@capacitor/filesystem

What is @capacitor/filesystem?

@capacitor/filesystem is a Capacitor plugin that provides a set of APIs for reading, writing, and managing files on the device's filesystem. It allows developers to interact with the filesystem in a way that is consistent across different platforms, such as iOS, Android, and the web.

What are @capacitor/filesystem's main functionalities?

Read a file

This feature allows you to read the contents of a file from the device's filesystem. The code sample demonstrates how to read a file named 'text.txt' from the 'Documents' directory and log its contents to the console.

const { Filesystem, Directory } = require('@capacitor/filesystem');

async function readFile() {
  try {
    const contents = await Filesystem.readFile({
      path: 'secrets/text.txt',
      directory: Directory.Documents,
      encoding: 'utf8'
    });
    console.log('File contents:', contents.data);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Unable to read file', e);
  }
}

readFile();

Write a file

This feature allows you to write data to a file on the device's filesystem. The code sample demonstrates how to write the string 'This is a test' to a file named 'text.txt' in the 'Documents' directory.

const { Filesystem, Directory } = require('@capacitor/filesystem');

async function writeFile() {
  try {
    await Filesystem.writeFile({
      path: 'secrets/text.txt',
      data: 'This is a test',
      directory: Directory.Documents,
      encoding: 'utf8'
    });
    console.log('File written successfully');
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Unable to write file', e);
  }
}

writeFile();

Delete a file

This feature allows you to delete a file from the device's filesystem. The code sample demonstrates how to delete a file named 'text.txt' from the 'Documents' directory.

const { Filesystem, Directory } = require('@capacitor/filesystem');

async function deleteFile() {
  try {
    await Filesystem.deleteFile({
      path: 'secrets/text.txt',
      directory: Directory.Documents
    });
    console.log('File deleted successfully');
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Unable to delete file', e);
  }
}

deleteFile();

Create a directory

This feature allows you to create a new directory on the device's filesystem. The code sample demonstrates how to create a directory named 'secrets' in the 'Documents' directory.

const { Filesystem, Directory } = require('@capacitor/filesystem');

async function createDirectory() {
  try {
    await Filesystem.mkdir({
      path: 'secrets',
      directory: Directory.Documents,
      recursive: false
    });
    console.log('Directory created successfully');
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Unable to create directory', e);
  }
}

createDirectory();

List files in a directory

This feature allows you to list all files in a specified directory on the device's filesystem. The code sample demonstrates how to list all files in the 'secrets' directory within the 'Documents' directory.

const { Filesystem, Directory } = require('@capacitor/filesystem');

async function listFiles() {
  try {
    const result = await Filesystem.readdir({
      path: 'secrets',
      directory: Directory.Documents
    });
    console.log('Files in directory:', result.files);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Unable to list files', e);
  }
}

listFiles();

Other packages similar to @capacitor/filesystem

react-native-fs

react-native-fs is a file system library for React Native that provides similar functionalities to @capacitor/filesystem, such as reading, writing, and managing files. It is specifically designed for React Native applications and offers a wide range of file system operations.

cordova-plugin-file

cordova-plugin-file is a Cordova plugin that allows for file system access and management on mobile devices. It provides a similar set of APIs to @capacitor/filesystem, enabling developers to read, write, and manage files across different platforms. It is widely used in Cordova-based projects.

expo-file-system

expo-file-system is a file system API for Expo and React Native applications. It offers functionalities similar to @capacitor/filesystem, such as reading, writing, and managing files. It is designed to work seamlessly with the Expo ecosystem and provides a consistent API across different platforms.

README

@capacitor/filesystem

The Filesystem API provides a NodeJS-like API for working with files on the device.

Install

npm install @capacitor/filesystem
npx cap sync

Apple Privacy Manifest Requirements

Apple mandates that app developers now specify approved reasons for API usage to enhance user privacy. By May 1st, 2024, it's required to include these reasons when submitting apps to the App Store Connect.

When using this specific plugin in your app, you must create a PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy file in /ios/App or use the VS Code Extension to generate it, specifying the usage reasons.

For detailed steps on how to do this, please see the Capacitor Docs.

For this plugin, the required dictionary key is NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp and the recommended reason is C617.1.

