Node.

js

i
 Node.js

About the Tutorial

Node.js is a very powerful JavaScript-based framework/platform built on Google
Chrome's JavaScript V8 Engine. It is used to develop I/O intensive web
applications like video streaming sites, single-page applications, and other web
applications. Node.js is open source, completely free, and used by thousands of
developers around the world.

Audience
This tutorial is designed for software programmers who want to learn the basics
of Node.js and its architectural concepts. This tutorial will give you enough
understanding on all the necessary components of Node.js with suitable examples.

Prerequisites
Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding of
JavaScript. As we are going to develop web-based applications using Node.js, it
will be good if you have some understanding of other web technologies such as
HTML, CSS, AJAX, etc.

Execute Node.js Online

For most of the examples given in this tutorial, you will find a Try it option, so
just make use of this option to execute your Node.js programs on the spot and
enjoy your learning.

Try the following example using the Try it option available at the top right corner
of the below sample code box (on our website):

/* Hello World! program in Node.js */

console.log("Hello World!");

i
 Node.js

Copyright & Disclaimer

Copyright 2015 by Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd.

All the content and graphics published in this e-book are the property of Tutorials
Point (I) Pvt. Ltd. The user of this e-book is prohibited to reuse, retain, copy,
distribute or republish any contents or a part of contents of this e-book in any
manner without written consent of the publisher.

We strive to update the contents of our website and tutorials as timely and as
precisely as possible, however, the contents may contain inaccuracies or errors.
Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd. provides no guarantee regarding the accuracy,
timeliness or completeness of our website or its contents including this tutorial. If
you discover any errors on our website or in this tutorial, please notify us at
contact@tutorialspoint.com

ii
 Node.js

Table of Contents
About the Tutorial ............................................................................................................................................ i
Audience ........................................................................................................................................................... i
Prerequisites ..................................................................................................................................................... i
Execute Node.js Online..................................................................................................................................... i
Copyright & Disclaimer .................................................................................................................................... ii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................... iii

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1
What is Node.js? .............................................................................................................................................. 1
Features of Node.js ......................................................................................................................................... 1
Who Uses Node.js? .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Concepts .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Where to Use Node.js? .................................................................................................................................... 3
Where Not to Use Node.js? ............................................................................................................................. 3

2. Environment Setup ................................................................................................................................... 4

Try it Option Online ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Local Environment Setup ................................................................................................................................. 4
Text Editor ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
The Node.js Runtime ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Download Node.js Archive .............................................................................................................................. 5
Installation on UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X and SunOS............................................................................................ 5
Installation on Windows .................................................................................................................................. 6
Verify Installation: Executing a File.................................................................................................................. 6

3. First Application ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Creating Node.js Application ........................................................................................................................... 7

4. REPL Terminal ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Online REPL Terminal .................................................................................................................................... 10
REPL Commands ............................................................................................................................................ 12
Stopping REPL ................................................................................................................................................ 13

5. NPM........................................................................................................................................................ 14
Installing Modules using NPM ....................................................................................................................... 14
Global vs Local Installation ............................................................................................................................ 14
Using package.json ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Attributes of Package.json ............................................................................................................................. 21
Uninstalling a Module ................................................................................................................................... 21
Updating a Module ........................................................................................................................................ 22
Search a Module ............................................................................................................................................ 22
Create a Module ............................................................................................................................................ 22

6. Callback Concept ..................................................................................................................................... 24

What is Callback?........................................................................................................................................... 24
Blocking Code Example.................................................................................................................................. 24
Non-Blocking Code Example.......................................................................................................................... 25

7. Event Loop .............................................................................................................................................. 26

Event-Driven Programming ........................................................................................................................... 26
Example ......................................................................................................................................................... 27

iii
 Node.js

How Node Applications Work? ..................................................................................................................... 28

8. Event Emitter .......................................................................................................................................... 30

EventEmitter Class ......................................................................................................................................... 30
Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 30
Class Methods ............................................................................................................................................... 32
Events ............................................................................................................................................................ 32
Example ......................................................................................................................................................... 32

9. Buffers .................................................................................................................................................... 35
Creating Buffers ............................................................................................................................................. 35
Writing to Buffers .......................................................................................................................................... 35
Reading from Buffers ..................................................................................................................................... 36
Convert Buffer to JSON .................................................................................................................................. 37
Concatenate Buffers ...................................................................................................................................... 38
Compare Buffers ............................................................................................................................................ 39
Copy Buffer .................................................................................................................................................... 39
Slice Buffer..................................................................................................................................................... 40
Buffer Length ................................................................................................................................................. 41
Methods Reference ....................................................................................................................................... 42
Class Methods ............................................................................................................................................... 50

10. Streams................................................................................................................................................... 51
What are Streams? ........................................................................................................................................ 51
Reading from a Stream .................................................................................................................................. 51
Writing to a Stream ....................................................................................................................................... 52
Piping the Streams......................................................................................................................................... 53
Chaining the Streams..................................................................................................................................... 54

11. File System .............................................................................................................................................. 56

Synchronous vs Asynchronous ...................................................................................................................... 56
Open a File ..................................................................................................................................................... 57
Get File Information ...................................................................................................................................... 59
Writing a File ................................................................................................................................................. 61
Reading a File................................................................................................................................................. 63
Closing a File................................................................................................................................................... 64
Truncate a File ............................................................................................................................................... 66
Delete a File ................................................................................................................................................... 68
Create a Directory ......................................................................................................................................... 69
Read a Directory ............................................................................................................................................ 70
Remove a Directory ....................................................................................................................................... 71
Methods Reference ....................................................................................................................................... 72

12. Global Objects ........................................................................................................................................ 80

__filename ..................................................................................................................................................... 80
__dirname ..................................................................................................................................................... 80
setTimeout(cb, ms) ........................................................................................................................................ 81
clearTimeout (t) ............................................................................................................................................. 81
setInterval(cb, ms) ......................................................................................................................................... 82
Global Objects ............................................................................................................................................... 83
Console Object .............................................................................................................................................. 83
Process Object ............................................................................................................................................... 85

iv
 Node.js

13. Utility Modules ....................................................................................................................................... 94

OS Module ..................................................................................................................................................... 94
Path Module .................................................................................................................................................. 97
Net Module.................................................................................................................................................... 99
DNS Module................................................................................................................................................. 108
Domain Module ........................................................................................................................................... 112

14. Web Module ......................................................................................................................................... 117

What is a Web Server? ................................................................................................................................ 117
Web Application Architecture ..................................................................................................................... 117
Creating a Web Server using Node .............................................................................................................. 118
Make a request to Node.js server ............................................................................................................... 119
Creating a Web client using Node ............................................................................................................... 120

15. Express Framework ............................................................................................................................... 122

Express Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 122
Installing Express ......................................................................................................................................... 122
Hello world Example .................................................................................................................................... 123
Request & Response .................................................................................................................................... 124
Request Object ............................................................................................................................................ 124
Response Object .......................................................................................................................................... 128
Basic Routing ............................................................................................................................................... 135
Serving Static Files ....................................................................................................................................... 138
GET Method ................................................................................................................................................. 139
POST Method............................................................................................................................................... 141
File Upload ................................................................................................................................................... 143
Cookies Management .................................................................................................................................. 145

16. RESTful API ........................................................................................................................................... 147

What is REST Architecture? ......................................................................................................................... 147
HTTP methods ............................................................................................................................................. 147
RESTful Web Services .................................................................................................................................. 147
Creating RESTful for a Library ...................................................................................................................... 148
List Users ..................................................................................................................................................... 149
Add Users .................................................................................................................................................... 150
Show Detail .................................................................................................................................................. 152
Delete a User ............................................................................................................................................... 153

17. Scaling an Application ........................................................................................................................... 155

The exec() method....................................................................................................................................... 155
The spawn() Method ................................................................................................................................... 157
The fork() Method ....................................................................................................................................... 159

18. Packaging .............................................................................................................................................. 162

JXcore Installation ....................................................................................................................................... 162
Packaging the Code ..................................................................................................................................... 163
Launching JX File .......................................................................................................................................... 163

v
 Node.js
1. INTRODUCTION

What is Node.js?
Node.js is a server-side platform built on Google Chrome's JavaScript Engine (V8
Engine). Node.js was developed by Ryan Dahl in 2009 and its latest version is
v0.10.36. The definition of Node.js as supplied by its official documentation is as
follows:

Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily

building fast and scalable network applications. Node.js uses an event-
driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient,
perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed
devices.

Node.js is an open source, cross-platform runtime environment for developing

server-side and networking applications. Node.js applications are written in
JavaScript, and can be run within the Node.js runtime on OS X, Microsoft Windows,
and Linux.

Node.js also provides a rich library of various JavaScript modules which simplifies
the development of web applications using Node.js to a great extent.

Node.js = Runtime Environment + JavaScript Library

Features of Node.js
Following are some of the important features that make Node.js the first choice of
software architects.

Asynchronous and Event Driven All APIs of Node.js library are

asynchronous, that is, non-blocking. It essentially means a Node.js based
server never waits for an API to return data. The server moves to the next
API after calling it and a notification mechanism of Events of Node.js helps
the server to get a response from the previous API call.

Very Fast Being built on Google Chrome's V8 JavaScript Engine, Node.js

library is very fast in code execution.

Single Threaded but Highly Scalable Node.js uses a single

threaded model with event looping. Event mechanism helps the server to
respond in a non-blocking way and makes the server highly scalable as
opposed to traditional servers which create limited threads to handle
requests. Node.js uses a single threaded program and the same program

1
 Node.js

can provide service to a much larger number of requests than traditional

servers like Apache HTTP Server.

No Buffering Node.js applications never buffer any data. These

applications simply output the data in chunks.

License Node.js is released under the MIT license.

Who Uses Node.js?

Following is the link on github wiki containing an exhaustive list of projects,
application and companies which are using Node.js. This list includes eBay,
General Electric, GoDaddy, Microsoft, PayPal, Uber, Wikipins, Yahoo!, and Yammer
to name a few.

Projects, Applications, and Companies Using Node

Concepts
The following diagram depicts some important parts of Node.js which we will
discuss in detail in the subsequent chapters.

2
 Node.js

Where to Use Node.js?

Following are the areas where Node.js is proving itself as a perfect technology
partner.

I/O bound Applications

Data Streaming Applications
Data Intensive Real-time Applications (DIRT)
JSON APIs based Applications
Single Page Applications

Where Not to Use Node.js?

It is not advisable to use Node.js for CPU intensive applications.

3
 Node.js
2. ENVIRONMENT SETUP

Try it Option Online

You really do not need to set up your own environment to start learning Node.js.
Reason is very simple, we already have set up Node.js environment online, so that
you can execute all the available examples online and learn through practice. Feel
free to modify any example and check the results with different options.

Try the following example using the Try it option available at the top right corner
of the below sample code box (on our website):

/* Hello World! program in Node.js */

console.log("Hello World!");

For most of the examples given in this tutorial, you will find a Try it option, so just
make use of it and enjoy your learning.

Local Environment Setup

If you want to set up your environment for Node.js, you need to have the following
two software on your computer, (a) a Text Editor and (b) the Node.js binary
installables.

Text Editor
You need to have a text editor to type your program. Examples of text editors
include Windows Notepad, OS Edit command, Brief, Epsilon, EMACS, and vim or
vi.

The name and version of text editors can vary from one operating system to
another. For example, Notepad will be used on Windows, and vim or vi can be
used on Windows as well as Linux or UNIX.

The files you create with your editor are called source files and they contain the
program source code. The source files for Node.js programs are typically named
with the extension ".js".

Before you start programming, make sure you have one text editor in place and
you have enough experience in how to write a computer program, save it in a file,
and finally execute it.

4
 Node.js

The Node.js Runtime

The source code that you would write in a source file is simply javascript. The
Node.js interpreter interprets and executes your javascript code.

Node.js distribution comes as a binary installable for SunOS, Linux, Mac OS X, and
Windows operating systems with the 32-bit (386) and 64-bit (amd64) x86
processor architectures.

The following section explains how to install Node.js binary distribution on various
OS.

Download Node.js Archive

Download the latest version of Node.js installable archive file from Node.js
Downloads. At the time of writing this tutorial, following are the versions available
on different OS.

OS Archive name

Windows node-v0.12.0-x64.msi

Linux node-v0.12.0-linux-x86.tar.gz

Mac node-v0.12.0-darwin-x86.tar.gz

SunOS node-v0.12.0-sunos-x86.tar.gz

Installation on UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X and SunOS

Based on your OS architecture, download and extract the archive node-v0.12.0-
osname.tar.gz into /tmp, and then move the extracted files into /usr/local/nodejs
directory. For example:

$ cd /tmp
$ wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.12.0/node-v0.12.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz node-v0.12.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ mkdir -p /usr/local/nodejs
$ mv node-v0.12.0-linux-x64/* /usr/local/nodejs

5
 Node.js

Add /usr/local/nodejs/bin to the PATH environment variable.

OS Output

Linux export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nodejs/bin

Mac export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nodejs/bin

FreeBSD export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nodejs/bin

Installation on Windows
Use the MSI file and follow the prompts to install Node.js. By default, the installer
uses the Node.js distribution in C:\Program Files\nodejs. The installer should set
the C:\Program Files\nodejs\bin directory in Window's PATH environment
variable. Restart any open command prompts for the change to take effect.

Verify Installation: Executing a File

Create a js file named main.js on your machine (Windows or Linux) having the
following code.

/* Hello, World! program in node.js */

console.log("Hello, World!")

Now execute main.js using Node.js interpreter to see the result:

$ node main.js

If everything is fine with your installation, it should produce the following result:

Hello, World!

6
 Node.js
3. FIRST APPLICATION

Before creating an actual "Hello, World!" application using Node.js, let us see the
components of a Node.js application. A Node.js application consists of the
following three important components:

1. Import required modules: We use the require directive to load Node.js

modules.

2. Create server: A server which will listen to client's requests similar to

Apache HTTP Server.

3. Read request and return response: The server created in an earlier step
will read the HTTP request made by the client which can be a browser or a
console and return the response.

Creating Node.js Application

Step 1 - Import Required Module

We use the require directive to load the http module and store the returned HTTP
instance into an http variable as follows:

var http = require("http");

Step 2: Create Server

We use the created http instance and call http.createServer() method to create
a server instance and then we bind it at port 8081 using the listen method
associated with the server instance. Pass it a function with parameters request
and response. Write the sample implementation to always return "Hello World".

http.createServer(function (request, response) {

// Send the HTTP header

// HTTP Status: 200 : OK
// Content Type: text/plain
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});

// Send the response body as "Hello World"

response.end('Hello World\n');

7
 Node.js

}).listen(8081);

// Console will print the message

console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/');

The above code is enough to create an HTTP server which listens, i.e., waits for a
request over 8081 port on the local machine.

Step 3: Testing Request & Response

Let's put step 1 and 2 together in a file called main.js and start our HTTP server
as shown below:

var http = require("http");

http.createServer(function (request, response) {

// Send the HTTP header

// HTTP Status: 200 : OK
// Content Type: text/plain
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});

// Send the response body as "Hello World"

response.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(8081);

// Console will print the message

console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/');

Now execute the main.js to start the server as follows:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output. Server has started.

Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

8
 Node.js

Make a Request to the Node.js Server

Open http://127.0.0.1:8081/ in any browser and observe the following result.

Congratulations, you have your first HTTP server up and running which is
responding to all the HTTP requests at port 8081.

9
 Node.js
4. REPL TERMINAL

REPL stands for Read Eval Print Loop and it represents a computer environment
like a Windows console or Unix/Linux shell where a command is entered and the
system responds with an output in an interactive mode. Node.js or Node comes
bundled with a REPL environment. It performs the following tasks:
Read - Reads user's input, parses the input into JavaScript data-structure,
and stores in memory.

Eval - Takes and evaluates the data structure.

Print - Prints the result.

Loop - Loops the above command until the user presses ctrl-c twice.

The REPL feature of Node is very useful in experimenting with Node.js codes and
to debug JavaScript codes.

Online REPL Terminal

To simplify your learning, we have set up an easy-to-use Node.js REPL
environment online, where you can practice Node.js syntax: Launch Node.js REPL
Terminal

Starting REPL
REPL can be started by simply running node on shell/console without any
arguments as follows.

$ node

You will see the REPL Command prompt > where you can type any Node.js
command:

$ node
>

Simple Expression
Let's try a simple mathematics at the Node.js REPL command prompt:

$ node
> 1 + 3

10
 Node.js

4
> 1 + ( 2 * 3 ) - 4
3
>

Use Variables
You can make use variables to store values and print later like any conventional
script. If var keyword is not used, then the value is stored in the variable and
printed. Whereas if var keyword is used, then the value is stored but not printed.
You can print variables using console.log().

$ node
> x = 10
10
> var y = 10
undefined
> x + y
20
> console.log("Hello World")
Hello Workd
undefined

Multiline Expression
Node REPL supports multiline expression similar to JavaScript. Let's check the
following do-while loop in action:

$ node
> var x = 0
undefined
> do {
... x++;
... console.log("x: " + x);
... } while ( x < 5 );
x: 1
x: 2
x: 3

11
 Node.js

x: 4
x: 5
undefined
>

... comes automatically when you press Enter after the opening bracket. Node
automatically checks the continuity of expressions.

