rimraf

What is rimraf?

The rimraf npm package is a Node.js module that provides a way to perform a deep deletion of files and directories, similar to the 'rm -rf' Unix command. It is designed to work on both Windows and Unix file systems, handling the intricacies of different environments. It is often used to clean up directories before rebuilding a project or to remove temporary files.

What are rimraf's main functionalities?

Asynchronous file and directory removal

This feature allows for the asynchronous removal of a directory and its contents. The provided code sample demonstrates how to use rimraf to delete a directory asynchronously. The callback function is used to handle any errors or to perform actions after the removal is complete.

const rimraf = require('rimraf');
rimraf('/path/to/directory', function (err) { 
  if (err) throw err; 
  console.log('Directory and its contents have been removed');
});

Synchronous file and directory removal

This feature allows for the synchronous removal of a directory and its contents. The provided code sample demonstrates how to use rimraf to delete a directory synchronously. The operation will block the event loop until the removal is complete.

const rimraf = require('rimraf');
rimraf.sync('/path/to/directory');
console.log('Directory and its contents have been removed synchronously');

Promisified file and directory removal

This feature allows for the removal of a directory and its contents using promises, which can be more convenient when working with modern asynchronous code patterns. The provided code sample demonstrates how to promisify the rimraf function and use it with then/catch for handling the resolution and rejection of the promise.

const rimraf = require('rimraf');
const { promisify } = require('util');
const rimrafPromise = promisify(rimraf);

rimrafPromise('/path/to/directory').then(() => {
  console.log('Directory and its contents have been removed');
}).catch((err) => {
  console.error('An error occurred:', err);
});

Other packages similar to rimraf

fs-extra

fs-extra is a package that extends the built-in fs module with additional methods, including 'remove' and 'removeSync', which are similar to rimraf's functionality. It offers a broader set of file system operations, making it a more comprehensive choice for projects that require more than just file removal.

del

del is a package that provides file and directory deletion features with a promise-based API. It is similar to rimraf but offers more options for file selection and deletion, such as pattern matching. It is a good choice for users who prefer working with promises and need more control over what files to delete.

README

The UNIX command rm -rf for node.

Install with npm install rimraf, or just drop rimraf.js somewhere.

API

rimraf(f, [opts], callback)

The first parameter will be interpreted as a globbing pattern for files. If you want to disable globbing you can do so with opts.disableGlob (defaults to false). This might be handy, for instance, if you have filenames that contain globbing wildcard characters.

The callback will be called with an error if there is one. Certain errors are handled for you:

• Windows: EBUSY and ENOTEMPTY - rimraf will back off a maximum of opts.maxBusyTries times before giving up, adding 100ms of wait between each attempt. The default maxBusyTries is 3.
• ENOENT - If the file doesn't exist, rimraf will return successfully, since your desired outcome is already the case.
• EMFILE - Since readdir requires opening a file descriptor, it's possible to hit EMFILE if too many file descriptors are in use. In the sync case, there's nothing to be done for this. But in the async case, rimraf will gradually back off with timeouts up to opts.emfileWait ms, which defaults to 1000.

options

• unlink, chmod, stat, lstat, rmdir, readdir, unlinkSync, chmodSync, statSync, lstatSync, rmdirSync, readdirSync

  In order to use a custom file system library, you can override specific fs functions on the options object.

  If any of these functions are present on the options object, then the supplied function will be used instead of the default fs method.

  Sync methods are only relevant for rimraf.sync(), of course.

  For example:

  var myCustomFS = require('some-custom-fs')
  
  rimraf('some-thing', myCustomFS, callback)
  

• maxBusyTries

  If an EBUSY, ENOTEMPTY, or EPERM error code is encountered on Windows systems, then rimraf will retry with a linear backoff wait of 100ms longer on each try. The default maxBusyTries is 3.

  Only relevant for async usage.

• emfileWait

  If an EMFILE error is encountered, then rimraf will retry repeatedly with a linear backoff of 1ms longer on each try, until the timeout counter hits this max. The default limit is 1000.

  If you repeatedly encounter EMFILE errors, then consider using graceful-fs in your program.

  Only relevant for async usage.

• glob

  Set to false to disable glob pattern matching.

  Set to an object to pass options to the glob module. The default glob options are { nosort: true, silent: true }.

  Glob version 6 is used in this module.

  Relevant for both sync and async usage.

• disableGlob

  Set to any non-falsey value to disable globbing entirely. (Equivalent to setting glob: false.)

rimraf.sync

It can remove stuff synchronously, too. But that's not so good. Use the async API. It's better.

CLI

If installed with npm install rimraf -g it can be used as a global command rimraf <path> [<path> ...] which is useful for cross platform support.

mkdirp

If you need to create a directory recursively, check out mkdirp.