Example PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key>
    <array>
      <!-- Add this dict entry to the array if the PrivacyInfo file already exists -->
      <dict>
        <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key>
        <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp</string>
        <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key>
        <array>
          <string>C617.1</string>
        </array>
      </dict>
    </array>
  </dict>
</plist>

iOS

To have files appear in the Files app, you must also set the following keys to YES in Info.plist:

• UIFileSharingEnabled (Application supports iTunes file sharing)
• LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace (Supports opening documents in place)

Read about Configuring iOS for help.

Android

If using Directory.Documents or Directory.ExternalStorage, in Android 10 and older, this API requires the following permissions be added to your AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

Read about Setting Permissions in the Android Guide for more information on setting Android permissions.

Note that Directory.ExternalStorage is only available on Android 9 or older and Directory.Documents only allows to access the files/folders created by your app on Android on Android 11 and newer.

Working with large files may require you to add android:largeHeap="true" to the <application> tag in AndroidManifest.xml.

Understanding Directories and Files

iOS and Android have additional layers of separation between files, such as special directories that are backed up to the Cloud, or ones for storing Documents. The Filesystem API offers a simple way to scope each operation to a specific special directory on the device.

Additionally, the Filesystem API supports using full file:// paths, or reading content:// files on Android. Simply leave out the directory param to use a full file path.

Example

import { Filesystem, Directory, Encoding } from '@capacitor/filesystem';

const writeSecretFile = async () => {
  await Filesystem.writeFile({
    path: 'secrets/text.txt',
    data: 'This is a test',
    directory: Directory.Documents,
    encoding: Encoding.UTF8,
  });
};

const readSecretFile = async () => {
  const contents = await Filesystem.readFile({
    path: 'secrets/text.txt',
    directory: Directory.Documents,
    encoding: Encoding.UTF8,
  });

  console.log('secrets:', contents);
};

const deleteSecretFile = async () => {
  await Filesystem.deleteFile({
    path: 'secrets/text.txt',
    directory: Directory.Documents,
  });
};

const readFilePath = async () => {
  // Here's an example of reading a file with a full file path. Use this to
  // read binary data (base64 encoded) from plugins that return File URIs, such as
  // the Camera.
  const contents = await Filesystem.readFile({
    path: 'file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/22A433FD-D82D-4989-8BE6-9FC49DEA20BB/Documents/text.txt',
  });

  console.log('data:', contents);
};

API

• readFile(...)
• writeFile(...)
• appendFile(...)
• deleteFile(...)
• mkdir(...)
• rmdir(...)
• readdir(...)
• getUri(...)
• stat(...)
• rename(...)
• copy(...)
• checkPermissions()
• requestPermissions()
• downloadFile(...)
• addListener('progress', ...)
• removeAllListeners()
• Interfaces
• Type Aliases
• Enums

readFile(...)

readFile(options: ReadFileOptions) => Promise<ReadFileResult>

Read a file from disk

Param	Type
options	ReadFileOptions

Returns: Promise<ReadFileResult>

Since: 1.0.0

---

writeFile(...)

writeFile(options: WriteFileOptions) => Promise<WriteFileResult>

Write a file to disk in the specified location on device

Param	Type
options	WriteFileOptions

Returns: Promise<WriteFileResult>

Since: 1.0.0

---

appendFile(...)

appendFile(options: AppendFileOptions) => Promise<void>

Append to a file on disk in the specified location on device

Param	Type
options	AppendFileOptions

Since: 1.0.0

---

deleteFile(...)

deleteFile(options: DeleteFileOptions) => Promise<void>

Delete a file from disk

Param	Type
options	DeleteFileOptions

Since: 1.0.0

---

mkdir(...)

mkdir(options: MkdirOptions) => Promise<void>

Create a directory.

