Every file comes with a set of details that we can inspect using Node.
In particular, using the stat() method provided by the fs module.
You call it passing a file path, and once Node gets the file details it will call the callback function you pass, with 2 parameters: an error message, and the file stats:
const fs = require('fs')
fs.stat('/Users/flavio/test.txt', (err, stats) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err)
return
}
//we have access to the file stats in `stats`
})
Node provides also a sync method, which blocks the thread until the file stats are ready:
const fs = require('fs')
try {
const stats = fs.stat('/Users/flavio/test.txt')
} catch (err) {
console.error(err)
}
The file information is included in the stats variable. What kind of information can we extract using the stats?
A lot, including:
- if the file is a directory or a file, using
stats.isFile()andstats.isDirectory() - if the file is a symbolic link using
stats.isSymbolicLink() - the file size in bytes using
stats.size.
There are other advanced methods, but the bulk of what you’ll use in your day-to-day programming is this.
const fs = require('fs')
fs.stat('/Users/flavio/test.txt', (err, stats) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err)
return
}
stats.isFile() //true
stats.isDirectory() //false
stats.isSymbolicLink() //false
stats.size //1024000 //= 1MB
})
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