The Node.js fs core module provides many handy methods you can use to work with folders.
Check if a folder exists
Use fs.access() to check if the folder exists and Node can access it with its permissions.
Create a new folder
Use fs.mkdir() or fs.mkdirSync() to create a new folder.
const fs = require(‘fs’)
const folderName = ‘/Users/flavio/test’
try {
if (!fs.existsSync(dir)){
fs.mkdirSync(dir)
}
} catch (err) {
console.error(err)
}
Read the content of a directory
Use fs.readdir() or fs.readdirSync to read the contents of a directory.
This piece of code reads the content of a folder, both files and subfolders, and returns their relative path:
const fs = require(‘fs’)
const path = require(‘path’)
const folderPath = ‘/Users/flavio’
fs.readdirSync(folderPath)
You can get the full path:
fs.readdirSync(folderPath).map(fileName => {
return path.join(folderPath, fileName)
}
You can also filter the results to only return the files, and exclude the folders:
const isFile = fileName => {
return fs.lstatSync(fileName).isFile()
}
fs.readdirSync(folderPath).map(fileName => {
return path.join(folderPath, fileName)).filter(isFile)
}
Rename a folder
Use fs.rename() or fs.renameSync() to rename folder. The first parameter is the current path, the second the new path:
const fs = require(‘fs’)
fs.rename(‘/Users/flavio’, ‘/Users/roger’, (err) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err)
return
}
//done
})
fs.renameSync() is the synchronous version:
const fs = require(‘fs’)
try {
fs.renameSync(‘/Users/flavio’, ‘/Users/roger’)
} catch (err) {
console.error(err)
}
Remove a folder
Use fs.rmdir() or fs.rmdirSync() to remove a folder.
Removing a folder that has content can be more complicated than you need.
In this case I recommend installing the fs-extra module, which is very popular and well maintained, and it’s a drop-in replacement of the fs module, providing more features on top of it.
In this case the remove() method is what you want.
Install it using
npm install fs-extra
and use it like this:
const fs = require(‘fs-extra’)
const folder = ‘/Users/flavio’
fs.remove(folder, err => {
console.error(err)
})
It can also be used with promises:
fs.remove(folder).then(() => {
//done
}).catch(err => {
console.error(err)
})
or with async/await:
async function removeFolder(folder) {
try {
await fs.remove(folder)
//done
} catch (err) {
console.error(err)
}
}
const folder = ‘/Users/flavio’
removeFolder(folder)