Underscore Variable
You can use underscore (_) to get the last result:

$ node
> var x = 10
undefined
> var y = 20
undefined
> x + y
30
> var sum = _
undefined
> console.log(sum)
30
undefined
>

REPL Commands
ctrl + c - terminate the current command.
ctrl + c twice - terminate the Node REPL.
ctrl + d - terminate the Node REPL.
Up/Down Keys - see command history and modify previous commands.
tab Keys - list of current commands.
.help - list of all commands.
.break - exit from multiline expression.
.clear - exit from multiline expression.
.save filename - save the current Node REPL session to a file.
.load filename - load file content in current Node REPL session.

12
 Node.js

Stopping REPL
As mentioned above, you will need to use ctrl-c twice to come out of Node.js
REPL.

$ node
>
(^C again to quit)
>

13
 Node.js
5. NPM

Node Package Manager (NPM) provides two main functionalities:

Online repositories for node.js packages/modules which are searchable on

search.nodejs.org

Command line utility to install Node.js packages, do version management

and dependency management of Node.js packages.

NPM comes bundled with Node.js installables after v0.6.3 version. To verify the
same, open console and type the following command and see the result:

$ npm --version
2.7.1

If you are running an old version of NPM, then it is quite easy to update it to the
latest version. Just use the following command from root:

$ sudo npm install npm -g

/usr/bin/npm -> /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
npm@2.7.1 /usr/lib/node_modules/npm

Installing Modules using NPM

There is a simple syntax to install any Node.js module:

$ npm install <Module Name>

For example, following is the command to install a famous Node.js web framework
module called express:

$ npm install express

Now you can use this module in your js file as following:

var express = require('express');

Global vs Local Installation

By default, NPM installs any dependency in the local mode. Here local mode refers
to the package installation in node_modules directory lying in the folder where
Node application is present. Locally deployed packages are accessible via require()

14
 Node.js

method. For example, when we installed express module, it created node_modules

directory in the current directory where it installed the express module.

$ ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 20 Mar 17 02:23 node_modules

Alternatively, you can use npm ls command to list down all the locally installed
modules.

Globally installed packages/dependencies are stored in system directory. Such

dependencies can be used in CLI (Command Line Interface) function of any
node.js but cannot be imported using require() in Node application directly. Now
let's try installing the express module using global installation.

$ npm install express -g

This will produce a similar result but the module will be installed globally. Here,
the first line shows the module version and the location where it is getting
installed.

express@4.12.2 /usr/lib/node_modules/express
merge-descriptors@1.0.0
utils-merge@1.0.0
cookie-signature@1.0.6
methods@1.1.1
fresh@0.2.4
cookie@0.1.2
escape-html@1.0.1
range-parser@1.0.2
content-type@1.0.1
finalhandler@0.3.3
vary@1.0.0
parseurl@1.3.0
content-disposition@0.5.0
path-to-regexp@0.1.3
depd@1.0.0
qs@2.3.3
on-finished@2.2.0 (ee-first@1.1.0)
etag@1.5.1 (crc@3.2.1)
debug@2.1.3 (ms@0.7.0)

15
 Node.js

proxy-addr@1.0.7 (forwarded@0.1.0, ipaddr.js@0.1.9)

send@0.12.1 (destroy@1.0.3, ms@0.7.0, mime@1.3.4)
serve-static@1.9.2 (send@0.12.2)
accepts@1.2.5 (negotiator@0.5.1, mime-types@2.0.10)
type-is@1.6.1 (media-typer@0.3.0, mime-types@2.0.10)

You can use the following command to check all the modules installed globally:

$ npm ls -g

Using package.json
package.json is present in the root directory of any Node application/module and
is used to define the properties of a package. Let's open package.json of express
package present in node_modules/express/

{
"name": "express",
"description": "Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework",
"version": "4.11.2",
"author": {
"name": "TJ Holowaychuk",
"email": "tj@vision-media.ca"
},
"contributors": [
{
"name": "Aaron Heckmann",
"email": "aaron.heckmann+github@gmail.com"
},
{
"name": "Ciaran Jessup",
"email": "ciaranj@gmail.com"
},
{
"name": "Douglas Christopher Wilson",
"email": "doug@somethingdoug.com"
},
{

16
 Node.js

"name": "Guillermo Rauch",

"email": "rauchg@gmail.com"
},
{
"name": "Jonathan Ong",
"email": "me@jongleberry.com"
},
{
"name": "Roman Shtylman",
"email": "shtylman+expressjs@gmail.com"
},
{
"name": "Young Jae Sim",
"email": "hanul@hanul.me"
}
],
"license": "MIT",
"repository": {
"type": "git",
"url": "https://github.com/strongloop/express"
},
"homepage": "http://expressjs.com/",
"keywords": [
"express",
"framework",
"sinatra",
"web",
"rest",
"restful",
"router",
"app",
"api"
],
"dependencies": {
"accepts": "~1.2.3",

17
 Node.js

"content-disposition": "0.5.0",
"cookie-signature": "1.0.5",
"debug": "~2.1.1",
"depd": "~1.0.0",
"escape-html": "1.0.1",
"etag": "~1.5.1",
"finalhandler": "0.3.3",
"fresh": "0.2.4",
"media-typer": "0.3.0",
"methods": "~1.1.1",
"on-finished": "~2.2.0",
"parseurl": "~1.3.0",
"path-to-regexp": "0.1.3",
"proxy-addr": "~1.0.6",
"qs": "2.3.3",
"range-parser": "~1.0.2",
"send": "0.11.1",
"serve-static": "~1.8.1",
"type-is": "~1.5.6",
"vary": "~1.0.0",
"cookie": "0.1.2",
"merge-descriptors": "0.0.2",
"utils-merge": "1.0.0"
},
"devDependencies": {
"after": "0.8.1",
"ejs": "2.1.4",
"istanbul": "0.3.5",
"marked": "0.3.3",
"mocha": "~2.1.0",
"should": "~4.6.2",
"supertest": "~0.15.0",
"hjs": "~0.0.6",
"body-parser": "~1.11.0",
"connect-redis": "~2.2.0",

18
 Node.js

"cookie-parser": "~1.3.3",
"express-session": "~1.10.2",
"jade": "~1.9.1",
"method-override": "~2.3.1",
"morgan": "~1.5.1",
"multiparty": "~4.1.1",
"vhost": "~3.0.0"
},
"engines": {
"node": ">= 0.10.0"
},
"files": [
"LICENSE",
"History.md",
"Readme.md",
"index.js",
"lib/"
],
"scripts": {
"test": "mocha --require test/support/env --reporter spec --bail
check-leaks test/ test/acceptance/",

"test-cov": "istanbul cover node_modules/mocha/bin/_mocha -- --

require test/support/env --reporter dot --check-leaks test/
test/acceptance/",

"test-tap": "mocha --require test/support/env --reporter tap

check-leaks test/ test/acceptance/",

"test-travis": "istanbul cover node_modules/mocha/bin/_mocha

report lcovonly -- --require test/support/env --reporter spec
check-leaks test/ test/acceptance/"
},
"gitHead": "63ab25579bda70b4927a179b580a9c580b6c7ada",
"bugs": {

19
 Node.js

"url": "https://github.com/strongloop/express/issues"
},
"_id": "express@4.11.2",
"_shasum": "8df3d5a9ac848585f00a0777601823faecd3b148",
"_from": "express@*",
"_npmVersion": "1.4.28",
"_npmUser": {
"name": "dougwilson",
"email": "doug@somethingdoug.com"
},
"maintainers": [
{
"name": "tjholowaychuk",
"email": "tj@vision-media.ca"
},
{
"name": "jongleberry",
"email": "jonathanrichardong@gmail.com"
},
{
"name": "shtylman",
"email": "shtylman@gmail.com"
},
{
"name": "dougwilson",
"email": "doug@somethingdoug.com"
},
{
"name": "aredridel",
"email": "aredridel@nbtsc.org"
},
{
"name": "strongloop",
"email": "callback@strongloop.com"
},

20
 Node.js

{
"name": "rfeng",
"email": "enjoyjava@gmail.com"
}
],
"dist": {
"shasum": "8df3d5a9ac848585f00a0777601823faecd3b148",
"tarball": "http://registry.npmjs.org/express/-/express-4.11.2.tgz"
},
"directories": {},
"_resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/express/-/express-4.11.2.tgz",
"readme": "ERROR: No README data found!"
}

Attributes of Package.json
name - name of the package

version - version of the package

description - description of the package

homepage - homepage of the package

author - author of the package

contributors - name of the contributors to the package

dependencies - list of dependencies. NPM automatically installs all the

dependencies mentioned here in the node_module folder of the package.

repository - repository type and URL of the package

main - entry point of the package

keywords - keywords

Uninstalling a Module
Use the following command to uninstall a Node.js module.

$ npm uninstall express

21
 Node.js

Once NPM uninstalls the package, you can verify it by looking at the content of
/node_modules/ directory or type the following command:

$ npm ls

Updating a Module
Update package.json and change the version of the dependency to be updated
and run the following command.

$ npm update express

Search a Module
Search a package name using NPM.

$ npm search express

Create a Module
Creating a module requires package.json to be generated. Let's generate
package.json using NPM, which will generate the basic skeleton of the
package.json.

$ npm init
This utility will walk you through creating a package.json file.
It only covers the most common items, and tries to guess sane defaults.

See 'npm help json' for definitive documentation on these fields

and exactly what they do.

Use 'npm install <pkg> --save' afterwards to install a package and

save it as a dependency in the package.json file.

Press ^C at any time to quit.

name: (webmaster)

You will need to provide all the required information about your module. You can
take help from the above-mentioned package.json file to understand the meanings
of various information demanded. Once package.json is generated, use the
following command to register yourself with NPM repository site using a valid email
address.

22
 Node.js

$ npm adduser
Username: mcmohd
Password:
Email: (this IS public) mcmohd@gmail.com

It is time now to publish your module:

$ npm publish

If everything is fine with your module, then it will be published in the repository
and will be accessible to install using NPM like any other Node.js module.

23
 Node.js
6. CALLBACK CONCEPT

What is Callback?
Callback is an asynchronous equivalent for a function. A callback function is called
at the completion of a given task. Node makes heavy use of callbacks. All the APIs
of Node are written in such a way that they support callbacks.

For example, a function to read a file may start reading a file and return the control
to the execution environment immediately so that the next instruction can be
executed. Once file I/O is complete, it will call the callback function while passing
the callback function, the content of the file as a parameter. So there is no blocking
or wait for File I/O. This makes Node.js highly scalable, as it can process a high
number of requests without waiting for any function to return results.

Blocking Code Example

Create a text file named input.txt with the following content:

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

var data = fs.readFileSync('input.txt');

console.log(data.toString());
console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!
Program Ended

24
 Node.js

Non-Blocking Code Example

Create a text file named input.txt with the following content.

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Update main.js to have the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

fs.readFile('input.txt', function (err, data) {

if (err) return console.error(err);
console.log(data.toString());
});

console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Program Ended
Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

These two examples explain the concept of blocking and non-blocking calls.

The first example shows that the program blocks until it reads the file and
then only it proceeds to end the program.

The second example shows that the program does not wait for file reading
and proceeds to print "Program Ended" and at the same time, the program
without blocking continues reading the file.

Thus, a blocking program executes very much in sequence. From the

programming point of view, it is easier to implement the logic but non-blocking
programs do not execute in sequence. In case a program needs to use any data
to be processed, it should be kept within the same block to make it sequential
execution.

25
 Node.js
7. EVENT LOOP

Node.js is a single-threaded application, but it can support concurrency via the

concept of event and callbacks. Every API of Node.js is asynchronous and being
single-threaded, they use async function calls to maintain concurrency. Node
uses observer pattern. Node thread keeps an event loop and whenever a task gets
completed, it fires the corresponding event which signals the event-listener
function to execute.

Event-Driven Programming
Node.js uses events heavily and it is also one of the reasons why Node.js is pretty
fast compared to other similar technologies. As soon as Node starts its server, it
simply initiates its variables, declares functions, and then simply waits for the
event to occur.

In an event-driven application, there is generally a main loop that listens for

events, and then triggers a callback function when one of those events is detected.

Although events look quite similar to callbacks, the difference lies in the fact that
callback functions are called when an asynchronous function returns its result,
whereas event handling works on the observer pattern. The functions that listen
to events act as Observers. Whenever an event gets fired, its listener function
starts executing. Node.js has multiple in-built events available through events
module and EventEmitter class which are used to bind events and event-listeners
as follows:

// Import events module

var events = require('events');
// Create an eventEmitter object

26
 Node.js

var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();

Following is the syntax to bind an event handler with an event:

// Bind event and even handler as follows

eventEmitter.on('eventName', eventHandler);

We can fire an event programmatically as follows:

// Fire an event
eventEmitter.emit('eventName');

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

// Import events module

var events = require('events');

// Create an eventEmitter object

var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();

// Create an event handler as follows

var connectHandler = function connected() {
console.log('connection successful.');

// Fire the data_received event

eventEmitter.emit('data_received');
}

// Bind the connection event with the handler

eventEmitter.on('connection', connectHandler);

// Bind the data_received event with the anonymous function

eventEmitter.on('data_received', function(){
console.log('data received successfully.');
});

27
 Node.js

// Fire the connection event

eventEmitter.emit('connection');

console.log("Program Ended.");

Now let's try to run the above program and check its output:

$ mnode main.js

It should produce the following result:

connection successful.
data received successfully.
Program Ended.

How Node Applications Work?

In Node Application, any async function accepts a callback as the last parameter
and a callback function accepts an error as the first parameter. Let's revisit the
previous example again. Create a text file named input.txt with the following
content.

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

fs.readFile('input.txt', function (err, data) {

if (err){
console.log(err.stack);
return;
}
console.log(data.toString());
});
console.log("Program Ended");

Here fs.readFile() is a async function whose purpose is to read a file. If an error

occurs during the read operation, then the err object will contain the

28
 Node.js

corresponding error, else data will contain the contents of the file. readFile passes
err and data to the callback function after the read operation is complete, which
finally prints the content.

Program Ended
Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

29
 Node.js
8. EVENT EMITTER

Many objects in a Node emit events, for example, a net.Server emits an event
each time a peer connects to it, an fs.readStream emits an event when the file is
opened. All objects which emit events are the instances of events.EventEmitter.

EventEmitter Class
As we have seen in the previous section, EventEmitter class lies in the events
module. It is accessible via the following code:

// Import events module

var events = require('events');
// Create an eventEmitter object
var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();

When an EventEmitter instance faces any error, it emits an 'error' event. When a
new listener is added, 'newListener' event is fired and when a listener is removed,
'removeListener' event is fired.

EventEmitter provides multiple properties like on and emit. on property is used to

bind a function with the event and emit is used to fire an event.

Methods

S.No. Method & Description

addListener(event, listener)
Adds a listener at the end of the listeners array for the specified event.
No checks are made to see if the listener has already been added.
1
Multiple calls passing the same combination of event and listener will
result in the listener being added multiple times. Returns emitter, so
calls can be chained.

on(event, listener)
Adds a listener at the end of the listeners array for the specified event.
No checks are made to see if the listener has already been added.
2
Multiple calls passing the same combination of event and listener will
result in the listener being added multiple times. Returns emitter, so
calls can be chained.

30
 Node.js

once(event, listener)
Adds a one-time listener to the event. This listener is invoked only the
3
next time the event is fired, after which it is removed. Returns emitter,
so calls can be chained.

removeListener(event, listener)
Removes a listener from the listener array for the specified event.
Caution: It changes the array indices in the listener array behind the
listener. removeListener will remove, at most, one instance of a
4
listener from the listener array. If any single listener has been added
multiple times to the listener array for the specified event, then
removeListener must be called multiple times to remove each instance.
Returns emitter, so calls can be chained.

removeAllListeners([event])
Removes all listeners, or those of the specified event. It's not a good
5 idea to remove listeners that were added elsewhere in the code,
especially when it's on an emitter that you didn't create (e.g. sockets
or file streams). Returns emitter, so calls can be chained.

setMaxListeners(n)
By default, EventEmitters will print a warning if more than 10 listeners
6 are added for a particular event. This is a useful default which helps
finding memory leaks. Obviously not all Emitters should be limited to
10. This function allows that to be increased. Set to zero for unlimited.

listeners(event)
7
Returns an array of listeners for the specified event.

emit(event, [arg1], [arg2], [...])

8 Execute each of the listeners in order with the supplied arguments.
Returns true if the event had listeners, false otherwise.

31
 Node.js

Class Methods

S.No. Method & Description

listenerCount(emitter, event)
1
Returns the number of listeners for a given event.

