Recursive file operations in Node.js
+While I love Node.js, I've found myself missing some functions. Things like +recursively deleting/chmodding a directory (or even deep copying a directory), +or even a basic line reader, shouldn't need to be re-invented time and time again.
+ +That said, here's my attempt at a re-usable solution, at least until something +more formalized gets integrated into Node.js (*hint hint*). wrench.js is fairly simple +to use - check out the documentation/examples below:
+ +In previous versions of Wrench, we went against the OS-default behavior of not +deleting a directory unless the operation is forced. In 1.5.0, this has been +changed to be the behavior people expect there to be - if you try to copy over +a directory that already exists, you'll get an Error returned or thrown stating +that you need to force it.
+ +Something like this will do the trick:
+ +wrench.copyDirSyncRecursive('directory_to_copy', 'location_where_copy_should_end_up', {
+ forceDelete: true
+});
+If you desire the older behavior of Wrench... hit up your package.json. If you +happen to find bugs in the 1.5.0 release please feel free to file them on the +GitHub issues tracker for this project, or send me a pull request and I'll get to +it as fast as I can. Thanks!
+ +If this breaks enough projects I will consider rolling it back. Please hit me up if this seems to be the case.
+ +npm install wrench
+var wrench = require('wrench'),
+ util = require('util');
+// Recursively create directories, sub-trees and all.
+wrench.mkdirSyncRecursive(dir, 0777);
+
+// Recursively delete the entire sub-tree of a directory, then kill the directory
+wrench.rmdirSyncRecursive('my_directory_name', failSilently);
+
+// Recursively read directories contents.
+wrench.readdirSyncRecursive('my_directory_name');
+
+// Recursively chmod the entire sub-tree of a directory
+wrench.chmodSyncRecursive('my_directory_name', 0755);
+
+// Recursively chown the entire sub-tree of a directory
+wrench.chownSyncRecursive("directory", uid, gid);
+
+// Deep-copy an existing directory
+wrench.copyDirSyncRecursive('directory_to_copy', 'location_where_copy_should_end_up', {
+ forceDelete: bool, // Whether to overwrite existing directory or not
+ excludeHiddenUnix: bool, // Whether to copy hidden Unix files or not (preceding .)
+ preserveFiles: bool, // If we're overwriting something and the file already exists, keep the existing
+ inflateSymlinks: bool, // Whether to follow symlinks or not when copying files
+ filter: regexp, // A filter to match files against; if matches, do nothing (exclude).
+ whitelist: bool, // if true every file or directory which doesn't match filter will be ignored
+});
+
+// Read lines in from a file until you hit the end
+var f = new wrench.LineReader('x.txt');
+while(f.hasNextLine()) {
+ util.puts(f.getNextLine());
+}
+
+// Note: You will need to close that above line reader at some point, otherwise
+// you will run into a "too many open files" error. f.close() or fs.closeSync(f.fd) are
+// your friends, as only you know when it is safe to close.
+// Recursively read directories contents
+var files = [];
+wrench.readdirRecursive('my_directory_name', function(error, curFiles) {
+ // curFiles is what you want
+});
+
+// If you're feeling somewhat masochistic
+wrench.copyDirRecursive(srcDir, newDir, {forceDelete: bool /* See sync version */}, callbackfn);
+Questions, comments? Hit me up. (ryan [at] venodesigns.net | http://twitter.com/ryanmcgrath)
+