output-file-sync

What is output-file-sync?

The output-file-sync npm package is a utility for writing files synchronously, ensuring that the directory structure is created if it does not exist. This is particularly useful for tasks that require file output in build processes or scripts where you need to ensure the file system is in a specific state before proceeding.

What are output-file-sync's main functionalities?

Write File Synchronously

This feature allows you to write data to a file synchronously. If the directory structure does not exist, it will be created automatically.

const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');
outputFileSync('path/to/file.txt', 'Hello, World!');

Write JSON Data

This feature allows you to write JSON data to a file synchronously. The JSON data is stringified and formatted with indentation for readability.

const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');
const data = { key: 'value' };
outputFileSync('path/to/file.json', JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));

Append Data to File

While output-file-sync does not directly support appending data, you can use Node.js's built-in fs module in conjunction with output-file-sync to ensure the file exists before appending data.

const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');
const fs = require('fs');
const data = 'Appended data';
fs.appendFileSync('path/to/file.txt', data);

Other packages similar to output-file-sync

fs-extra

fs-extra is a popular package that extends the native Node.js fs module with additional methods, including methods for writing files synchronously and ensuring the directory structure exists. It provides more comprehensive file system utilities compared to output-file-sync.

write-file-atomic

write-file-atomic is a package that ensures files are written atomically, which means the file is guaranteed to be written completely or not at all. This is useful for preventing partial writes and ensuring data integrity. It also supports creating directories if they do not exist.

mkdirp

mkdirp is a package focused on creating directories recursively. While it does not handle file writing directly, it can be used in conjunction with the native fs module to ensure the directory structure exists before writing files.

README

output-file-sync

Synchronously write a file and create its ancestor directories if needed

const {readFileSync} = require('fs');
const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');

outputFileSync('foo/bar/baz.txt', 'Hi!');
readFileSync('foo/bar/baz.txt', 'utf8'); //=> 'Hi!'

Difference from fs.outputFileSync

This module is very similar to fs-extra's fs.outputFileSync method, but different in the following points:

1. output-file-sync returns the path of the directory created first. See the API document for more details.
2. output-file-sync accepts mkdirp options.

   const {statSync} = require('fs');
   const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');
   
   outputFileSync('foo/bar', 'content', {mode: 33260});
   statSync('foo').mode; //=> 33260
   

3. output-file-sync validates its arguments strictly, and prints highly informative error message.

Installation

Use npm.

npm install output-file-sync

API

const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');

outputFileSync(path, data [, options])

path: string
data: string, Buffer or Uint8Array
options: Object (options for fs.writeFileSync and mkdirp) or string (encoding)
Return: string if it creates more than one directories, otherwise null

It writes the data to a file synchronously. If ancestor directories of the file don't exist, it creates the directories before writing the file.

const {statSync} = require('fs');
const outputFileSync = require('output-file-sync');

// When the directory `foo/bar` exists
outputFileSync('foo/bar/baz/qux.txt', 'Hello', 'utf-8');

statSync('foo/bar/baz').isDirectory(); //=> true
statSync('foo/bar/baz/qux.txt').isFile(); //=> true

It returns the directory path just like mkdirp.sync:

Returns the first directory that had to be created, if any.

const dir = outputFileSync('foo/bar/baz.txt', 'Hello');
dir === path.resolve('foo'); //=> true

options

All options for fs.writeFileSync and mkdirp are available.

Additionally, you can pass fileMode and dirMode options to set different permission between the file and directories.

options.fileMode

Set the mode of a file, overriding mode option.

options.dirMode

Set the modes of directories, overriding mode option.

outputFileSync('dir/file', 'content', {dirMode: '0745', fileMode: '0644'});
fs.statSync('dir').mode.toString(8); //=> '40745'
fs.statSync('dir/file').mode.toString(8); //=> '100644'

Related project

• output-file (asynchronous version)

License

ISC License © 2017 - 2018 Shinnosuke Watanabe