Events

S. No. Events & Description

newListener

event String; the event name

1 listener Function; the event handler function

This event is emitted any time a listener is added. When this event is
triggered, the listener may not yet have been added to the array of
listeners for the event.

removeListener

event - String The event name

listener - Function The event handler function

2

This event is emitted any time someone removes a listener. When this
event is triggered, the listener may not yet have been removed from
the array of listeners for the event.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following Node.js code:

var events = require('events');

var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();

32
 Node.js

// listener #1
var listner1 = function listner1() {
console.log('listner1 executed.');
}

// listener #2
var listner2 = function listner2() {
console.log('listner2 executed.');
}

// Bind the connection event with the listner1 function

eventEmitter.addListener('connection', listner1);

// Bind the connection event with the listner2 function

eventEmitter.on('connection', listner2);

var eventListeners =
require('events').EventEmitter.listenerCount(eventEmitter,'connection');
console.log(eventListeners + " Listner(s) listening to connection event");

// Fire the connection event

eventEmitter.emit('connection');

// Remove the binding of listner1 function

eventEmitter.removeListener('connection', listner1);
console.log("Listner1 will not listen now.");

// Fire the connection event

eventEmitter.emit('connection');

eventListeners =
require('events').EventEmitter.listenerCount(eventEmitter,'connection');
console.log(eventListeners + " Listner(s) listening to connection event");

33
 Node.js

console.log("Program Ended.");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

2 Listner(s) listening to connection event

listner1 executed.
listner2 executed.
Listner1 will not listen now.
listner2 executed.
1 Listner(s) listening to connection event
Program Ended.

34
 Node.js
9. BUFFERS

Pure JavaScript is Unicode friendly, but it is not so for binary data. While dealing
with TCP streams or the file system, it's necessary to handle octet streams. Node
provides Buffer class which provides instances to store raw data similar to an array
of integers but corresponds to a raw memory allocation outside the V8 heap.

Buffer class is a global class that can be accessed in an application without

importing the buffer module.

Creating Buffers
Node Buffer can be constructed in a variety of ways.

Method 1
Following is the syntax to create an uninitiated Buffer of 10 octets:

var buf = new Buffer(10);

Method 2
Following is the syntax to create a Buffer from a given array:

var buf = new Buffer([10, 20, 30, 40, 50]);

Method 3
Following is the syntax to create a Buffer from a given string and optionally
encoding type:

var buf = new Buffer("Simply Easy Learning", "utf-8");

Though "utf8" is the default encoding, you can use any of the following encodings
"ascii", "utf8", "utf16le", "ucs2", "base64" or "hex".

Writing to Buffers

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to write into a Node Buffer:

buf.write(string[, offset][, length][, encoding])

35
 Node.js

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

string - This is the string data to be written to buffer.

offset - This is the index of the buffer to start writing at. Default value is 0.
length - This is the number of bytes to write. Defaults to buffer.length.
encoding - Encoding to use. 'utf8' is the default encoding.

Return Value
This method returns the number of octets written. If there is not enough space in
the buffer to fit the entire string, it will write a part of the string.

Example
buf = new Buffer(256);
len = buf.write("Simply Easy Learning");

console.log("Octets written : "+ len);

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

Octets written : 20

Reading from Buffers

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to read data from a Node Buffer:

buf.toString([encoding][, start][, end])

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

encoding - Encoding to use. 'utf8' is the default encoding.

start - Beginning index to start reading, defaults to 0.
end - End index to end reading, defaults is complete buffer.

36
 Node.js

Return Value
This method decodes and returns a string from buffer data encoded using the
specified character set encoding.

Example
buf = new Buffer(26);
for (var i = 0 ; i < 26 ; i++) {
buf[i] = i + 97;
}

console.log( buf.toString('ascii'));
// outputs: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
console.log( buf.toString('ascii',0,5));
// outputs: abcde
console.log( buf.toString('utf8',0,5));
// outputs: abcde
console.log( buf.toString(undefined,0,5));
// encoding defaults to 'utf8', outputs abcde

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcde
abcde
abcde

Convert Buffer to JSON

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to convert a Node Buffer into JSON object:

buf.toJSON()

Return Value
This method returns a JSON-representation of the Buffer instance.

37
 Node.js

Example
var buf = new Buffer('Simply Easy Learning');
var json = buf.toJSON(buf);

console.log(json);

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

[ 83, 105, 109, 112, 108, 121, 32, 69, 97, 115, 121, 32, 76, 101, 97,
114, 110, 105, 110, 103 ]

Concatenate Buffers

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to concatenate Node buffers to a single Node
Buffer:

Buffer.concat(list[, totalLength])

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

list - Array List of Buffer objects to be concatenated.

totalLength - This is the total length of the buffers when concatenated.

Return Value
This method returns a Buffer instance.

Example
var buffer1 = new Buffer('TutorialsPoint ');
var buffer2 = new Buffer('Simply Easy Learning');
var buffer3 = Buffer.concat([buffer1,buffer2]);
console.log("buffer3 content: " + buffer3.toString());

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

buffer3 content: TutorialsPoint Simply Easy Learning

38
 Node.js

Compare Buffers

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to compare two Node buffers:

buf.compare(otherBuffer);

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

otherBuffer - This is the other buffer which will be compared with buf.

Return Value
Returns a number indicating whether it comes before or after or is the same as
the otherBuffer in sort order.

Example
var buffer1 = new Buffer('ABC');
var buffer2 = new Buffer('ABCD');
var result = buffer1.compare(buffer2);

if(result < 0) {
console.log(buffer1 +" comes before " + buffer2);
}else if(result == 0){
console.log(buffer1 +" is same as " + buffer2);
}else {
console.log(buffer1 +" comes after " + buffer2);
}

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

ABC comes before ABCD

Copy Buffer

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to copy a node buffer:

39
 Node.js

buf.copy(targetBuffer[, targetStart][, sourceStart][, sourceEnd])

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

targetBuffer - Buffer object where buffer will be copied.

targetStart - Number, Optional, Default: 0
sourceStart - Number, Optional, Default: 0
sourceEnd - Number, Optional, Default: buffer.length

Return Value
No return value. Copies data from a region of this buffer to a region in the target
buffer even if the target memory region overlaps with the source. If undefined,
the targetStart and sourceStart parameters default to 0, while sourceEnd defaults
to buffer.length.

Example
var buffer1 = new Buffer('ABC');
//copy a buffer
var buffer2 = new Buffer(3);
buffer1.copy(buffer2);
console.log("buffer2 content: " + buffer2.toString());

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

buffer2 content: ABC

Slice Buffer

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to get a sub-buffer of a node buffer:

buf.slice([start][, end])

40
 Node.js

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

start - Number, Optional, Default: 0

end - Number, Optional, Default: buffer.length

Return Value
Returns a new buffer which references the same memory as the old one, but offset
and cropped by the start (defaults to 0) and end (defaults to buffer.length)
indexes. Negative indexes start from the end of the buffer.

Example
var buffer1 = new Buffer('TutorialsPoint');
//slicing a buffer
var buffer2 = buffer1.slice(0,9);
console.log("buffer2 content: " + buffer2.toString());

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

buffer2 content: Tutorials

Buffer Length

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to get a size of a node buffer in bytes:

buf.length;

Return Value
Returns the size of a buffer in bytes.

Example
var buffer = new Buffer('TutorialsPoint');
//length of the buffer
console.log("buffer length: " + buffer.length);

41
 Node.js

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result:

buffer length: 14

Methods Reference
Following is a reference of Buffers module available in Node.js. For more detail,
you can refer to the official documentation.

S. No. Method & Description

new Buffer(size)
1 Allocates a new buffer of size octets. Note that the size must be no
more than kMaxLength. Otherwise, a RangeError will be thrown here.

new Buffer(buffer)
2
Copies the passed buffer data onto a new Buffer instance.

new Buffer(str[, encoding])

3 Allocates a new buffer containing the given str. encoding defaults to
'utf8'.

buf.length
Returns the size of the buffer in bytes. Note that this is not necessarily
4 the size of the contents. length refers to the amount of memory
allocated for the buffer object. It does not change when the contents of
the buffer are changed.

buf.write(string[, offset][, length][, encoding])

Writes a string to the buffer at offset using the given encoding. offset
5
defaults to 0, encoding defaults to 'utf8'. length is the number of bytes
to write. Returns the number of octets written.

buf.writeUIntLE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset and byteLength.
6
Supports up to 48 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip
validation of value and offset. Defaults to false.

7 buf.writeUIntBE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset and byteLength.

42
 Node.js

Supports up to 48 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip

validation of value and offset. Defaults to false.

buf.writeIntLE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset and byteLength.
8
Supports up to 48 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip
validation of value and offset. Defaults to false.

buf.writeIntBE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset and byteLength.
9
Supports up to 48 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip
validation of value and offset. Defaults to false.

buf.readUIntLE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

A generalized version of all numeric read methods. Supports up to 48
10 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of offset. It
means that the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer. Defaults to
false.

buf.readUIntBE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

A generalized version of all numeric read methods. Supports up to 48
11 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of offset. It
means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer. Defaults to
false.

buf.readIntLE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

A generalized version of all numeric read methods. Supports up to 48
12 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of offset. It
means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer. Defaults to
false.

buf.readIntBE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

A generalized version of all numeric read methods. Supports up to 48
13 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of offset. It
means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer. Defaults to
false.

43
 Node.js

buf.toString([encoding][, start][, end])

14 Decodes and returns a string from buffer data encoded using the
specified character set encoding.

buf.toJSON()
15 Returns a JSON-representation of the Buffer instance. JSON.stringify
implicitly calls this function when stringifying a Buffer instance.

buf[index]
16 Get and set the octet at index. The values refer to individual bytes, so
the legal range is between 0x00 and 0xFF hex or 0 and 255.

buf.equals(otherBuffer)
17
Returns a boolean if this buffer and otherBuffer have the same bytes.

buf.compare(otherBuffer)
18 Returns a number indicating whether this buffer comes before or after
or is the same as the otherBuffer in sort order.

buf.copy(targetBuffer[, targetStart][, sourceStart][,

sourceEnd])
Copies data from a region of this buffer to a region in the target buffer
19
even if the target memory region overlaps with the source. If
undefined, the targetStart and sourceStart parameters default to 0,
while sourceEnd defaults to buffer.length.

buf.slice([start][, end])
Returns a new buffer which references the same memory as the old,
20 but offset and cropped by the start (defaults to 0) and end (defaults to
buffer.length) indexes. Negative indexes start from the end of the
buffer.

buf.readUInt8(offset[, noAssert])
Reads an unsigned 8-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset.
21
Set noAssert to true to skip validation of offset. It means the offset
may be beyond the end of the buffer. Defaults to false.

22 buf.readUInt16LE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset

44
 Node.js

with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readUInt16BE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
23 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readUInt32LE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads an unsigned 32-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
24 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readUInt32BE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads an unsigned 32-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
25 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readInt8(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a signed 8-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset. Set
26
noAssert to true to skip validation of offset. It means the offset may be
beyond the end of the buffer. Defaults to false.

buf.readInt16LE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a signed 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
27 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readInt16BE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a signed 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
28 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

45
 Node.js

buf.readInt32LE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a signed 32-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
29 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readInt32BE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a signed 32-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset
30 with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation
of offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readFloatLE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a 32-bit float from the buffer at the specified offset with the
31 specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of
offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readFloatBE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a 32-bit float from the buffer at the specified offset with the
32 specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of
offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readDoubleLE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a 64-bit double from the buffer at the specified offset with the
33 specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of
offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.readDoubleBE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads a 64-bit double from the buffer at the specified offset with the
34 specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of
offset. It means the offset may be beyond the end of the buffer.
Defaults to false.

buf.writeUInt8(value, offset[, noAssert])

35 Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset. Note that the value
must be a valid unsigned 8-bit integer. Set noAssert to true to skip
validation of value and offset. It means the value may be too large for

46
 Node.js

the specific function and offset may be beyond the end of the buffer
leading to the values being silently dropped. It should not be used
unless you are certain of its correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeUInt16LE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid unsigned 16-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
36
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeUInt16BE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid unsigned 16-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
37
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeUInt32LE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid unsigned 32-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
38
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeUInt32BE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid unsigned 32-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
39
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

47
 Node.js

buf.writeInt8(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid signed 8-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
40
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeInt16LE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid signed 16-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
41
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeInt16BE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid signed 16-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
42
means the value may be too large for the specific function and offset
may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeInt32LE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid signed 32-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It
43
means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeInt32BE(value, offset[, noAssert])

44 Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid signed 32-bit
integer. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It

48
 Node.js

means the value may be too large for the specific function and the
offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeFloatLE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note that the value must be a valid 32-bit float. Set
noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It means that
45
the value may be too large for the specific function and the offset may
be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being silently
dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its
correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeFloatBE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note, value must be a valid 32-bit float. Set noAssert to
46 true to skip validation of value and offset. It means the value may be
too large for the specific function and the offset may be beyond the
end of the buffer leading to the values being silently dropped. It should
not be used unless you are certain of its correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeDoubleLE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note, value must be a valid 64-bit double. Set noAssert
47 to true to skip validation of value and offset. It means that value may
be too large for the specific function and offset may be beyond the end
of the buffer leading to the values being silently dropped. It should not
be used unless you are certain of its correctness. Defaults to false.

buf.writeDoubleBE(value, offset[, noAssert])

Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset with the specified
endian format. Note, value must be a valid 64-bit double. Set noAssert
48 to true to skip validation of value and offset. It means the value may
be too large for the specific function and the offset may be beyond the
end of the buffer leading to the values being silently dropped. It should
not be used unless you are certain of its correctness. Defaults to false.

49 buf.fill(value[, offset][, end])

Fills the buffer with the specified value. If the offset (defaults to 0) and

49
 Node.js

end (defaults to buffer.length) are not given, it will fill the entire
buffer.

Class Methods

S.No. Method & Description

Buffer.isEncoding(encoding)
1 Returns true if the encoding is a valid encoding argument, false
otherwise.

Buffer.isBuffer(obj)
2
Tests if obj is a Buffer.

Buffer.byteLength(string[, encoding])
Gives the actual byte length of a string. encoding defaults to 'utf8'. It
3
is not the same as String.prototype.length, since
String.prototype.length returns the number of characters in a string.

Buffer.concat(list[, totalLength])
4 Returns a buffer which is the result of concatenating all the buffers in
the list together.

Buffer.compare(buf1, buf2)
5 The same as buf1.compare(buf2). Useful for sorting an array of
buffers.

50
 Node.js
10. STREAMS

What are Streams?

Streams are objects that let you read data from a source or write data to a
destination in continuous fashion. In Node.js, there are four types of streams:

Readable - Stream which is used for read operation.

Writable - Stream which is used for write operation.

Duplex - Stream which can be used for both read and write operation.

Transform - A type of duplex stream where the output is computed based

on input.

Each type of Stream is an EventEmitter instance and throws several events at

different instance of times. For example, some of the commonly used events are:

data - This event is fired when there is data is available to read.

end - This event is fired when there is no more data to read.

error - This event is fired when there is any error receiving or writing data.

finish - This event is fired when all the data has been flushed to underlying
system.

This tutorial provides a basic understanding of the commonly used operations on

Streams.

Reading from a Stream

Create a text file named input.txt having the following content:

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var data = '';

// Create a readable stream

51
 Node.js

var readerStream = fs.createReadStream('input.txt');

// Set the encoding to be utf8.

readerStream.setEncoding('UTF8');

// Handle stream events --> data, end, and error

readerStream.on('data', function(chunk) {
data += chunk;
});

readerStream.on('end',function(){
console.log(data);
});

readerStream.on('error', function(err){
console.log(err.stack);
});

console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Program Ended
Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Writing to a Stream
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var data = 'Simply Easy Learning';

// Create a writable stream

52
 Node.js

var writerStream = fs.createWriteStream('output.txt');

// Write the data to stream with encoding to be utf8

writerStream.write(data,'UTF8');

// Mark the end of file

writerStream.end();

// Handle stream events --> finish, and error

writerStream.on('finish', function() {
console.log("Write completed.");
});

writerStream.on('error', function(err){
console.log(err.stack);
});

console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Program Ended
Write completed.

Now open output.txt created in your current directory; it should contain the
following:

Simply Easy Learning

Piping the Streams

Piping is a mechanism where we provide the output of one stream as the input to
another stream. It is normally used to get data from one stream and to pass the
output of that stream to another stream. There is no limit on piping operations.
Now we'll show a piping example for reading from one file and writing it to another
file.

53
 Node.js

Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

// Create a readable stream

var readerStream = fs.createReadStream('input.txt');

// Create a writable stream

var writerStream = fs.createWriteStream('output.txt');

// Pipe the read and write operations

// read input.txt and write data to output.txt
readerStream.pipe(writerStream);

console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Program Ended

Open output.txt created in your current directory; it should contain the following:

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Chaining the Streams

Chaining is a mechanism to connect the output of one stream to another stream
and create a chain of multiple stream operations. It is normally used with piping
operations. Now we'll use piping and chaining to first compress a file and then
decompress the same.

Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var zlib = require('zlib');

// Compress the file input.txt to input.txt.gz

54
 Node.js

fs.createReadStream('input.txt')
.pipe(zlib.createGzip())
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('input.txt.gz'));

console.log("File Compressed.");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

File Compressed.

You will find that input.txt has been compressed and it created a file input.txt.gz
in the current directory. Now let's try to decompress the same file using the
following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var zlib = require('zlib');

// Decompress the file input.txt.gz to input.txt

fs.createReadStream('input.txt.gz')
.pipe(zlib.createGunzip())
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('input.txt'));

console.log("File Decompressed.");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

File Decompressed.

