The `walker` npm package is a tool designed for efficiently walking (traversing) file trees in a Node.js environment. It allows developers to easily perform operations on file systems, such as listing all files in a directory and its subdirectories, filtering files based on certain criteria, and processing each file individually. This package is particularly useful for tasks that involve bulk file operations, such as building a search index, file analysis, or automated file organization.

What are walker's main functionalities?

File Traversal

This feature allows the user to traverse all files starting from a specified directory. It emits events for each file found, enabling the execution of custom logic such as logging or processing of each file.

const walker = require('walker');
const path = '/path/to/start/directory';

walker(path)
  .on('file', function(file, stat) {
    console.log('Found file: ' + file);
  })
  .on('error', function(err, entry) {
    console.error('Error at: ' + entry + ' - ' + err);
  })
  .on('end', function() {
    console.log('All files have been processed');
  });

Directory Filtering

This feature demonstrates how to filter directories during traversal, allowing the user to skip certain directories (e.g., 'node_modules'). This is useful for focusing on relevant files and improving performance by avoiding unnecessary directories.

const walker = require('walker');
const path = '/path/to/start/directory';

walker(path)
  .filterDir(function(dir, stat) {
    // Only traverse directories that are not named 'node_modules'
    return dir.indexOf('node_modules') === -1;
  })
  .on('file', function(file, stat) {
    console.log('Found file: ' + file);
  });

Other packages similar to walker

Readme

Source

walker

A nodejs directory walker. Broadcasts events for various file types as well as a generic "entry" event for all types and provides the ability to prune directory trees. This shows the entire API; everything is optional:

Walker('/etc/')
  .filterDir(function(dir, stat) {
    if (dir === '/etc/pam.d') {
      console.warn('Skipping /etc/pam.d and children')
      return false
    }
    return true
  })
  .on('entry', function(entry, stat) {
    console.log('Got entry: ' + entry)
  })
  .on('dir', function(dir, stat) {
    console.log('Got directory: ' + dir)
  })
  .on('file', function(file, stat) {
    console.log('Got file: ' + file)
  })
  .on('symlink', function(symlink, stat) {
    console.log('Got symlink: ' + symlink)
  })
  .on('blockDevice', function(blockDevice, stat) {
    console.log('Got blockDevice: ' + blockDevice)
  })
  .on('fifo', function(fifo, stat) {
    console.log('Got fifo: ' + fifo)
  })
  .on('socket', function(socket, stat) {
    console.log('Got socket: ' + socket)
  })
  .on('characterDevice', function(characterDevice, stat) {
    console.log('Got characterDevice: ' + characterDevice)
  })
  .on('error', function(er, entry, stat) {
    console.log('Got error ' + er + ' on entry ' + entry)
  })
  .on('end', function() {
    console.log('All files traversed.')
  })

You specify a root directory to walk and optionally specify a function to prune sub-directory trees via the filterDir function. The Walker exposes a number of events, broadcasting various file type events a generic error event and finally the event to signal the end of the process.

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Last updated on 23 Oct 2021

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