across different partitions. Try this,
var fs = require('fs');
//var util = require('util');
var is = fs.createReadStream('source_file');
var os = fs.createWriteStream('destination_file');
is.pipe(os);
is.on('end',function() {
fs.unlinkSync('source_file');
});
/* node.js 0.6 and earlier you can use util.pump:
util.pump(is, os, function() {
fs.unlinkSync('source_file');
});
*/
I know this is already answered, but I ran across a similar problem and ended up with something along the lines of:
require('child_process').spawn('cp', ['-r', source, destination])
What this does is call the command cp ("copy"). Since we're stepping outside of Node.js, this command needs to be supported by your system.
I know it's not the most elegant, but it did what I needed :)
One more solution to the problem.
There's a package called fs.extra written by "coolaj86" on npm.
You use it like so:
npm install fs.extra
fs = require ('fs.extra');
fs.move ('foo.txt', 'bar.txt', function (err) {
if (err) { throw err; }
console.log ("Moved 'foo.txt' to 'bar.txt'");
});
I've read the source code for this thing. It attempts to do a standard fs.rename() then, if it fails, it does a copy and deletes the original using the same util.pump() that #chandru uses.
to import the module and save it to your package.json file
npm install mv --save
then use it like so:
var mv = require('mv');
mv('source_file', 'destination_file', function (err) {
if (err) {
throw err;
}
console.log('file moved successfully');
});
I made a Node.js module that just handles it for you. You don't have to think about whether it's going to be moved within the same partition or not. It's the fastest solution available, as it uses the recent fs.copyFile() Node.js API to copy the file when moving to a different partition/disk.
Just install move-file:
$ npm install move-file
Then use it like this:
const moveFile = require('move-file');
(async () => {
await moveFile(fromPath, toPath);
console.log('File moved');
})();

How do I move file a to a different partition or device in Node.js?

I'm trying to move a file from one partition to another in a Node.js script. When I used fs.renameSync I received Error: EXDEV, Cross-device link. I'd copy it over and delete the original, but I don't see a command to copy files either. How can this be done?
You need to copy and unlink when moving files across different partitions. Try this,
var fs = require('fs');
//var util = require('util');
var is = fs.createReadStream('source_file');
var os = fs.createWriteStream('destination_file');
is.pipe(os);
is.on('end',function() {
fs.unlinkSync('source_file');
});
/* node.js 0.6 and earlier you can use util.pump:
util.pump(is, os, function() {
fs.unlinkSync('source_file');
});
*/
I know this is already answered, but I ran across a similar problem and ended up with something along the lines of:
require('child_process').spawn('cp', ['-r', source, destination])
What this does is call the command cp ("copy"). Since we're stepping outside of Node.js, this command needs to be supported by your system.
I know it's not the most elegant, but it did what I needed :)
One more solution to the problem.
There's a package called fs.extra written by "coolaj86" on npm.
You use it like so:
npm install fs.extra
fs = require ('fs.extra');
fs.move ('foo.txt', 'bar.txt', function (err) {
if (err) { throw err; }
console.log ("Moved 'foo.txt' to 'bar.txt'");
});
I've read the source code for this thing. It attempts to do a standard fs.rename() then, if it fails, it does a copy and deletes the original using the same util.pump() that #chandru uses.
to import the module and save it to your package.json file
npm install mv --save
then use it like so:
var mv = require('mv');
mv('source_file', 'destination_file', function (err) {
if (err) {
throw err;
}
console.log('file moved successfully');
});
I made a Node.js module that just handles it for you. You don't have to think about whether it's going to be moved within the same partition or not. It's the fastest solution available, as it uses the recent fs.copyFile() Node.js API to copy the file when moving to a different partition/disk.
Just install move-file:
$ npm install move-file
Then use it like this:
const moveFile = require('move-file');
(async () => {
await moveFile(fromPath, toPath);
console.log('File moved');
})();

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