55
 Node.js
11. FILE SYSTEM

Node implements File I/O using simple wrappers around standard POSIX
functions. The Node File System (fs) module can be imported using the following
syntax:

ar fs = require("fs")

Synchronous vs Asynchronous
Every method in the fs module has synchronous as well as asynchronous forms.
Asynchronous methods take the last parameter as the completion function
callback and the first parameter of the callback function as error. It is better to
use an asynchronous method instead of a synchronous method, as the former
never blocks a program during its execution, whereas the second one does.

Example
Create a text file named input.txt with the following content:

Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Let us create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

// Asynchronous read
fs.readFile('input.txt', function (err, data) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("Asynchronous read: " + data.toString());
});

// Synchronous read
var data = fs.readFileSync('input.txt');
console.log("Synchronous read: " + data.toString());

56
 Node.js

console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Synchronous read: Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Program Ended
Asynchronous read: Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

The following sections in this chapter provide a set of good examples on major
File I/O methods.

Open a File

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to open a file in asynchronous mode:

fs.open(path, flags[, mode], callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the string having file name including path.

flags - Flags indicate the behavior of the file to be opened. All possible
values have been mentioned below.

mode - It sets the file mode (permission and sticky bits), but only if the file
was created. It defaults to 0666, readable and writeable.

callback - This is the callback function which gets two arguments (err, fd).

57
 Node.js

Flags
Flags for read/write operations are:

Flag Description

r Open file for reading. An exception occurs if the file does not exist.

Open file for reading and writing. An exception occurs if the file does not
r+
exist.

rs Open file for reading in synchronous mode.

Open file for reading and writing, asking the OS to open it synchronously.
rs+
See notes for 'rs' about using this with caution.

Open file for writing. The file is created (if it does not exist) or truncated
w
(if it exists).

wx Like 'w' but fails if the path exists.

Open file for reading and writing. The file is created (if it does not exist)
w+
or truncated (if it exists).

wx+ Like 'w+' but fails if the path exists.

a Open file for appending. The file is created if it does not exist.

ax Like 'a' but fails if the path exists.

a+ Open file for reading and appending. The file is created if it does not exist.

ax+ Like 'a+' but fails if the path exists.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code to open a file
input.txt for reading and writing.

var fs = require("fs");

58
 Node.js

// Asynchronous - Opening File

console.log("Going to open file!");
fs.open('input.txt', 'r+', function(err, fd) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("File opened successfully!");
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Going to open file!

File opened successfully!

Get File Information

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to get the information about a file:

fs.stat(path, callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the string having file name including path.

callback - This is the callback function which gets two arguments (err,
stats) where stats is an object of fs.Stats type which is printed below in the
example.

Apart from the important attributes which are printed below in the example, there
are several useful methods available in fs.Stats class which can be used to check
file type. These methods are given in the following table.

59
 Node.js

Method Description

stats.isFile() Returns true if file type of a simple file.

stats.isDirectory() Returns true if file type of a directory.

stats.isBlockDevice() Returns true if file type of a block device.

stats.isCharacterDevice() Returns true if file type of a character device.

stats.isSymbolicLink() Returns true if file type of a symbolic link.

stats.isFIFO() Returns true if file type of a FIFO.

stats.isSocket() Returns true if file type of a socket.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

console.log("Going to get file info!");

fs.stat('input.txt', function (err, stats) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log(stats);
console.log("Got file info successfully!");

// Check file type

console.log("isFile ? " + stats.isFile());
console.log("isDirectory ? " + stats.isDirectory());
});

60
 Node.js

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Going to get file info!

{ dev: 1792,
mode: 33188,
nlink: 1,
uid: 48,
gid: 48,
rdev: 0,
blksize: 4096,
ino: 4318127,
size: 97,
blocks: 8,
atime: Sun Mar 22 2015 13:40:00 GMT-0500 (CDT),
mtime: Sun Mar 22 2015 13:40:57 GMT-0500 (CDT),
ctime: Sun Mar 22 2015 13:40:57 GMT-0500 (CDT) }
Got file info successfully!
isFile ? true
isDirectory ? false

Writing a File

Syntax
Following is the syntax of one of the methods to write into a file:

fs.writeFile(filename, data[, options], callback)

This method will overwrite the file if the file already exists. If you want to write
into an existing file, then you should use another method available.

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the string having the file name including path.

data - This is the String or Buffer to be written into the file.

61
 Node.js

options - The third parameter is an object which will hold {encoding, mode,
flag}. By default, encoding is utf8, mode is octal value 0666, and flag is 'w'

callback - This is the callback function which gets a single parameter err
that returns an error in case of any writing error.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

console.log("Going to write into existing file");

fs.writeFile('input.txt', 'Simply Easy Learning!', function(err) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("Data written successfully!");
console.log("Let's read newly written data");
fs.readFile('input.txt', function (err, data) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("Asynchronous read: " + data.toString());
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Going to write into existing file

Data written successfully!
Let's read newly written data
Asynchronous read: Simply Easy Learning!

62
 Node.js

Reading a File

Syntax
Following is the syntax of one of the methods to read from a file:

fs.read(fd, buffer, offset, length, position, callback)

This method will use file descriptor to read the file. If you want to read the file
directly using the file name, then you should use another method available.

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

fd - This is the file descriptor returned by fs.open().

buffer - This is the buffer that the data will be written to.

offset - This is the offset in the buffer to start writing at.

length - This is an integer specifying the number of bytes to read.

position - This is an integer specifying where to begin reading from in the

file. If position is null, data will be read from the current file position.

callback - This is the callback function which gets the three arguments,
(err, bytesRead, buffer).

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var buf = new Buffer(1024);

console.log("Going to open an existing file");

fs.open('input.txt', 'r+', function(err, fd) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("File opened successfully!");
console.log("Going to read the file");
fs.read(fd, buf, 0, buf.length, 0, function(err, bytes){

63
 Node.js

if (err){
console.log(err);
}
console.log(bytes + " bytes read");

// Print only read bytes to avoid junk.

if(bytes > 0){
console.log(buf.slice(0, bytes).toString());
}
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Going to open an existing file

File opened successfully!
Going to read the file
97 bytes read
Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

Closing a File

Syntax
Following is the syntax to close an opened file:

fs.close(fd, callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

fd - This is the file descriptor returned by fs.open().

callback - This is the callback function. No arguments other than a possible

exception are given to the completion callback.

64
 Node.js

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var buf = new Buffer(1024);

console.log("Going to open an existing file");

fs.open('input.txt', 'r+', function(err, fd) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("File opened successfully!");
console.log("Going to read the file");
fs.read(fd, buf, 0, buf.length, 0, function(err, bytes){
if (err){
console.log(err);
}

// Print only read bytes to avoid junk.

if(bytes > 0){
console.log(buf.slice(0, bytes).toString());
}

// Close the opened file.

fs.close(fd, function(err){
if (err){
console.log(err);
}
console.log("File closed successfully.");
});
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

65
 Node.js

Verify the Output.

Going to open an existing file

File opened successfully!
Going to read the file
Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
to teach the world in simple and easy way!!!!!

File closed successfully.

Truncate a File

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to truncate an opened file:

fs.ftruncate(fd, len, callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

fd - This is the file descriptor returned by fs.open().

len - This is the length of the file after which the file will be truncated.

callback - This is the callback function. No arguments other than a possible

exception are given to the completion callback.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");
var buf = new Buffer(1024);

console.log("Going to open an existing file");

fs.open('input.txt', 'r+', function(err, fd) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("File opened successfully!");

66
 Node.js

console.log("Going to truncate the file after 10 bytes");

// Truncate the opened file.

fs.ftruncate(fd, 10, function(err){
if (err){
console.log(err);
}
console.log("File truncated successfully.");
console.log("Going to read the same file");
fs.read(fd, buf, 0, buf.length, 0, function(err, bytes){
if (err){
console.log(err);
}

// Print only read bytes to avoid junk.

if(bytes > 0){
console.log(buf.slice(0, bytes).toString());
}

// Close the opened file.

fs.close(fd, function(err){
if (err){
console.log(err);
}
console.log("File closed successfully.");
});
});
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

67
 Node.js

Going to open an existing file

File opened successfully!
Going to truncate the file after 10 bytes
File truncated successfully.
Going to read the same file
Tutorials
File closed successfully.

Delete a File

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to delete a file:

fs.unlink(path, callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the file name including path.

callback - This is the callback function. No arguments other than a possible

exception are given to the completion callback.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

console.log("Going to delete an existing file");

fs.unlink('input.txt', function(err) {
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("File deleted successfully!");
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

68
 Node.js

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Going to delete an existing file

File deleted successfully!

Create a Directory

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to create a directory:

fs.mkdir(path[, mode], callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the directory name including path.

mode - This is the directory permission to be set. Defaults to 0777.

callback - This is the callback function. No arguments other than a possible

exception are given to the completion callback.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

console.log("Going to create directory /tmp/test");

fs.mkdir('/tmp/test',function(err){
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("Directory created successfully!");
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

69
 Node.js

Verify the Output.

Going to create directory /tmp/test

Directory created successfully!

Read a Directory

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to read a directory:

fs.readdir(path, callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the directory name including path.

callback - This is the callback function which gets two arguments (err, files)
where files is an array of the names of the files in the directory excluding
'.' and '..'.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

console.log("Going to read directory /tmp");

fs.readdir("/tmp/",function(err, files){
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
files.forEach( function (file){
console.log( file );
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

70
 Node.js

Verify the Output.

Going to read directory /tmp

ccmzx99o.out
ccyCSbkF.out
employee.ser
hsperfdata_apache
test
test.txt

Remove a Directory

Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to remove a directory:

fs.rmdir(path, callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

path - This is the directory name including path.

callback - This is the callback function. No arguments other than a possible

exception are given to the completion callback.

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js having the following code:

var fs = require("fs");

console.log("Going to delete directory /tmp/test");

fs.rmdir("/tmp/test",function(err){
if (err) {
return console.error(err);
}
console.log("Going to read directory /tmp");
fs.readdir("/tmp/",function(err, files){
if (err) {

71
 Node.js

return console.error(err);
}
files.forEach( function (file){
console.log( file );
});
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Going to read directory /tmp

ccmzx99o.out
ccyCSbkF.out
employee.ser
hsperfdata_apache
test.txt

Methods Reference
Following is a reference of File System module available in Node.js. For more
detail, you can refer to the official documentation.

S.No. Method & Description

fs.rename(oldPath, newPath, callback)

1 Asynchronous rename(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.ftruncate(fd, len, callback)

2 Asynchronous ftruncate(). No arguments other than a possible
exception are given to the completion callback.

fs.ftruncateSync(fd, len)
3
Synchronous ftruncate().

72
 Node.js

fs.truncate(path, len, callback)

4 Asynchronous truncate(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.truncateSync(path, len)
5
Synchronous truncate().

fs.chown(path, uid, gid, callback)

6 Asynchronous chown(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.chownSync(path, uid, gid)

7
Synchronous chown().

fs.fchown(fd, uid, gid, callback)

8 Asynchronous fchown(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.fchownSync(fd, uid, gid)

9
Synchronous fchown().

fs.lchown(path, uid, gid, callback)

10 Asynchronous lchown(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.lchownSync(path, uid, gid)

11
Synchronous lchown().

fs.chmod(path, mode, callback)

12 Asynchronous chmod(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.chmodSync(path, mode)
13
Synchronous chmod().

fs.fchmod(fd, mode, callback)

14 Asynchronous fchmod(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

73
 Node.js

fs.fchmodSync(fd, mode)
15
Synchronous fchmod().

fs.lchmod(path, mode, callback)

16 Asynchronous lchmod(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback. Only available on Mac OS X.

fs.lchmodSync(path, mode)
17
Synchronous lchmod().

fs.stat(path, callback)
18 Asynchronous stat(). The callback gets two arguments (err, stats)
where stats is an fs.Stats object.

fs.lstat(path, callback)
Asynchronous lstat(). The callback gets two arguments (err, stats)
19 where stats is an fs.Stats object. lstat() is identical to stat(), except
that if path is a symbolic link, then the link itself is stat-ed, not the file
that it refers to.

fs.fstat(fd, callback)
Asynchronous fstat(). The callback gets two arguments (err, stats)
20
where stats is an fs.Stats object. fstat() is identical to stat(), except
that the file to be stat-ed is specified by the file descriptor fd.

fs.statSync(path)
21
Synchronous stat(). Returns an instance of fs.Stats.

fs.lstatSync(path)
22
Synchronous lstat(). Returns an instance of fs.Stats.

fs.fstatSync(fd)
23
Synchronous fstat(). Returns an instance of fs.Stats.

fs.link(srcpath, dstpath, callback)

24 Asynchronous link(). No arguments other than a possible exception are
given to the completion callback.

74
 Node.js

fs.linkSync(srcpath, dstpath)
25
Synchronous link().

fs.symlink(srcpath, dstpath[, type], callback)

Asynchronous symlink(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback. The type argument can be set to
'dir', 'file', or 'junction' (default is 'file') and is only available on
26
Windows (ignored on other platforms). Note that Windows junction
points require the destination path to be absolute. When using
'junction', the destination argument will automatically be normalized to
absolute path.

fs.symlinkSync(srcpath, dstpath[, type])

27
Synchronous symlink().

fs.readlink(path, callback)
28 Asynchronous readlink(). The callback gets two arguments (err,
linkString).

fs.realpath(path[, cache], callback)

Asynchronous realpath(). The callback gets two arguments (err,
29 resolvedPath). May use process.cwd to resolve relative paths. cache is
an object literal of mapped paths that can be used to force a specific
path resolution or avoid additional fs.stat calls for known real paths.

fs.realpathSync(path[, cache])
30
Synchronous realpath(). Returns the resolved path.

fs.unlink(path, callback)
31 Asynchronous unlink(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.unlinkSync(path)
32
Synchronous unlink().

fs.rmdir(path, callback)
33 Asynchronous rmdir(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

75
 Node.js

fs.rmdirSync(path)
34
Synchronous rmdir().

fs.mkdir(path[, mode], callback)

35 Asynchronous mkdir(2). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback. mode defaults to 0777.

fs.mkdirSync(path[, mode])
36
Synchronous mkdir().

fs.readdir(path, callback)
Asynchronous readdir(3). Reads the contents of a directory. The
37
callback gets two arguments (err, files) where files is an array of the
names of the files in the directory excluding '.' and '..'.

fs.readdirSync(path)
38 Synchronous readdir(). Returns an array of filenames excluding '.' and
'..'.

fs.close(fd, callback)
39 Asynchronous close(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback.

fs.closeSync(fd)
40
Synchronous close().

fs.open(path, flags[, mode], callback)

41
Asynchronous file open.

fs.openSync(path, flags[, mode])

42
Synchronous version of fs.open().

fs.utimes(path, atime, mtime, callback)

43

fs.utimesSync(path, atime, mtime)

44
Change file timestamps of the file referenced by the supplied path.

76
 Node.js

fs.futimes(fd, atime, mtime, callback)

45

fs.futimesSync(fd, atime, mtime)

46 Change the file timestamps of a file referenced by the supplied file
descriptor.

fs.fsync(fd, callback)
47 Asynchronous fsync. No arguments other than a possible exception are
given to the completion callback.

fs.fsyncSync(fd)
48
Synchronous fsync.

fs.write(fd, buffer, offset, length[, position], callback)

49
Write buffer to the file specified by fd.

fs.write(fd, data[, position[, encoding]], callback)

50 Write data to the file specified by fd. If data is not a Buffer instance,
then the value will be coerced to a string.

fs.writeSync(fd, buffer, offset, length[, position])

51 Synchronous versions of fs.write(). Returns the number of bytes
written.

fs.writeSync(fd, data[, position[, encoding]])

52 Synchronous versions of fs.write(). Returns the number of bytes
written.

fs.read(fd, buffer, offset, length, position, callback)

53
Read data from the file specified by fd.

fs.readSync(fd, buffer, offset, length, position)

54
Synchronous version of fs.read. Returns the number of bytesRead.

fs.readFile(filename[, options], callback)

55
Asynchronously reads the entire contents of a file.

77
 Node.js

fs.readFileSync(filename[, options])
56 Synchronous version of fs.readFile. Returns the contents of the
filename.

fs.writeFile(filename, data[, options], callback)

57 Asynchronously writes data to a file, replacing the file if it already
exists. data can be a string or a buffer.

fs.writeFileSync(filename, data[, options])

58
The synchronous version of fs.writeFile.

fs.appendFile(filename, data[, options], callback)

59 Asynchronously append data to a file, creating the file if it does not
exist. data can be a string or a buffer.

fs.appendFileSync(filename, data[, options])

60
The synchronous version of fs.appendFile.

fs.watchFile(filename[, options], listener)

61 Watch for changes on filename. The callback listener will be called each
time the file is accessed.

fs.unwatchFile(filename[, listener])
Stop watching for changes on filename. If listener is specified, only that
62
particular listener is removed. Otherwise, all listeners are removed and
you have effectively stopped watching filename.

fs.watch(filename[, options][, listener])

63 Watch for changes on filename, where filename is either a file or a
directory. The returned object is an fs.FSWatcher.

fs.exists(path, callback)
64 Test whether or not the given path exists by checking with the file
system. Then call the callback argument with either true or false.

fs.existsSync(path)
65
Synchronous version of fs.exists.

