Node.js check if file exists

node.js fs

Why not just try opening the file ? fs.open('YourFile', 'a', function (err, fd) { ... }) anyway after a minute search try this :

var path = require('path'); 

path.exists('foo.txt', function(exists) { 
  if (exists) { 
    // do something 
  } 
}); 

// or 

if (path.existsSync('foo.txt')) { 
  // do something 
}

For Node.js v0.12.x and higher

Both path.exists and fs.exists have been deprecated

Using fs.stat:

fs.stat('foo.txt', function(err, stat) {
    if(err == null) {
        console.log('File exists');
    } else if(err.code === 'ENOENT') {
        // file does not exist
        fs.writeFile('log.txt', 'Some log\n');
    } else {
        console.log('Some other error: ', err.code);
    }
});

Edit: Since node v10.0.0we could use fs.promises.access(...)

Example async code that checks if file exists:

function checkFileExists(file) {
  return fs.promises.access(file, fs.constants.F_OK)
           .then(() => true)
           .catch(() => false)
}

An alternative for stat might be using the new fs.access(...):

minified short promise function for checking:

s => new Promise(r=>fs.access(s, fs.constants.F_OK, e => r(!e)))

Sample usage:

let checkFileExists = s => new Promise(r=>fs.access(s, fs.constants.F_OK, e => r(!e)))
checkFileExists("Some File Location")
  .then(bool => console.log(´file exists: ${bool}´))

expanded Promise way:

// returns a promise which resolves true if file exists:
function checkFileExists(filepath){
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    fs.access(filepath, fs.constants.F_OK, error => {
      resolve(!error);
    });
  });
}

or if you wanna do it synchronously:

function checkFileExistsSync(filepath){
  let flag = true;
  try{
    fs.accessSync(filepath, fs.constants.F_OK);
  }catch(e){
    flag = false;
  }
  return flag;
}

A easier way to do this synchronously.

if (fs.existsSync('/etc/file')) {
    console.log('Found file');
}

The API doc says how existsSync work:
Test whether or not the given path exists by checking with the file system.

Modern async/await way ( Node 12.8.x )

const fileExists = async path => !!(await fs.promises.stat(path).catch(e => false));

const main = async () => {
    console.log(await fileExists('/path/myfile.txt'));
}

main();

We need to use fs.stat() or fs.access() because fs.exists(path, callback) now is deprecated

Another good way is fs-extra

fs.exists(path, callback) and fs.existsSync(path) are deprecated now, see https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_exists_path_callback and https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_existssync_path.

To test the existence of a file synchronously one can use ie. fs.statSync(path). An fs.Stats object will be returned if the file exists, see https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats, otherwise an error is thrown which will be catched by the try / catch statement.

var fs = require('fs'),
  path = '/path/to/my/file',
  stats;

try {
  stats = fs.statSync(path);
  console.log("File exists.");
}
catch (e) {
  console.log("File does not exist.");
}

Node.js check if file exists

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