What is archiver?
The archiver npm package is a streaming interface for archive generation, allowing users to create and manage different types of compressed files programmatically. It supports formats like ZIP and TAR and can be used for tasks such as creating backups, delivering files in a compressed format, or bundling project assets.
What are archiver's main functionalities?
Creating ZIP archives
This code demonstrates how to create a ZIP file named 'example.zip' with a single file 'file.txt' included. It sets the compression level to 9 using zlib.
const fs = require('fs');
const archiver = require('archiver');
const output = fs.createWriteStream('example.zip');
const archive = archiver('zip', { zlib: { level: 9 } });
output.on('close', function() {
console.log(`Archive size: ${archive.pointer()} bytes`);
});
archive.pipe(output);
archive.append(fs.createReadStream('file.txt'), { name: 'file.txt' });
archive.finalize();
Creating TAR archives
This code snippet shows how to create a TAR file named 'example.tar' with gzip compression, including the file 'file.txt'.
const fs = require('fs');
const archiver = require('archiver');
const output = fs.createWriteStream('example.tar');
const archive = archiver('tar', { gzip: true });
output.on('close', function() {
console.log(`Archive size: ${archive.pointer()} bytes`);
});
archive.pipe(output);
archive.append(fs.createReadStream('file.txt'), { name: 'file.txt' });
archive.finalize();
Appending multiple files and directories
This example demonstrates how to append multiple files and directories to a ZIP archive. It includes a single file, a directory, and all JavaScript files in the current directory using a glob pattern.
const fs = require('fs');
const archiver = require('archiver');
const output = fs.createWriteStream('example.zip');
const archive = archiver('zip');
archive.pipe(output);
archive.file('file1.txt', { name: 'file1.txt' });
archive.directory('subdir/', 'new-subdir');
archive.glob('*.js');
archive.finalize();
Other packages similar to archiver
jszip
JSZip is a JavaScript library for creating, reading, and editing .zip files. It works in many environments including the browser and Node.js. Compared to archiver, JSZip provides a more comprehensive API for manipulating ZIP files, including reading and editing existing archives, but it may not be as streamlined for simply generating archives.
tar
The tar npm package provides the ability to create and extract .tar files. It is similar to archiver's TAR functionality but is more focused and does not support ZIP files. It is a good choice if you only need to work with TAR files.
compressing
Compressing is a node module that supports both tar and zip formats for compression and decompression. It offers a similar feature set to archiver but with a different API design. It might be used as an alternative if the API design aligns better with a developer's needs.
Archiver
a streaming interface for archive generation
Visit the API documentation for a list of all methods available.
Install
npm install archiver --save
Quick Start
var fs = require('fs');
var archiver = require('archiver');
var output = fs.createWriteStream(__dirname + '/example.zip');
var archive = archiver('zip', {
zlib: { level: 9 }
});
output.on('close', function() {
console.log(archive.pointer() + ' total bytes');
console.log('archiver has been finalized and the output file descriptor has closed.');
});
output.on('end', function() {
console.log('Data has been drained');
});
archive.on('warning', function(err) {
if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
} else {
throw err;
}
});
archive.on('error', function(err) {
throw err;
});
archive.pipe(output);
var file1 = __dirname + '/file1.txt';
archive.append(fs.createReadStream(file1), { name: 'file1.txt' });
archive.append('string cheese!', { name: 'file2.txt' });
var buffer3 = Buffer.from('buff it!');
archive.append(buffer3, { name: 'file3.txt' });
archive.file('file1.txt', { name: 'file4.txt' });
archive.directory('subdir/', 'new-subdir');
archive.directory('subdir/', false);
archive.glob('subdir/*.txt');
archive.finalize();
Formats
Archiver ships with out of the box support for TAR and ZIP archives.
You can register additional formats with registerFormat
.
Formats will be changing in the next few releases to implement a middleware approach.