78
 Node.js

fs.access(path[, mode], callback)

66 Tests a user's permissions for the file specified by path. mode is an
optional integer that specifies the accessibility checks to be performed.

fs.accessSync(path[, mode])
67 Synchronous version of fs.access. It throws if any accessibility checks
fail, and does nothing otherwise.

fs.createReadStream(path[, options])
68
Returns a new ReadStream object.

fs.createWriteStream(path[, options])
69
Returns a new WriteStream object.

fs.symlink(srcpath, dstpath[, type], callback)

Asynchronous symlink(). No arguments other than a possible exception
are given to the completion callback. The type argument can be set to
'dir', 'file', or 'junction' (default is 'file') and is only available on
70
Windows (ignored on other platforms). Note that Windows junction
points require the destination path to be absolute. When using
'junction', the destination argument will automatically be normalized to
absolute path.

79
 Node.js
12. GLOBAL OBJECTS

Node.js global objects are global in nature and they are available in all modules.
We do not need to include these objects in our application, rather we can use them
directly. These objects are modules, functions, strings and object itself as
explained below.

__filename
The __filename represents the filename of the code being executed. This is the
resolved absolute path of this code file. For a main program, this is not necessarily
the same filename used in the command line. The value inside a module is the
path to that module file.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

// Let's try to print the value of __filename

console.log( __filename );

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Based on the location of your program, it will print the main file name as follows:

/web/com/1427091028_21099/main.js

__dirname
The __dirname represents the name of the directory that the currently executing
script resides in.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

// Let's try to print the value of __dirname

console.log( __dirname );

80
 Node.js

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Based on the location of your program, it will print the current directory name as
follows:

/web/com/1427091028_21099

setTimeout(cb, ms)
The setTimeout(cb, ms) global function is used to run callback cb after at least
ms milliseconds. The actual delay depends on external factors like OS timer
granularity and system load. A timer cannot span more than 24.8 days.

This function returns an opaque value that represents the timer which can be used
to clear the timer.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

function printHello(){
console.log( "Hello, World!");
}
// Now call above function after 2 seconds
setTimeout(printHello, 2000);

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the output is printed after a little delay.

Hello, World!

clearTimeout (t)
The clearTimeout(t) global function is used to stop a timer that was previously
created with setTimeout(). Here t is the timer returned by the setTimeout()
function.

81
 Node.js

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

function printHello(){
console.log( "Hello, World!");
}
// Now call above function after 2 seconds
var t = setTimeout(printHello, 2000);

// Now clear the timer

clearTimeout(t);

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the output where you will not find anything printed.

setInterval(cb, ms)
The setInterval(cb, ms) global function is used to run callback cb repeatedly
after at least ms milliseconds. The actual delay depends on external factors like
OS timer granularity and system load. A timer cannot span more than 24.8 days.

This function returns an opaque value that represents the timer which can be used
to clear the timer using the function clearInterval(t).

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

function printHello(){
console.log( "Hello, World!");
}
// Now call above function after 2 seconds
setInterval(printHello, 2000);

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

The above program will execute printHello() after every 2 second. Due to system
limitation, this program cannot be executed with Try it option so you can check it
in your machine locally.

82
 Node.js

Global Objects
The following table provides a list of other objects which we use frequently in our
applications. For more detail, you can refer to the official documentation.

S.No. Module Name & Description

Console
1
Used to print information on stdout and stderr.

Process
2 Used to get information on current process. Provides multiple events
related to process activities.

Console Object
Node.js console is a global object and is used to print different levels of messages
to stdout and stderr. There are built-in methods to be used for printing
informational, warning, and error messages.

It is used in synchronous way when the destination is a file or a terminal and in

asynchronous way when the destination is a pipe.

Console Methods
Following is a list of methods available with the console global object.

S. No. Method & Description

console.log([data][, ...])
1 Prints to stdout with newline. This function can take multiple
arguments in a printf()-like way.

console.info([data][, ...])
2 Prints to stdout with newline. This function can take multiple
arguments in a printf()-like way.

console.error([data][, ...])
3 Prints to stderr with newline. This function can take multiple
arguments in a printf()-like way.

83
 Node.js

console.warn([data][, ...])
4 Prints to stderr with newline. This function can take multiple
arguments in a printf()-like way

console.dir(obj[, options])
5
Uses util.inspect on obj and prints resulting string to stdout.

console.time(label)
6
Mark a time.

console.timeEnd(label)
7
Finish timer, record output.

console.trace(message[, ...])
8 Print to stderr 'Trace :', followed by the formatted message and stack
trace to the current position.

console.assert(value[, message][, ...])

9 Similar to assert.ok(), but the error message is formatted as
util.format(message...).

Example
Let us create a js file named main.js with the following code:

console.info("Program Started");

var counter = 10;

console.log("Counter: %d", counter);

console.time("Getting data");
//
// Do some processing here...
//
console.timeEnd('Getting data');

console.info("Program Ended")

84
 Node.js

Now run the main.js to see the result:

node main.js

Verify the Output.

Program Started
Counter: 10
Getting data: 0ms
Program Ended

Process Object
The process object is a global object and can be accessed from anywhere. There
are several methods available in a process object.

Process Events
The process object is an instance of EventEmitter and emits the following events:

S. No. Event & Description

exit
Emitted when the process is about to exit. There is no way to prevent the
1
exiting of the event loop at this point, and once all exit listeners have
finished running, the process will exit.

beforeExit
This event is emitted when node empties its event loop and has nothing
2 else to schedule. Normally, the node exits when there is no work
scheduled, but a listener for 'beforeExit' can make asynchronous calls,
and cause the node to continue.

uncaughtException
Emitted when an exception bubbles all the way back to the event loop. If
3
a listener is added for this exception, the default action (which is to print
a stack trace and exit) will not occur.

Signal Events
4 Emitted when the processes receives a signal such as SIGINT, SIGHUP,
etc.

85
 Node.js

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code for listening for exit event:

process.on('exit', function(code) {

// Following code will never execute.

setTimeout(function() {
console.log("This will not run");
}, 0);

console.log('About to exit with code:', code);

});
console.log("Program Ended");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

Program Ended
About to exit with code: 0

Exit Codes
Node normally exits with a 0 status code when no more async operations are
pending. There are other exit codes which are described below:

Code Name & Description

Uncaught Fatal Exception

1 There was an uncaught exception, and it was not handled by a
domain or an uncaughtException event handler.

Unused
2
reserved by Bash for built-in misuse.

3 Internal JavaScript Parse Error

The JavaScript source code internal in Node's bootstrapping process

86
 Node.js

caused a parse error. This is extremely rare, and generally can only
happen during the development of Node itself.

Internal JavaScript Evaluation Failure

The JavaScript source code internal in Node's bootstrapping process
4 failed to return a function value when evaluated. This is extremely
rare, and generally can only happen during the development of Node
itself.

Fatal Error
5 There was a fatal unrecoverable error in V8. Typically, a message will
be printed to stderr with the prefix FATAL ERROR.

Non-function Internal Exception Handler

There was an uncaught exception, but the internal fatal exception
6
handler function was somehow set to a non-function, and could not
be called.

Internal Exception Handler Run-Time Failure

7 There was an uncaught exception, and the internal fatal exception
handler function itself threw an error while attempting to handle it.

8 Unused

Invalid Argument
9 Either an unknown option was specified, or an option requiring a
value was provided without a value.

Internal JavaScript Run-Time Failure

The JavaScript source code internal in Node's bootstrapping process
10 threw an error when the bootstrapping function was called. This is
extremely rare, and generally can only happen during the
development of Node itself.

Invalid Debug Argument

12 The --debug and/or --debug-brk options were set, but an invalid port
number was chosen.

87
 Node.js

Signal Exits
If Node receives a fatal signal such as SIGKILL or SIGHUP, then its
exit code will be 128 plus the value of the signal code. This is a
>128
standard Unix practice, since exit codes are defined to be 7-bit
integers, and signal exits set the high-order bit, and then contain the
value of the signal code.

Process Properties
Process provides many useful properties to get better control over system
interactions.

S. No. Property & Description

stdout
1
A Writable Stream to stdout.

stderr
2
A Writable Stream to stderr.

stdin
3
A Writable Stream to stdin.

argv
An array containing the command-line arguments. The first element
4 will be 'node', the second element will be the name of the JavaScript
file. The next elements will be any additional command-line
arguments.

execPath
5 This is the absolute pathname of the executable that started the
process.

execArgv
6 This is the set of node-specific command line options from the
executable that started the process.

env
7
An object containing the user environment.

88
 Node.js

exitCode
A number which will be the process exit code, when the process either
8
exits gracefully, or is exited via process.exit() without specifying a
code.

version
9
A compiled-in property that exposes NODE_VERSION.

versions
10
A property exposing the version strings of node and its dependencies.

config
An Object containing the JavaScript representation of the configure
11 options that were used to compile the current node executable. This is
the same as the "config.gypi" file that was produced when running the
./configure script.

pid
12
The PID of the process.

title
13
Getter/setter to set what is displayed in 'ps'.

arch
14
What processor architecture you're running on: 'arm', 'ia32', or 'x64'.

platform
15 What platform you're running on: 'darwin', 'freebsd', 'linux', 'sunos' or
'win32'

mainModule
Alternate way to retrieve require.main. The difference is that if the
main module changes at runtime, require.main might still refer to the
16
original main module in modules that were required before the change
occurred. Generally it's safe to assume that the two refer to the same
module.

89
 Node.js

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

// Printing to console
process.stdout.write("Hello World!" + "\n");

// Reading passed parameter

process.argv.forEach(function(val, index, array) {
console.log(index + ': ' + val);
});

// Getting executable path

console.log(process.execPath);

// Platform Information
console.log(process.platform);

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output while running your program on Linux machine:

Hello World!
0: node
1: /web/com/1427106219_25089/main.js
/usr/bin/node
linux

90
 Node.js

Methods Reference
Process provides many useful methods to get better control over system
interactions.

S.No. Method & Description

abort()
1 It causes the node to emit an abort. It causes the node to exit and
generate a core file.

chdir(directory)
2 Changes the current working directory of the process or throws an
exception if that fails.

cwd()
3
Returns the current working directory of the process.

exit([code])
4 Ends the process with the specified code. If omitted, exit uses the
'success' code 0.

getgid()
Gets the group identity of the process. This is the numerical group id,
5
not the group name. This function is available only on POSIX platforms
(i.e. not Windows, Android).

setgid(id)
Sets the group identity of the process (See setgid(2)). It accepts either
6 a numerical ID or a groupname string. If a groupname is specified, this
method blocks while resolving it to a numerical ID. This function is
available only on POSIX platforms (i.e. not Windows, Android).

getuid()
Gets the user identity of the process. This is the numerical id, not the
7
username. This function is only available on POSIX platforms (i.e. not
Windows, Android).

8 setuid(id)
Sets the user identity of the process (See setgid(2)). It accepts either a

91
 Node.js

numerical ID or a username string. If a username is specified, this

method blocks while resolving it to a numerical ID. This function is
available only on POSIX platforms (i.e. not Windows, Android).

getgroups()
Returns an array with the supplementary group IDs. POSIX leaves it
9 unspecified if the effective group ID is included, but node.js ensures it
always is. This function is available only on POSIX platforms (i.e. not
Windows, Android).

setgroups(groups)
Sets the supplementary group IDs. This is a privileged operation, which
10 implies that you have to be at the root or have the CAP_SETGID
capability. This function is available only on POSIX platforms (i.e. not
Windows, Android).

initgroups(user, extra_group)
Reads /etc/group and initializes the group access list, using all the
groups of which the user is a member. This is a privileged operation,
11
which implies that you have to be at the root or have the CAP_SETGID
capability. This function is available only on POSIX platforms (i.e. not
Windows, Android).

kill(pid[, signal])
Send a signal to a process. pid is the process id and signal is the string
12
describing the signal to send. Signal names are strings like 'SIGINT' or
'SIGHUP'. If omitted, the signal will be 'SIGTERM'.

memoryUsage()
13 Returns an object describing the memory usage of the Node process
measured in bytes.

nextTick(callback)
14 Once the current event loop turn runs to completion, call the callback
function.

15 umask([mask])
Sets or reads the process's file mode creation mask. Child processes

92
 Node.js

inherit the mask from the parent process. Returns the old mask if mask
argument is given, otherwise returns the current mask.

uptime()
16
Number of seconds Node has been running.

hrtime()
Returns the current high-resolution real time in a [seconds,
17 nanoseconds] tuple Array. It is relative to an arbitrary time in the past.
It is not related to the time of day and therefore not subject to clock
drift. The primary use is for measuring performance between intervals.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

// Print the current directory

console.log('Current directory: ' + process.cwd());

// Print the process version

console.log('Current version: ' + process.version);

// Print the memory usage

console.log(process.memoryUsage());

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output while running your program on Linux machine.

Current directory: /web/com/1427106219_25089

Current version: v0.10.33
{ rss: 11505664, heapTotal: 4083456, heapUsed: 2157704 }

93
 Node.js
13. UTILITY MODULES

There are several utility modules available in Node.js module library. These
modules are very common and are frequently used while developing any Node-
based application.

S. No. Module Name & Description

OS Module
1
Provides basic operating-system related utility functions.

Path Module
2
Provides utilities for handling and transforming file paths.

Net Module
3 Provides both servers and clients as streams. Acts as a network
wrapper.

DNS Module
4 Provides functions to do actual DNS lookup as well as to use
underlying operating system name resolution functionalities.

Domain Module
5 Provides ways to handle multiple different I/O operations as a single
group.

OS Module
Node.js os module provides a few basic operating-system related utility functions.
This module can be imported using the following syntax.

var os = require("os")

94
 Node.js

Methods

S. No. Method & Description

os.tmpdir()
1
Returns the operating system's default directory for temp files.

os.endianness()
2
Returns the endianness of the CPU. Possible values are "BE" or "LE".

os.hostname()
3
Returns the hostname of the operating system.

os.type()
4
Returns the operating system name.

os.platform()
5
Returns the operating system platform.

os.arch()
6 Returns the operating system CPU architecture. Possible values are "x64",
"arm" and "ia32".

os.release()
7
Returns the operating system release.

os.uptime()
8
Returns the system uptime in seconds.

os.loadavg()
9
Returns an array containing the 1, 5, and 15 minute load averages.

os.totalmem()
10
Returns the total amount of system memory in bytes.

os.freemem()
11
Returns the amount of free system memory in bytes.

95
 Node.js

os.cpus()
Returns an array of objects containing information about each CPU/core
12 installed: model, speed (in MHz), and times (an object containing the
number of milliseconds the CPU/core spent in: user, nice, sys, idle, and
irq).

os.networkInterfaces()
13
Get a list of network interfaces.

Properties

S. No. Property & Description

os.EOL
1 A constant defining the appropriate End-of-line marker for the
operating system.

Example
The following example demonstrates a few OS methods. Create a js file named
main.js with the following code.

var os = require("os");

// Endianness
console.log('endianness : ' + os.endianness());

// OS type
console.log('type : ' + os.type());

// OS platform
console.log('platform : ' + os.platform());

// Total system memory

console.log('total memory : ' + os.totalmem() + " bytes.");

// Total free memory

96
 Node.js

console.log('free memory : ' + os.freemem() + " bytes.");

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

endianness : LE
type : Linux
platform : linux
total memory : 25103400960 bytes.
free memory : 20676710400 bytes.

Path Module
Node.js path module is used for handling and transforming file paths. This module
can be imported using the following syntax.

var path = require("path")

Methods

S.No. Method & Description

path.normalize(p)
1
Normalize a string path, taking care of '..' and '.' parts.

path.join([path1][, path2][, ...])

2
Join all the arguments together and normalize the resulting path.

path.resolve([from ...], to)

3
Resolves to an absolute path.

path.isAbsolute(path)
Determines whether the path is an absolute path. An absolute path
4
will always resolve to the same location, regardless of the working
directory.

97
 Node.js

path.relative(from, to)
5
Solve the relative path from from to to.

path.dirname(p)
6 Return the directory name of a path. Similar to the Unix dirname
command.

path.basename(p[, ext])
7 Return the last portion of a path. Similar to the Unix basename
command.

path.extname(p)
Return the extension of the path, from the last '.' to end of string in
8
the last portion of the path. If there is no '.' in the last portion of the
path or the first character of it is '.', then it returns an empty string.

path.parse(pathString)
9
Returns an object from a path string.

path.format(pathObject)
10 Returns a path string from an object, the opposite of path.parse
above.

Properties

S. No. Property & Description

path.sep
1
The platform-specific file separator. '\\' or '/'.

path.delimiter
2
The platform-specific path delimiter, ; or ':'.

path.posix
3 Provide access to aforementioned path methods but always interact in
a posix compatible way.