Param	Type
options	MkdirOptions

Since: 1.0.0

---

rmdir(...)

rmdir(options: RmdirOptions) => Promise<void>

Remove a directory

Param	Type
options	RmdirOptions

Since: 1.0.0

---

readdir(...)

readdir(options: ReaddirOptions) => Promise<ReaddirResult>

Return a list of files from the directory (not recursive)

Param	Type
options	ReaddirOptions

Returns: Promise<ReaddirResult>

Since: 1.0.0

---

getUri(...)

getUri(options: GetUriOptions) => Promise<GetUriResult>

Return full File URI for a path and directory

Param	Type
options	GetUriOptions

Returns: Promise<GetUriResult>

Since: 1.0.0

---

stat(...)

stat(options: StatOptions) => Promise<StatResult>

Return data about a file

Param	Type
options	StatOptions

Returns: Promise<StatResult>

Since: 1.0.0

---

rename(...)

rename(options: RenameOptions) => Promise<void>

Rename a file or directory

Param	Type
options	CopyOptions

Since: 1.0.0

---

copy(...)

copy(options: CopyOptions) => Promise<CopyResult>

Copy a file or directory

Param	Type
options	CopyOptions

Returns: Promise<CopyResult>

Since: 1.0.0

---

checkPermissions()

checkPermissions() => Promise<PermissionStatus>

Check read/write permissions. Required on Android, only when using Directory.Documents or Directory.ExternalStorage.

Returns: Promise<PermissionStatus>

Since: 1.0.0

---

requestPermissions()

requestPermissions() => Promise<PermissionStatus>

Request read/write permissions. Required on Android, only when using Directory.Documents or Directory.ExternalStorage.

Returns: Promise<PermissionStatus>

Since: 1.0.0

---

downloadFile(...)

downloadFile(options: DownloadFileOptions) => Promise<DownloadFileResult>

Perform a http request to a server and download the file to the specified destination.

Param	Type
options	DownloadFileOptions

Returns: Promise<DownloadFileResult>

Since: 5.1.0

---

addListener('progress', ...)

addListener(eventName: 'progress', listenerFunc: ProgressListener) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Add a listener to file download progress events.

Param	Type
eventName	'progress'
listenerFunc	ProgressListener

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 5.1.0

---

removeAllListeners()

removeAllListeners() => Promise<void>

Remove all listeners for this plugin.

Since: 5.2.0

---

Interfaces

ReadFileResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
data	string | Blob	The representation of the data contained in the file Note: Blob is only available on Web. On native, the data is returned as a string.	1.0.0

ReadFileOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path of the file to read	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to read the file from	1.0.0
encoding	Encoding	The encoding to read the file in, if not provided, data is read as binary and returned as base64 encoded. Pass Encoding.UTF8 to read data as string	1.0.0

WriteFileResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
uri	string	The uri where the file was written into	1.0.0

WriteFileOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Default	Since
path	string	The path of the file to write		1.0.0
data	string | Blob	The data to write Note: Blob data is only supported on Web.		1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to store the file in		1.0.0
encoding	Encoding	The encoding to write the file in. If not provided, data is written as base64 encoded. Pass Encoding.UTF8 to write data as string		1.0.0
recursive	boolean	Whether to create any missing parent directories.	false	1.0.0

AppendFileOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path of the file to append	1.0.0
data	string	The data to write	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to store the file in	1.0.0
encoding	Encoding	The encoding to write the file in. If not provided, data is written as base64 encoded. Pass Encoding.UTF8 to write data as string	1.0.0

DeleteFileOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path of the file to delete	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to delete the file from	1.0.0

MkdirOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Default	Since
path	string	The path of the new directory		1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to make the new directory in		1.0.0
recursive	boolean	Whether to create any missing parent directories as well.	false	1.0.0

RmdirOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Default	Since
path	string	The path of the directory to remove		1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to remove the directory from		1.0.0
recursive	boolean	Whether to recursively remove the contents of the directory	false	1.0.0

ReaddirResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
files	FileInfo[]	List of files and directories inside the directory	1.0.0

FileInfo

Prop	Type	Description	Since
name	string	Name of the file or directory.
type	'file' | 'directory'	Type of the file.	4.0.0
size	number	Size of the file in bytes.	4.0.0
ctime	number	Time of creation in milliseconds. It's not available on Android 7 and older devices.	4.0.0
mtime	number	Time of last modification in milliseconds.	4.0.0
uri	string	The uri of the file.	4.0.0

ReaddirOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path of the directory to read	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to list files from	1.0.0

GetUriResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
uri	string	The uri of the file	1.0.0

GetUriOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path of the file to get the URI for	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to get the file under	1.0.0

StatResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
type	'file' | 'directory'	Type of the file.	1.0.0
size	number	Size of the file in bytes.	1.0.0
ctime	number	Time of creation in milliseconds. It's not available on Android 7 and older devices.	1.0.0
mtime	number	Time of last modification in milliseconds.	1.0.0
uri	string	The uri of the file	1.0.0

StatOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path of the file to get data about	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory to get the file under	1.0.0

CopyOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Since
from	string	The existing file or directory	1.0.0
to	string	The destination file or directory	1.0.0
directory	Directory	The Directory containing the existing file or directory	1.0.0
toDirectory	Directory	The Directory containing the destination file or directory. If not supplied will use the 'directory' parameter as the destination	1.0.0

CopyResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
uri	string	The uri where the file was copied into	4.0.0

PermissionStatus

Prop	Type
publicStorage	PermissionState

DownloadFileResult

Prop	Type	Description	Since
path	string	The path the file was downloaded to.	5.1.0
blob	Blob	The blob data of the downloaded file. This is only available on web.	5.1.0

DownloadFileOptions

Prop	Type	Description	Default	Since
path	string	The path the downloaded file should be moved to.		5.1.0
directory	Directory	The directory to write the file to. If this option is used, filePath can be a relative path rather than absolute. The default is the DATA directory.		5.1.0
progress	boolean	An optional listener function to receive downloaded progress events. If this option is used, progress event should be dispatched on every chunk received. Chunks are throttled to every 100ms on Android/iOS to avoid slowdowns.		5.1.0
recursive	boolean	Whether to create any missing parent directories.	false	5.1.2

PluginListenerHandle

Prop	Type
remove	() => Promise<void>

ProgressStatus

Prop	Type	Description	Since
url	string	The url of the file being downloaded.	5.1.0
bytes	number	The number of bytes downloaded so far.	5.1.0
contentLength	number	The total number of bytes to download for this file.	5.1.0

Type Aliases

RenameOptions

CopyOptions

PermissionState

'prompt' | 'prompt-with-rationale' | 'granted' | 'denied'

ProgressListener

A listener function that receives progress events.

(progress: ProgressStatus): void

Enums

Directory

Members	Value	Description	Since
Documents	'DOCUMENTS'	The Documents directory. On iOS it's the app's documents directory. Use this directory to store user-generated content. On Android it's the Public Documents folder, so it's accessible from other apps. It's not accesible on Android 10 unless the app enables legacy External Storage by adding android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" in the application tag in the AndroidManifest.xml. On Android 11 or newer the app can only access the files/folders the app created.	1.0.0
Data	'DATA'	The Data directory. On iOS it will use the Documents directory. On Android it's the directory holding application files. Files will be deleted when the application is uninstalled.	1.0.0
Library	'LIBRARY'	The Library directory. On iOS it will use the Library directory. On Android it's the directory holding application files. Files will be deleted when the application is uninstalled.	1.1.0
Cache	'CACHE'	The Cache directory. Can be deleted in cases of low memory, so use this directory to write app-specific files. that your app can re-create easily.	1.0.0
External	'EXTERNAL'	The external directory. On iOS it will use the Documents directory. On Android it's the directory on the primary shared/external storage device where the application can place persistent files it owns. These files are internal to the applications, and not typically visible to the user as media. Files will be deleted when the application is uninstalled.	1.0.0
ExternalStorage	'EXTERNAL_STORAGE'	The external storage directory. On iOS it will use the Documents directory. On Android it's the primary shared/external storage directory. It's not accesible on Android 10 unless the app enables legacy External Storage by adding android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" in the application tag in the AndroidManifest.xml. It's not accesible on Android 11 or newer.	1.0.0

Encoding

Members	Value	Description	Since
UTF8	'utf8'	Eight-bit UCS Transformation Format	1.0.0
ASCII	'ascii'	Seven-bit ASCII, a.k.a. ISO646-US, a.k.a. the Basic Latin block of the Unicode character set This encoding is only supported on Android.	1.0.0
UTF16	'utf16'	Sixteen-bit UCS Transformation Format, byte order identified by an optional byte-order mark This encoding is only supported on Android.	1.0.0