Getting File Info

Another common task is to get basic information about file system objects, such as file size, mode, modification time, whether the entry is a file or folder, etc. You can obtain such information by using one of the following calls:

fs.stat(path, callback)
fs.statSync(path)

The fsStatSync() method returns a Stats object. The fs.stat() method is executed, and the Stats object is passed to the callback function as the second parameter. The first parameter is error if an error occurs.

Table 6.2 lists some of the most commonly used attributes and methods attached to the Stats object.

Table 6.2 Attributes and methods of Stats objects for file system entries

The code in Listing 6.9 illustrates the use of the fs.stat() call by making the call, then outputting the results of the object as a JSON string and using the isFile(), isDirector(), and isSocket() calls, as shown in the output in Figure 6.9.

Listing 6.9 file_stats.js: Implementing an fs.stats() call to retrieve information about a file

Click here to view code image

01 var fs = require('fs'),
02 fs.stat('file_stats.js', function (err, stats) {
03   if (!err){
04     console.log('stats: ' + JSON.stringify(stats, null, '  '));
05     console.log(stats.isFile() ? "Is a File" : "Is not a File");
06     console.log(stats.isDirectory() ? "Is a Folder" : "Is not a Folder");
07     console.log(stats.isSocket() ? "Is a Socket" : "Is not a Socket");
08     stats.isDirectory();
09     stats.isBlockDevice();
10     stats.isCharacterDevice();
11     //stats.isSymbolicLink(); //only lstat
12     stats.isFIFO();
13     stats.isSocket();
14   }
15 });

Figure 6.9 Output of file_stats.js, displaying information about a file.