98
 Node.js

path.win32
4 Provide access to aforementioned path methods but always interact in
a win32 compatible way.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var path = require("path");

// Normalization
console.log('normalization : ' +
path.normalize('/test/test1//2slashes/1slash/tab/..'));

// Join
console.log('joint path : ' + path.join('/test', 'test1',
'2slashes/1slash', 'tab', '..'));

// Resolve
console.log('resolve : ' + path.resolve('main.js'));

// extName
console.log('ext name : ' + path.extname('main.js'));

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

normalization : /test/test1/2slashes/1slash
joint path : /test/test1/2slashes/1slash
resolve : /web/com/1427176256_27423/main.js
ext name : .js

Net Module
Node.js net module is used to create both servers and clients. This module
provides an asynchronous network wrapper and it can be imported using the
following syntax.

99
 Node.js

var net = require("net")

Methods

S. No. Method & Description

net.createServer([options][, connectionListener])
1 Creates a new TCP server. The connectionListener argument is
automatically set as a listener for the 'connection' event.

net.connect(options[, connectionListener])
2 A factory method, which returns a new 'net.Socket' and connects to the
supplied address and port.

net.createConnection(options[, connectionListener])
3 A factory method, which returns a new 'net.Socket' and connects to the
supplied address and port.

net.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])

Creates a TCP connection to port on host. If host is omitted, 'localhost'
4 will be assumed. The connectListener parameter will be added as a
listener for the 'connect' event. It is a factory method which returns a
new 'net.Socket'.

net.createConnection(port[, host][, connectListener])

Creates a TCP connection to port on host. If host is omitted, 'localhost'
5 will be assumed. The connectListener parameter will be added as a
listener for the 'connect' event. It is a factory method which returns a
new 'net.Socket'.

net.connect(path[, connectListener])
Creates Unix socket connection to path. The connectListener parameter
6
will be added as a listener for the 'connect' event. It is a factory method
which returns a new 'net.Socket'.

net.createConnection(path[, connectListener])
Creates Unix socket connection to path. The connectListener parameter
7
will be added as a listener for the 'connect' event. It is a factory method
which returns a new 'net.Socket'.

100
 Node.js

net.isIP(input)
8 Tests if the input is an IP address. Returns 0 for invalid strings, 4 for IP
version 4 addresses, and 6 for IP version 6 addresses.

net.isIPv4(input)
9 Returns true if the input is a version 4 IP address, otherwise returns
false.

net.isIPv6(input)
10 Returns true if the input is a version 6 IP address, otherwise returns
false.

Class net.Server
This class is used to create a TCP or local server.

Methods

S.No. Method & Description

server.listen(port[, host][, backlog][, callback])

Begin accepting connections on the specified port and host. If the host is
1
omitted, the server will accept connections directed to any IPv4 address
(INADDR_ANY). A port value of zero will assign a random port.

server.listen(path[, callback])
2
Start a local socket server listening for connections on the given path.

server.listen(handle[, callback])
The handle object can be set to either a server or socket (anything with
an underlying _handle member), or a {fd: <n>} object. It will cause the
3 server to accept connections on the specified handle, but it is presumed
that the file descriptor or handle has already been bound to a port or
domain socket. Listening on a file descriptor is not supported on
Windows.

server.listen(options[, callback])
4 The port, host, and backlog properties of options, as well as the optional
callback function, behave as they do on a call to server.listen(port,

101
 Node.js

[host], [backlog], [callback]) . Alternatively, the path option can be used

to specify a UNIX socket.

server.close([callback])
5 Finally closed when all connections are ended and the server emits a
'close' event.

server.address()
6 Returns the bound address, the address family name and port of the
server as reported by the operating system.

server.unref()
Calling unref on a server will allow the program to exit if this is the only
7
active server in the event system. If the server is already unrefd, then
calling unref again will have no effect.

server.ref()
Opposite of unref, calling ref on a previously unrefd server will not let
8
the program exit if it's the only server left (the default behavior). If the
server is refd, then calling the ref again will have no effect.

server.getConnections(callback)
Asynchronously get the number of concurrent connections on the server.
9
Works when sockets were sent to forks. Callback should take two
arguments err and count.

Events

S. No. Events & Description

listening
1
Emitted when the server has been bound after calling server.listen.

connection
Emitted when a new connection is made. Socket object, the connection
2
object is available to event handler. Socket is an instance of
net.Socket.

102
 Node.js

close
3 Emitted when the server closes. Note that if connections exist, this
event is not emitted until all the connections are ended.

error
4 Emitted when an error occurs. The 'close' event will be called directly
following this event.

Class net.Socket
This object is an abstraction of a TCP or local socket. net.Socket instances
implement a duplex Stream interface. They can be created by the user and used
as a client (with connect()) or they can be created by Node and passed to the user
through the 'connection' event of a server.

Events
net.Socket is an eventEmitter and it emits the following events.

S. No. Events & Description

lookup
1 Emitted after resolving the hostname but before connecting. Not
applicable to UNIX sockets.

connect
2
Emitted when a socket connection is successfully established.

data
3 Emitted when data is received. The argument data will be a Buffer or
String. Encoding of data is set by socket.setEncoding().

end
4
Emitted when the other end of the socket sends a FIN packet.

timeout
Emitted if the socket times out from inactivity. This is only to notify
5
that the socket has been idle. The user must manually close the
connection.

103
 Node.js

drain
6 Emitted when the write buffer becomes empty. Can be used to throttle
uploads.

error
7 Emitted when an error occurs. The 'close' event will be called directly
following this event.

close
Emitted once the socket is fully closed. The argument had_error is a
8
boolean which indicates if the socket was closed due to a transmission
error.

Properties
net.Socket provides many useful properties to get better control over socket
interactions.

S. No. Property & Description

socket.bufferSize
1 This property shows the number of characters currently buffered to be
written.

socket.remoteAddress
2 The string representation of the remote IP address. For example,
'74.125.127.100' or '2001:4860:a005::68'.

socket.remoteFamily
3
The string representation of the remote IP family. 'IPv4' or 'IPv6'.

socket.remotePort
4
The numeric representation of the remote port. For example, 80 or 21.

socket.localAddress
The string representation of the local IP address the remote client is
5
connecting on. For example, if you are listening on '0.0.0.0' and the
client connects on '192.168.1.1', the value would be '192.168.1.1'.

104
 Node.js

socket.localPort
6
The numeric representation of the local port. For example, 80 or 21.

socket.bytesRead
7
The amount of received bytes.

socket.bytesWritten
8
The amount of bytes sent.

Methods

S. No. Method & Description

new net.Socket([options])
1
Construct a new socket object.

socket.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])

Opens the connection for a given socket. If port and host are given,
2 then the socket will be opened as a TCP socket, if host is omitted,
localhost will be assumed. If a path is given, the socket will be
opened as a Unix socket to that path.

socket.connect(path[, connectListener])
Opens the connection for a given socket. If port and host are given,
3 then the socket will be opened as a TCP socket, if host is omitted,
localhost will be assumed. If a path is given, the socket will be
opened as a Unix socket to that path.

socket.setEncoding([encoding])
4
Set the encoding for the socket as a Readable Stream.

socket.write(data[, encoding][, callback])

5 Sends data on the socket. The second parameter specifies the
encoding in the case of a string--it defaults to UTF8 encoding.

socket.end([data][, encoding])
6 Half-closes the socket, i.e., it sends a FIN packet. It is possible the
server will still send some data.

105
 Node.js

socket.destroy()
7 Ensures that no more I/O activity happens on this socket. Necessary
only in case of errors (parse error or so).

socket.pause()
8 Pauses the reading of data. That is, 'data' events will not be emitted.
Useful to throttle back an upload.

socket.resume()
9
Resumes reading after a call to pause().

socket.setTimeout(timeout[, callback])
10 Sets the socket to timeout after timeout milliseconds of inactivity on
the socket. By default, net.Socket does not have a timeout.

socket.setNoDelay([noDelay])
Disables the Nagle algorithm. By default, TCP connections use the
11 Nagle algorithm, they buffer data before sending it off. Setting true
for noDelay will immediately fire off data each time socket.write() is
called. noDelay defaults to true.

socket.setKeepAlive([enable][, initialDelay])
Enable/disable keep-alive functionality, and optionally set the initial
12
delay before the first keepalive probe is sent on an idle socket.
enable defaults to false.

socket.address()
Returns the bound address, the address family name, and the port
13 of the socket as reported by the operating system. Returns an
object with three properties, e.g. { port: 12346, family: 'IPv4',
address: '127.0.0.1' }.

socket.unref()
Calling unref on a socket will allow the program to exit if this is the
14
only active socket in the event system. If the socket is already
unrefd, then calling unref again will have no effect.

15 socket.ref()
Opposite of unref, calling ref on a previously unrefd socket will not

106
 Node.js

let the program exit if it's the only socket left (the default behavior).
If the socket is refd, then calling ref again will have no effect.

Example
Create a js file named server.js with the following code:

File: server.js
var net = require('net');
var server = net.createServer(function(connection) {
console.log('client connected');
connection.on('end', function() {
console.log('client disconnected');
});
connection.write('Hello World!\r\n');
connection.pipe(connection);
});
server.listen(8080, function() {
console.log('server is listening');
});

Now run the server.js to see the result:

$ node server.js

Verify the Output.

server is listening

Create a js file named client.js with the following code:

File: client.js
var net = require('net');
var client = net.connect({port: 8080}, function() {
console.log('connected to server!');
});
client.on('data', function(data) {
console.log(data.toString());
client.end();

107
 Node.js

});
client.on('end', function() {
console.log('disconnected from server');
});

Now run the client.js from another terminal to see the result:

$ node client.js

Verify the Output.

connected to server!
Hello World!

disconnected from server

Verify the Output on the terminal where server.js is running.

server is listening
client connected
client disconnected

DNS Module
Node.js dns module is used to do actual DNS lookup as well as to use underlying
operating system name resolution functionalities. This module provides an
asynchronous network wrapper and can be imported using the following syntax.

var dns = require("dns")

Methods

S. No. Method & Description

dns.lookup(hostname[, options], callback)

Resolves a hostname (e.g. 'google.com') into the first found A (IPv4) or
1 AAAA (IPv6) record. options can be an object or integer. If options is not
provided, then IP v4 and v6 addresses are both valid. If options is an
integer, then it must be 4 or 6.

108
 Node.js

dns.lookupService(address, port, callback)

2 Resolves the given address and port into a hostname and service using
getnameinfo.

dns.resolve(hostname[, rrtype], callback)

3 Resolves a hostname (e.g. 'google.com') into an array of the record types
specified by rrtype.

dns.resolve4(hostname, callback)
The same as dns.resolve(), but only for IPv4 queries (A records).
4
addresses is an array of IPv4 addresses (e.g. ['74.125.79.104',
'74.125.79.105', '74.125.79.106']).

dns.resolve6(hostname, callback)
5
The same as dns.resolve4() except for IPv6 queries (an AAAA query).

dns.resolveMx(hostname, callback)
6 The same as dns.resolve(), but only for mail exchange queries (MX
records).

dns.resolveTxt(hostname, callback)
The same as dns.resolve(), but only for text queries (TXT records).
addresses is an 2-d array of the text records available for hostname
7
(e.g., [ ['v=spf1 ip4:0.0.0.0 ', '~all' ] ]). Each sub-array contains TXT
chunks of one record. Depending on the use case, they could be either
joined together or treated separately.

dns.resolveSrv(hostname, callback)
The same as dns.resolve(), but only for service records (SRV records).
addresses is an array of the SRV records available for hostname.
8
Properties of SRV records are priority, weight, port, and name (e.g.,
[{'priority': 10, 'weight': 5, 'port': 21223, 'name':
'service.example.com'}, ...]).

dns.resolveSoa(hostname, callback)
9 The same as dns.resolve(), but only for start of authority record queries
(SOA record).

109
 Node.js

dns.resolveNs(hostname, callback)
The same as dns.resolve(), but only for name server records (NS
10
records). addresses is an array of the name server records available for
hostname (e.g., ['ns1.example.com', 'ns2.example.com']).

dns.resolveCname(hostname, callback)
The same as dns.resolve(), but only for canonical name records (CNAME
11
records). addresses is an array of the canonical name records available
for hostname (e.g., ['bar.example.com']).

dns.reverse(ip, callback)
12
Reverse resolves an ip address to an array of hostnames.

dns.getServers()
13 Returns an array of IP addresses as strings that are currently being used
for resolution.

dns.setServers(servers)
14 Given an array of IP addresses as strings, set them as the servers to use
for resolving.

rrtypes
Following is the list of valid rrtypes used by dns.resolve() method:

A - IPV4 addresses, default

AAAA - IPV6 addresses
MX - mail exchange records
TXT - text records
SRV - SRV records
PTR - used for reverse IP lookups
NS - name server records
CNAME - canonical name records
SOA - start of authority record

Error Codes
Each DNS query can return one of the following error codes:

dns.NODATA - DNS server returned answer with no data.

110
 Node.js

dns.FORMERR - DNS server claims query was misformatted.

dns.SERVFAIL - DNS server returned general failure.
dns.NOTFOUND - Domain name not found.
dns.NOTIMP - DNS server does not implement requested operation.
dns.REFUSED - DNS server refused query.
dns.BADQUERY - Misformatted DNS query.
dns.BADNAME - Misformatted hostname.
dns.BADFAMILY - Unsupported address family.
dns.BADRESP - Misformatted DNS reply.
dns.CONNREFUSED - Could not contact DNS servers.
dns.TIMEOUT - Timeout while contacting DNS servers.
dns.EOF - End of file.
dns.FILE - Error reading file.
dns.NOMEM - Out of memory.
dns.DESTRUCTION - Channel is being destroyed.
dns.BADSTR - Misformatted string.
dns.BADFLAGS - Illegal flags specified.
dns.NONAME - Given hostname is not numeric.
dns.BADHINTS - Illegal hints flags specified.
dns.NOTINITIALIZED - c-ares library initialization not yet performed.
dns.LOADIPHLPAPI - Error loading iphlpapi.dll.
dns.ADDRGETNETWORKPARAMS - Could not find GetNetworkParams
function.
dns.CANCELLED - DNS query cancelled.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var dns = require('dns');

dns.lookup('www.google.com', function onLookup(err, address, family) {

console.log('address:', address);
dns.reverse(address, function (err, hostnames) {
if (err) {
console.log(err.stack);

111
 Node.js

console.log('reverse for ' + address + ': ' +

JSON.stringify(hostnames));
});
});

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

address: 173.194.46.83
reverse for 173.194.46.83: ["ord08s11-in-f19.1e100.net"]

Domain Module
Node.js domain module is used to intercept unhandled error. These unhandled
error can be intercepted using internal binding or external binding. If errors are
not handled at all, then they will simply crash the Node application.

Internal Binding - Error emitter is executing its code within the run
method of a domain.

External Binding - Error emitter is added explicitly to a domain using its

add method.

This module can be imported using the following syntax.

var domain = require("domain")

The domain class of domain module is used to provide functionality of routing

errors and uncaught exceptions to the active Domain object. It is a child class of
EventEmitter. To handle the errors that it catches, listen to its error event. It is
created using the following syntax:

var domain = require("domain");

var child = domain.create();

112
 Node.js

Methods

S. No. Method & Description

domain.run(function)
Run the supplied function in the context of the domain, implicitly
1
binding all event emitters, timers, and low-level requests that are
created in that context. This is the most basic way to use a domain.

domain.add(emitter)
Explicitly adds an emitter to the domain. If any event handlers called
2
by the emitter throw an error, or if the emitter emits an error event, it
will be routed to the domain's error event, just like with implicit binding.

domain.remove(emitter)
3 The opposite of domain.add(emitter). Removes domain handling from
the specified emitter.

domain.bind(callback)
The returned function will be a wrapper around the supplied callback
4
function. When the returned function is called, any errors that are
thrown will be routed to the domain's error event.

domain.intercept(callback)
This method is almost identical to domain.bind(callback). However, in
5
addition to catching thrown errors, it will also intercept Error objects
sent as the first argument to the function.

domain.enter()
The enter method is plumbing used by the run, bind, and intercept
methods to set the active domain. It sets domain.active and
6 process.domain to the domain, and implicitly pushes the domain onto
the domain stack managed by the domain module (see domain.exit()
for details on the domain stack). The call to enter delimits the beginning
of a chain of asynchronous calls and I/O operations bound to a domain.

domain.exit()
7 The exit method exits the current domain, popping it off the domain
stack. Whenever the execution switches to the context of a different
chain of asynchronous calls, it's important to ensure that the current

113
 Node.js

domain is exited. The call to exit delimits either the end of or an

interruption to the chain of asynchronous calls and I/O operations
bound to a domain.

domain.dispose()
Once dispose has been called, the domain will no longer be used by
8
callbacks bound into the domain via run, bind, or intercept, and a
dispose event is emit

Properties

S. No. Property< & Description

domain.members
1 An array of timers and event emitters that have been explicitly added
to the domain.

