File System

published: 2026-07-31

tags: blogs,development,javascript,node

examples

in the examples below

var file // a file path as string

date times of a file

• birthdate - created
• mtime - modified
• ctime - changed

import fs from 'fs'

const { birthtime, mtime, ctime } = fs.statSync(file)

all values are date instances

create an empty file

• asynchronous empty file creation
• uses helper library fs-extra providing same API as fs with additional convenience methods

import fs from 'fs-extra'

await fs.ensureFile(path)

Async Check File Exists

import { promises as fsPromises } from 'fs';   

async function exists (path) {  
  try {
    await fsPromises.access(path)
    return true
  } catch {
    return false
  }
}

Async rename file

import { promises as fsPromises } from 'fs';   

await fsPromises.rename(oldPath, newPath)  

is path a directory|file

import { promises as fsPromises } from 'fs';   

const stats = await Fs.stat(path)

console.log(stats.isDirectory())
console.log(stats.isFile())

home directory

const os = require('os')

os.homedir()  

update file changed & access date times

• creates file if it doesn’t exist
• @param {String} file

import fs from 'fs-extra'

async touch (file) {  
  await fs.ensureFile(file)

  const now = new Date()
  await fs.utimes(file, now, now)
}

file contents

• Returns the content of the given file

import { promises as fsPromises } from 'fs';

const contents = await fsPromises.readFile(file, 'utf8');