Convert a directory structure in the filesystem to JSON with Node.js

Here's a sketch. Error handling is left as an exercise for the reader.

var fs = require('fs'),
    path = require('path')

function dirTree(filename) {
    var stats = fs.lstatSync(filename),
        info = {
            path: filename,
            name: path.basename(filename)
        };

    if (stats.isDirectory()) {
        info.type = "folder";
        info.children = fs.readdirSync(filename).map(function(child) {
            return dirTree(filename + '/' + child);
        });
    } else {
        // Assuming it's a file. In real life it could be a symlink or
        // something else!
        info.type = "file";
    }

    return info;
}

if (module.parent == undefined) {
    // node dirTree.js ~/foo/bar
    var util = require('util');
    console.log(util.inspect(dirTree(process.argv[2]), false, null));
}

there's an NPM Module for it

https://www.npmjs.com/package/directory-tree

Creates an object representing a directory tree.

From:

photos
├── summer
│   └── june
│       └── windsurf.jpg
└── winter
    └── january
        ├── ski.png
        └── snowboard.jpg

To:

{
  "path": "",
  "name": "photos",
  "type": "directory",
  "children": [
    {
      "path": "summer",
      "name": "summer",
      "type": "directory",
      "children": [
        {
          "path": "summer/june",
          "name": "june",
          "type": "directory",
          "children": [
            {
              "path": "summer/june/windsurf.jpg",
              "name": "windsurf.jpg",
              "type": "file"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "path": "winter",
      "name": "winter",
      "type": "directory",
      "children": [
        {
          "path": "winter/january",
          "name": "january",
          "type": "directory",
          "children": [
            {
              "path": "winter/january/ski.png",
              "name": "ski.png",
              "type": "file"
            },
            {
              "path": "winter/january/snowboard.jpg",
              "name": "snowboard.jpg",
              "type": "file"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Usage

var tree = directoryTree('/some/path');

And you can also filter by extensions:

var filteredTree = directoryTree('/some/path', ['.jpg', '.png']);