Example
Create a js file named main.js with the following code:

var EventEmitter = require("events").EventEmitter;

var domain = require("domain");

var emitter1 = new EventEmitter();

// Create a domain
var domain1 = domain.create();

domain1.on('error', function(err){
console.log("domain1 handled this error ("+err.message+")");
});

// Explicit binding
domain1.add(emitter1);

emitter1.on('error',function(err){

114
 Node.js

console.log("listener handled this error ("+err.message+")");

});

emitter1.emit('error',new Error('To be handled by listener'));

emitter1.removeAllListeners('error');

emitter1.emit('error',new Error('To be handled by domain1'));

var domain2 = domain.create();

domain2.on('error', function(err){
console.log("domain2 handled this error ("+err.message+")");
});

// Implicit binding
domain2.run(function(){
var emitter2 = new EventEmitter();
emitter2.emit('error',new Error('To be handled by domain2'));
});

domain1.remove(emitter1);
emitter1.emit('error', new Error('Converted to exception. System will
crash!'));

Now run the main.js to see the result:

$ node main.js

Verify the Output.

listener handled this error (To be handled by listener)

domain1 handled this error (To be handled by domain1)
domain2 handled this error (To be handled by domain2)

events.js:72

115
 Node.js

throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event

^
Error: Converted to exception. System will crash!
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Nodejs_WorkSpace\main.js:42:23)
at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
at startup (node.js:119:16)
at node.js:929:3

116
 Node.js
14. WEB MODULE

What is a Web Server?

A Web Server is a software application which handles HTTP requests sent by the
HTTP client, like web browsers, and returns web pages in response to the clients.
Web servers usually deliver html documents along with images, style sheets, and
scripts.

Most of the web servers support server-side scripts, using scripting languages or
redirecting the task to an application server which retrieves data from a database
and performs complex logic and then sends a result to the HTTP client through the
Web server.

Apache web server is one of the most commonly used web servers. It is an open
source project.

Web Application Architecture

A Web application is usually divided into four layers:

Client - This layer consists of web browsers, mobile browsers or

applications which can make HTTP requests to the web server.

Server - This layer has the Web server which can intercept the requests
made by the clients and pass them the response.

Business - This layer contains the application server which is utilized by

the web server to do the required processing. This layer interacts with the
data layer via the database or some external programs.

117
 Node.js

Data - This layer contains the databases or any other source of data.

Creating a Web Server using Node

Node.js provides an http module which can be used to create an HTTP client of a
server. Following is the bare minimum structure of the HTTP server which listens
at 8081 port.

Create a js file named server.js:

File: server.js
var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');
var url = require('url');

// Create a server
http.createServer( function (request, response) {
// Parse the request containing file name
var pathname = url.parse(request.url).pathname;

// Print the name of the file for which request is made.

console.log("Request for " + pathname + " received.");

// Read the requested file content from file system

fs.readFile(pathname.substr(1), function (err, data) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
// HTTP Status: 404 : NOT FOUND
// Content Type: text/plain
response.writeHead(404, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
}else{
//Page found
// HTTP Status: 200 : OK
// Content Type: text/plain
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});

118
 Node.js

// Write the content of the file to response body

response.write(data.toString());
}
// Send the response body
response.end();
});
}).listen(8081);

// Console will print the message

console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/');

Next let's create the following html file named index.htm in the same directory
where you created server.js

File: index.htm
<html>
<head>
<title>Sample Page</title>
</head>
<body>
Hello World!
</body>
</html>

Now let us run the server.js to see the result:

$ node server.js

Verify the Output.

Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

Make a request to Node.js server

Open http://127.0.0.1:8081/index.htm in any browser to see the following result.

119
 Node.js

Verify the Output at the server end.

Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

Request for /index.htm received.

Creating a Web client using Node

A web client can be created using http module. Let's check the following example.

Create a js file named client.js:

File: client.js
var http = require('http');

// Options to be used by request

var options = {
host: 'localhost',
port: '8081',
path: '/index.htm'
};

// Callback function is used to deal with response

var callback = function(response){

120
 Node.js

// Continuously update stream with data

var body = '';
response.on('data', function(data) {
body += data;
});

response.on('end', function() {
// Data received completely.
console.log(body);
});
}
// Make a request to the server
var req = http.request(options, callback);
req.end();

Now run the client.js from a different command terminal other than server.js to
see the result:

$ node client.js

Verify the Output.

<html>
<head>
<title>Sample Page</title>
</head>
<body>
Hello World!
</body>
</html>

Verify the Output at the server end.

Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

Request for /index.htm received.

121
 Node.js
15. EXPRESS FRAMEWORK

Express Overview
Express is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework that provides
a robust set of features to develop web and mobile applications. It facilitates the
rapid development of Node-based Web applications. Following are some of the
core features of Express framework:

Allows to set up middlewares to respond to HTTP Requests.

Defines a routing table which is used to perform different actions based on

HTTP Method and URL.

Allows to dynamically render HTML Pages based on passing arguments to

templates.

Installing Express
Firstly, install the Express framework globally using NPM so that it can be used to
create a web application using node terminal.

$ npm install express --save

The above command saves the installation locally in the node_modules directory
and creates a directory express inside node_modules. You should install the
following important modules along with express:

body-parser - This is a node.js middleware for handling JSON, Raw, Text

and URL encoded form data.

cookie-parser - Parse Cookie header and populate req.cookies with an

object keyed by the cookie names.

multer - This is a node.js middleware for handling multipart/form-data.

$ npm install body-parser --save

$ npm install cookie-parser --save
$ npm install multer --save

122
 Node.js

Hello world Example

Following is a very basic Express app which starts a server and listens on port
3000 for connection. This app responds with Hello World! for requests to the
homepage. For every other path, it will respond with a 404 Not Found.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();

app.get('/', function (req, res) {

res.send('Hello World');
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Save the above code in a file named server.js and run it with the following
command.

$ node server.js

You will see the following output:

Example app listening at http://0.0.0.0:8081

123
 Node.js

Open http://127.0.0.1:8081/ in any browser to see the following result.

Request & Response

Express application uses a callback function whose parameters are
request and response objects.

app.get('/', function (req, res) {

// --
})

Request Object - The request object represents the HTTP request and has
properties for the request query string, parameters, body, HTTP headers,
and so on.

Response Object - The response object represents the HTTP response that
an Express app sends when it gets an HTTP request.

You can print req and res objects which provide a lot of information related to
HTTP request and response including cookies, sessions, URL, etc.

Request Object
The req object represents the HTTP request and has properties for the request
query string, parameters, body, HTTP headers, and so on.

124
 Node.js

Request Object Properties

Following is the list of few properties associated with request object.

S. No. Properties & Description

req.app
1 This property holds a reference to the instance of the express
application that is using the middleware.

req.baseUrl
2
The URL path on which a router instance was mounted.

req.body
Contains key-value pairs of data submitted in the request body. By
3
default, it is undefined, and is populated when you use body-parsing
middleware such as body-parser

req.cookies
4 When using cookie-parser middleware, this property is an object that
contains cookies sent by the request.

req.fresh
5
Indicates whether the request is "fresh." It is the opposite of req.stale.

req.hostname
6
Contains the hostname from the "Host" HTTP header.

req.ip
7
The remote IP address of the request.

req.ips
8 When the trust proxy setting is true, this property contains an array of
IP addresses specified in the X-Forwarded-For request header.

req.originalUrl
This property is much like req.url; however, it retains the original
9
request URL, allowing you to rewrite req.url freely for internal routing
purposes.

125
 Node.js

req.params
An object containing properties mapped to the named route
10 parameters. For example, if you have the route /user/:name, then
the "name" property is available as req.params.name. This object
defaults to {}.

req.path
11
Contains the path part of the request URL.

req.protocol
12
The request protocol string, "http" or "https" when requested with TLS.

req.query
13 An object containing a property for each query string parameter in the
route.

req.route
14
The currently-matched route, a string.

req.secure
15
A Boolean that is true if a TLS connection is established.

req.signedCookies
16 When using cookie-parser middleware, this property contains signed
cookies sent by the request, unsigned and ready for use.

req.stale
17 Indicates whether the request is "stale," and is the opposite of
req.fresh.

req.subdomains
18
An array of subdomains in the domain name of the request.

req.xhr
A Boolean value that is true if the requests "X-Requested-With" header
19
field is XMLHttpRequest, indicating that the request was issued by a
client library such as jQuery

126
 Node.js

Request Object Methods

req.accepts(types)
req.accepts(types)

This method checks if the specified content types are acceptable, based on the
requests Accept HTTP header field. Following are a few examples:

// Accept: text/html
req.accepts('html');
// => "html"

// Accept: text/*, application/json

req.accepts('html');
// => "html"
req.accepts('text/html');
// => "text/html"

req.get(field)
req.get(field)

This method returns the specified HTTP request header field. Following are a few
examples:

req.get('Content-Type');
// => "text/plain"

req.get('content-type');
// => "text/plain"

req.get('Something');
// => undefined

req.is(type)
req.is(type)

This method returns true if the incoming requests "Content-Type" HTTP header
field matches the MIME type specified by the type parameter. Following are a few
examples:

127
 Node.js

// With Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8

req.is('html');
req.is('text/html');
req.is('text/*');
// => true

req.param(name [, defaultValue])
req.param(name [, defaultValue])

This method returns the value of param name when present. Following are few
examples:

// ?name=tobi
req.param('name')
// => "tobi"

// POST name=tobi
req.param('name')
// => "tobi"

// /user/tobi for /user/:name

req.param('name')
// => "tobi"

Response Object
The res object represents the HTTP response that an Express app sends when it
gets an HTTP request.

Response Object Properties

Following is the list of few properties associated with response object.

S. No. Properties & Description

res.app
1 This property holds a reference to the instance of the express application
that is using the middleware.

128
 Node.js

res.headersSent
2 Boolean property that indicates if the app sent HTTP headers for the
response.

res.locals
3
An object that contains response local variables scoped to the request.

Response Object Methods

res.append(field [, value])
res.append(field [, value])

This method appends the specified value to the HTTP response header field.
Following are a few examples:

res.append('Link', ['<http://localhost/>', '<http://localhost:3000/>']);

res.append('Set-Cookie', 'foo=bar; Path=/; HttpOnly');
res.append('Warning', '199 Miscellaneous warning');

res.attachment([filename])
res.attachment([filename])

This method is used to send a file as an attachment in the HTTP response.

Following are a few examples:

res.attachment('path/to/logo.png');

res.cookie(name, value [, options])

res.cookie(name, value [, options])

This method is used to set cookie name to value. The value parameter may be a
string or object converted to JSON. Following are a few examples:

res.cookie('name', 'tobi', { domain: '.example.com', path: '/admin',

secure: true });

res.cookie('cart', { items: [1,2,3] });

res.cookie('cart', { items: [1,2,3] }, { maxAge: 900000 });

129
 Node.js

res.clearCookie(name [, options])
res.clearCookie(name [, options])

This method is used to clear the cookie specified by name. Following are a few
examples:

res.cookie('name', 'tobi', { path: '/admin' });

res.clearCookie('name', { path: '/admin' });

res.download(path [, filename] [, fn])

res.download(path [, filename] [, fn])

This method is used to transfer the file at path as an "attachment". Typically,

browsers will prompt the user for download. Following are a few examples:

res.download('/report-12345.pdf');

res.download('/report-12345.pdf', 'report.pdf');

res.download('/report-12345.pdf', 'report.pdf', function(err){

});

res.end([data] [, encoding])
res.end([data] [, encoding])

This method is used to end the response process. Following are a few examples:

res.end();

res.status(404).end();

res.format(object)
res.format(object)

This method is used to perform content-negotiation on the Accept HTTP header

on the request object, when present. Following are a few examples:

res.format({
'text/plain': function(){

130
 Node.js

res.send('hey');
},

'text/html': function(){
res.send('
hey
');
},

'application/json': function(){
res.send({ message: 'hey' });
},

'default': function() {
// log the request and respond with 406
res.status(406).send('Not Acceptable');
}
});

res.get(field)
res.get(field)

This method is used to return the HTTP response header specified by field. Here
is an example:

res.get('Content-Type');

res.json([body])
res.json([body])

This method is used to send a JSON response. Following are a few examples:

res.json(null)
res.json({ user: 'tobi' })
res.status(500).json({ error: 'message' })

131
 Node.js

res.jsonp([body])
res.jsonp([body])

This method is used to send a JSON response with JSONP support. Following are
a few examples:

res.jsonp(null)
res.jsonp({ user: 'tobi' })
res.status(500).jsonp({ error: 'message' })

res.links(links)
res.links(links)

This method is used to join the links provided as properties of the parameter to
populate the responses Link HTTP header field. Following are a few examples:

res.links({
next: 'http://api.example.com/users?page=2',
last: 'http://api.example.com/users?page=5'
});

res.location(path)
res.location(path)

This method is used to set the response Location HTTP header field based on the
specified path parameter. Following are a few examples:

res.location('/foo/bar');
res.location('foo/bar');
res.location('http://example.com');

res.redirect([status,] path)
res.redirect([status,] path)

This method is used to redirect to the URL dervied from the specified path, with
specified HTTP status code status. Following are a few examples:

res.redirect('/foo/bar');
res.redirect('http://example.com');
res.redirect(301, 'http://example.com');

132
 Node.js

res.render(view [, locals] [, callback])

res.render(view [, locals] [, callback])

This method is used to render a view and sends the rendered HTML string to the
client. Following are a few examples:

// send the rendered view to the client

res.render('index');

// pass a local variable to the view

res.render('user', { name: 'Tobi' }, function(err, html) {
// ...
});

res.send([body])
res.send([body])

This method is used to send the HTTP response. Following are a few examples:

res.send(new Buffer('whoop'));
res.send({ some: 'json' });
res.send('
some html
');

res.sendFile(path [, options] [, fn])

res.sendFile(path [, options] [, fn])

This method is used to transfer the file at the given path. Sets the Content-Type
response HTTP header field based on the filenames extension. Here is an
example:

res.sendFile(fileName, options, function (err) {

// ...
});

res.sendStatus(statusCode)
res.sendStatus(statusCode)

133
 Node.js

This method is used to set the response HTTP status code to statusCode and send
its string representation as the response body. Following are a few examples:

res.sendStatus(200); // equivalent to res.status(200).send('OK')

res.sendStatus(403); // equivalent to res.status(403).send('Forbidden')
res.sendStatus(404); // equivalent to res.status(404).send('Not Found')
res.sendStatus(500); // equivalent to res.status(500).send('Internal
Server Error')

res.set(field [, value])
res.set(field [, value])

This method is used to set the responses HTTP header field to value. Following
are a few examples:

res.set('Content-Type', 'text/plain');

res.set({
'Content-Type': 'text/plain',
'Content-Length': '123',
'ETag': '12345'
})

res.status(code)
res.status(code)

This method is used to set the HTTP status for the response. Following are a few
examples:

res.status(403).end();
res.status(400).send('Bad Request');
res.status(404).sendFile('/absolute/path/to/404.png');

res.type(type)
res.type(type)

This method is used to set the Content-Type HTTP header to the MIME type.
Following are a few examples:

res.type('.html'); // => 'text/html'

134
 Node.js

res.type('html'); // => 'text/html'

res.type('json'); // => 'application/json'
res.type('application/json'); // => 'application/json'
res.type('png'); // => image/png:

Basic Routing
We have seen a basic application which serves HTTP request for the homepage.
Routing refers to determining how an application responds to a client request to a
particular endpoint, which is a URI (or path) and a specific HTTP request method
(GET, POST, and so on).

We will extend our Hello World program to handle more types of HTTP requests.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();

// This responds with "Hello World" on the homepage

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
console.log("Got a GET request for the homepage");
res.send('Hello GET');
})

// This responds a POST request for the homepage

app.post('/', function (req, res) {
console.log("Got a POST request for the homepage");
res.send('Hello POST');
})

// This responds a DELETE request for the /del_user page.

app.delete('/del_user', function (req, res) {
console.log("Got a DELETE request for /del_user");
res.send('Hello DELETE');
})

// This responds a GET request for the /list_user page.

135
 Node.js

app.get('/list_user', function (req, res) {

console.log("Got a GET request for /list_user");
res.send('Page Listing');
})

// This responds a GET request for abcd, abxcd, ab123cd, and so on

app.get('/ab*cd', function(req, res) {
console.log("Got a GET request for /ab*cd");
res.send('Page Pattern Match');
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Save the above code in a file named server.js and run it with the following
command.

$ node server.js

You will see the following output:

Example app listening at http://0.0.0.0:8081

Now you can try different requests at http://127.0.0.1:8081 to see the output
generated by server.js. Following are a few screenshots showing different
responses for different URLs.

136
 Node.js

Screen showing again http://127.0.0.1:8081/list_user

Screen showing again http://127.0.0.1:8081/abcd

137
 Node.js

Screen showing again http://127.0.0.1:8081/abcdefg

Serving Static Files

Express provides a built-in middleware express.static to serve static files, such
as images, CSS, JavaScript, etc.

You simply need to pass the name of the directory where you keep your static
assets, to the express.static middleware to start serving the files directly. For
example, if you keep your images, CSS, and JavaScript files in a directory named
public, you can do this:

app.use(express.static('public'));

We will keep a few images in public/images sub-directory as follows:

node_modules
server.js
public/
public/images
public/images/logo.png

Let's modify "Hello Word" app to add the functionality to handle static files.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();

app.use(express.static('public'));

138
 Node.js

app.get('/', function (req, res) {

res.send('Hello World');
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Save the above code in a file named server.js and run it with the following
command.

$ node server.js

Now open http://127.0.0.1:8081/images/logo.png in any browser and observe

the following result.

GET Method
Here is a simple example which passes two values using HTML FORM GET method.
We are going to use process_get router inside server.js to handle this input.

139
 Node.js

<html>
<body>
<form action="http://127.0.0.1:8081/process_get" method="GET">
First Name: <input type="text" name="first_name"> <br>

Last Name: <input type="text" name="last_name">

<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Let's save above code in index.htm and modify server.js to handle homepage
requests as well as the input sent by the HTML form.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();

app.use(express.static('public'));

app.get('/index.htm', function (req, res) {

res.sendFile( __dirname + "/" + "index.htm" );
})

app.get('/process_get', function (req, res) {

// Prepare output in JSON format

response = {
first_name:req.query.first_name,
last_name:req.query.last_name
};
console.log(response);
res.end(JSON.stringify(response));
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

140
 Node.js

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Accessing the HTML document using http://127.0.0.1:8081/index.htm will

generate the following form:

Now you can enter the First and Last Name and then click submit button to see
the result and it should return the following result:

{"first_name":"John","last_name":"Paul"}

POST Method
Here is a simple example which passes two values using HTML FORM POST
method. We are going to use process_get router inside server.js to handle this
input.

<html>
<body>
<form action="http://127.0.0.1:8081/process_post" method="POST">
First Name: <input type="text" name="first_name"> <br>

Last Name: <input type="text" name="last_name">

<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

141
 Node.js

Let's save the above code in index.htm and modify server.js to handle homepage
requests as well as the input sent by the HTML form.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

// Create application/x-www-form-urlencoded parser

var urlencodedParser = bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false })

app.use(express.static('public'));

app.get('/index.htm', function (req, res) {

res.sendFile( __dirname + "/" + "index.htm" );
})

app.post('/process_post', urlencodedParser, function (req, res) {

// Prepare output in JSON format

response = {
first_name:req.body.first_name,
last_name:req.body.last_name
};
console.log(response);
res.end(JSON.stringify(response));
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

142
 Node.js

Accessing the HTML document using http://127.0.0.1:8081/index.htm will

generate the following form:

Now you can enter the First and Last Name and then click the submit button to
see the following result:

{"first_name":"John","last_name":"Paul"}

File Upload
The following HTML code creates a file uploader form. This form has method
attribute set to POST and enctype attribute is set to multipart/form-data

<html>
<head>
<title>File Uploading Form</title>
</head>
<body>
<h3>File Upload:</h3>
Select a file to upload: <br />
<form action="http://127.0.0.1:8081/file_upload" method="POST"
enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="file" name="file" size="50" />
<br />
<input type="submit" value="Upload File" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

143
 Node.js

Let's save above code in index.htm and modify server.js to handle homepage
requests as well as file upload.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
var fs = require("fs");

var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

var multer = require('multer');

app.use(express.static('public'));
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(multer({ dest: '/tmp/'}));

app.get('/index.htm', function (req, res) {

res.sendFile( __dirname + "/" + "index.htm" );
})

app.post('/file_upload', function (req, res) {

console.log(req.files.file.name);
console.log(req.files.file.path);
console.log(req.files.file.type);

var file = __dirname + "/" + req.files.file.name;

fs.readFile( req.files.file.path, function (err, data) {
fs.writeFile(file, data, function (err) {
if( err ){
console.log( err );
}else{
response = {
message:'File uploaded successfully',
filename:req.files.file.name
};
}
console.log( response );

144
 Node.js

res.end( JSON.stringify( response ) );

});
});
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Accessing the HTML document using http://127.0.0.1:8081/index.htm will

generate the following form:

Cookies Management
You can send cookies to a Node.js server which can handle the same using the
following middleware option. Following is a simple example to print all the cookies
sent by the client.

var express = require('express')

var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser')

var app = express()

app.use(cookieParser())

145
 Node.js

app.get('/', function(req, res) {

console.log("Cookies: ", req.cookies)
})

app.listen(8081)

146
 Node.js
16. RESTFUL API

What is REST Architecture?

REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer. REST is a web standard based
architecture that uses HTTP Protocol. It revolves around resources where every
component is a resource and a resource is accessed by a common interface using
HTTP standard methods. REST was first introduced by Roy Fielding in 2000.

A REST Server simply provides access to resources and a REST client accesses
and modifies the resources using HTTP protocol. Here each resource is identified
by URIs/ global IDs. REST uses various representation to represent a resource,
for example, text, JSON, XML, but JSON is the most popular one.

HTTP methods
The following four HTTP methods are commonly used in REST based architecture.

GET - This is used to provide a read-only access to a resource.

PUT - This is used to create a new resource.
DELETE - This is used to remove a resource.
POST - This is used to update an existing resource or create a new
resource.

RESTful Web Services

A web service is a collection of open protocols and standards used for exchanging
data between applications or systems. Software applications written in various
programming languages and running on various platforms can use web services
to exchange data over computer networks like the Internet in a manner similar to
inter-process communication on a single computer. This interoperability (e.g.,
communication between Java and Python, or Windows and Linux applications) is
due to the use of open standards.

Web services based on REST Architecture are known as RESTful web services.
These web services use HTTP methods to implement the concept of REST
architecture. A RESTful web service usually defines a URI, Uniform Resource
Identifier, which provides resource representation such as JSON and a set of HTTP
Methods.

147
 Node.js

Creating RESTful for a Library

Consider we have a JSON based database of users having the following users in a
file users.json:

{
"user1" : {
"name" : "mahesh",
"password" : "password1",
"profession" : "teacher",
"id": 1
},
"user2" : {
"name" : "suresh",
"password" : "password2",
"profession" : "librarian",
"id": 2
},
"user3" : {
"name" : "ramesh",
"password" : "password3",
"profession" : "clerk",
"id": 3
}
}

Based on this information, we are going to provide the following RESTful APIs.

HTTP
S. No. URI POST body Result
Method

1 listUsers GET empty Show list of all the users.

2 addUser POST JSON String Add details of new user.

3 deleteUser DELETE JSON String Delete an existing user.

148
 Node.js

4 :id GET empty Show details of a user.

We are keeping most of the part of all the examples in the form of hard-coding,
assuming you already know how to pass values from the front-end using Ajax or
simple form data and how to process them using express Request object.

List Users
Let's implement our first RESTful API listUsers using the following code in a
server.js file:

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
var fs = require("fs");

app.get('/listUsers', function (req, res) {

fs.readFile( __dirname + "/" + "users.json", 'utf8', function (err,
data) {
console.log( data );
res.end( data );
});
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port

console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Now try to access the defined API using http://127.0.0.1:8081/listUsers on your

local machine. It should produce following result:

You can change the given IP address when you will put the solution in production
environment.

149
 Node.js

{
"user1" : {
"name" : "mahesh",
"password" : "password1",
"profession" : "teacher",
"id": 1
},
"user2" : {
"name" : "suresh",
"password" : "password2",
"profession" : "librarian",
"id": 2
},
"user3" : {
"name" : "ramesh",
"password" : "password3",
"profession" : "clerk",
"id": 3
}
}

Add Users
Following API will show you how to add a new user in the list. Following is the
detail of the new user:

user = {
"user4" : {
"name" : "mohit",
"password" : "password4",
"profession" : "teacher",
"id": 4
}
}

150
 Node.js

You can accept the same input in the form of JSON using Ajax call but for
demonstration purpose, we are hard-coding it here. Following is the addUser API
to a new user in the database:

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
var fs = require("fs");

var user = {
"user4" : {
"name" : "mohit",
"password" : "password4",
"profession" : "teacher",
"id": 4
}
}

app.get('/addUser', function (req, res) {

// First read existing users.
fs.readFile( __dirname + "/" + "users.json", 'utf8', function (err,
data) {
data = JSON.parse( data );
data["user4"] = user["user4"];
console.log( data );
res.end( JSON.stringify(data));
});
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port
console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

151
 Node.js

Now try to access the defined API using http://127.0.0.1:8081/addUsers on your

local machine. It should produce following result:

{ user1:
{ name: 'mahesh',
password: 'password1',
profession: 'teacher',
id: 1 },
user2:
{ name: 'suresh',
password: 'password2',
profession: 'librarian',
id: 2 },
user3:
{ name: 'ramesh',
password: 'password3',
profession: 'clerk',
id: 3 },
user4:
{ name: 'mohit',
password: 'password4',
profession: 'teacher',
id: 4 }
}

Show Detail
Now we will implement an API which will be called using user ID and it will display
the detail of the corresponding user.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
var fs = require("fs");

app.get('/:id', function (req, res) {

// First read existing users.
fs.readFile( __dirname + "/" + "users.json", 'utf8', function (err, data) {

152
 Node.js

data = JSON.parse( data );

var user = users["user" + req.params.id]
console.log( user );
res.end( JSON.stringify(user));
});
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port
console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Now let's call the above service using http://127.0.0.1:8081/2 on your local
machine. It should produce following result:

{
"name":"suresh",
"password":"password2",
"profession":"librarian",
"id":2
}

Delete a User
This API is very similar to addUser API where we receive input data through
req.body and then based on user ID, we delete that user from the database. To
keep our program simple, we assume we are going to delete the user with ID 2.

var express = require('express');

var app = express();
var fs = require("fs");

var id = 2;

app.get('/deleteUser', function (req, res) {

153
 Node.js

// First read existing users.

fs.readFile( __dirname + "/" + "users.json", 'utf8', function (err, data) {
data = JSON.parse( data );
delete data["user" + 2];

console.log( data );
res.end( JSON.stringify(data));
});
})

var server = app.listen(8081, function () {

var host = server.address().address

var port = server.address().port
console.log("Example app listening at http://%s:%s", host, port)

})

Now let's call the above service using http://127.0.0.1:8081/deleteUser on your

local machine. It should produce the following result:

{ user1:
{ name: 'mahesh',
password: 'password1',
profession: 'teacher',
id: 1 },
user3:
{ name: 'ramesh',
password: 'password3',
profession: 'clerk',
id: 3 }
}

154
 Node.js
17. SCALING AN APPLICATION

Node.js runs in a single-thread mode, but it uses an event-driven paradigm to

handle concurrency. It also facilitates creation of child processes to leverage
parallel processing on multi-core CPU based systems.

Child processes always have three streams child.stdin, child.stdout, and

child.stderr which may be shared with the stdio streams of the parent process.

Node provides child_process module which has the following three major ways
to create a child process.

exec - child_process.exec method runs a command in a shell/console and

buffers the output.

spawn - child_process.spawn launches a new process with a given

command.

fork - The child_process.fork method is a special case of the spawn() to

create child processes.

The exec() method

child_process.exec method runs a command in a shell and buffers the output. It
has the following signature:

child_process.exec(command[, options], callback)

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

command (String) The command to run, with space-separated

arguments

options (Object) may comprise one or more of the following options:

o cwd (String) Current working directory of the child process

o env (Object) Environment key-value pairs

o encoding (String) Default: 'utf8'

o shell (String) Shell to execute the command with. Default:

'/bin/sh' on UNIX, 'cmd.exe' on Windows. The shell should

155
 Node.js

understand the -c switch on UNIX or /s /c on Windows. On Windows,

command line parsing should be compatible with cmd.exe.

o timeout (Number) Default: 0

o maxBuffer (Number) Default: 200*1024

o killSignal (String) Default: 'SIGTERM'

o uid (Number) Sets the user identity of the process.

o gid (Number) Sets the group identity of the process.

callback The function gets three arguments error, stdout, and stderr
which are called with the output when the process terminates.

The exec() method returns a buffer with a max size and waits for the process to
end and tries to return all the buffered data at once.

Example
Let us create two js files named support.js and master.js:

File: support.js
console.log("Child Process " + process.argv[2] + " executed." );

File: master.js
const fs = require('fs');
const child_process = require('child_process');

for(var i=0; i<3; i++) {

var workerProcess = child_process.exec('node support.js '+i,
function (error, stdout, stderr) {
if (error) {
console.log(error.stack);
console.log('Error code: '+error.code);
console.log('Signal received: '+error.signal);
}
console.log('stdout: ' + stdout);
console.log('stderr: ' + stderr);
});

156
 Node.js

workerProcess.on('exit', function (code) {

console.log('Child process exited with exit code '+code);
});
}

Now run the master.js to see the result:

$ node master.js

Verify the Output. Server has started.

Child process exited with exit code 0

stdout: Child Process 1 executed.

stderr:
Child process exited with exit code 0
stdout: Child Process 0 executed.

stderr:
Child process exited with exit code 0
stdout: Child Process 2 executed.

The spawn() Method

child_process.spawn method launches a new process with a given command. It
has the following signature:

child_process.spawn(command[, args][, options])

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

command (String) The command to run.

args (Array) List of string arguments.

options (Object) It may comprise one or more of the following options:

o cwd (String) Current working directory of the child process.

157
 Node.js

o env (Object) Environment key-value pairs.

o stdio (Array|String) Child's stdio configuration.

o customFds (Array) Deprecated File descriptors for the child to use

for stdio.

o detached (Boolean) The child will be a process group leader.

o uid (Number) Sets the user identity of the process.

o gid (Number) Sets the group identity of the process.

The spawn() method returns streams (stdout & stderr) and it should be used when
the process returns a large volume of data. spawn() starts receiving the response
as soon as the process starts executing.

Example
Create two js files named support.js and master.js:

File: support.js
console.log("Child Process " + process.argv[2] + " executed." );

File: master.js
const fs = require('fs');
const child_process = require('child_process');

for(var i=0; i<3; i++) {

var workerProcess = child_process.spawn('node', ['support.js', i]);

workerProcess.stdout.on('data', function (data) {

console.log('stdout: ' + data);
});

workerProcess.stderr.on('data', function (data) {

console.log('stderr: ' + data);
});

workerProcess.on('close', function (code) {

158
 Node.js

console.log('child process exited with code ' + code);

});
}

Now run the master.js to see the result:

$ node master.js

Verify the Output. Server has started

stdout: Child Process 0 executed.

child process exited with code 0

stdout: Child Process 1 executed.

stdout: Child Process 2 executed.

child process exited with code 0

child process exited with code 0

The fork() Method

child_process.fork method is a special case of spawn() to create Node processes.
It has the following signature:

child_process.fork(modulePath[, args][, options])

Parameters
Here is the description of the parameters used:

modulePath (String) The module to run in the child.

args (Array) List of string arguments.

options (Object) It may comprise one or more of the following options:

o cwd (String) Current working directory of the child process.

o env (Object) Environment key-value pairs.

o execPath (String) Executable used to create the child process.

159
 Node.js

o execArgv (Array) List of string arguments passed to the

executable (Default: process.execArgv)

o silent (Boolean) If true, stdin, stdout, and stderr of the child

will be piped to the parent, otherwise they will be inherited from the
parent. See the "pipe" and "inherit" options for spawn()'s stdio for
more detail on this. Default is false.

o uid (Number) Sets the user identity of the process.

o gid (Number) Sets the group identity of the process.

The fork method returns an object with a built-in communication channel in

addition to having all the methods in a normal ChildProcess instance.

Example
Create two js files named support.js and master.js:

File: support.js
console.log("Child Process " + process.argv[2] + " executed." );

File: master.js
const fs = require('fs');
const child_process = require('child_process');

for(var i=0; i<3; i++) {

var worker_process = child_process.fork("support.js", [i]);

worker_process.on('close', function (code) {

console.log('child process exited with code ' + code);
});
}

Now run the master.js to see the result:

$ node master.js

Verify the Output. Server has started.

Child Process 0 executed.

Child Process 1 executed.

160
 Node.js

Child Process 2 executed.

child process exited with code 0
child process exited with code 0
child process exited with code 0

161
 Node.js
18. PACKAGING

JXcore, which is an open source project, introduces a unique feature for

packaging and encryption of source files and other assets into JX packages.

Consider you have a large project consisting of many files. JXcore can pack them
all into a single file to simplify the distribution. This chapter provides a quick
overview of the whole process starting from installing JXcore.

JXcore Installation
Installing JXcore is quite simple. Here we have provided step-by-step instructions
on how to install JXcore on your system. Follow the steps given below:

Step 1
Download the JXcore package from http://jxcore.com/downloads/, as per your
operating system and machine architecture. We downloaded a package for Cenots
running on 64-bit machine.

$ wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/nodejx/jx_rh64.zip

Step 2
Unpack the downloaded file jx_rh64.zip and copy the jx binary into /usr/bin or
may be in any other directory based on your system setup.

$ unzip jx_rh64.zip
$ cp jx_rh64/jx /usr/bin

Step 3
Set your PATH variable appropriately to run jx from anywhere you like.

$ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin

Step 4
You can verify your installation by issuing a simple command as shown below. You
should find it working and printing its version number as follows:

$ jx --version
v0.10.32

162
 Node.js

Packaging the Code

Consider you have a project with the following directories where you kept all your
files including Node.js, main file, index.js, and all the modules installed locally.

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 13 12:42 images

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30457 Mar 6 12:19 index.htm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30452 Mar 1 12:54 index.js
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 Jan 15 03:48 node_modules
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 21 06:10 scripts
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 15 11:56 style

To package the above project, you simply need to go inside this directory and
issue the following jx command. Assuming index.js is the entry file for your
Node.js project:

$ jx package index.js index

Here you could have used any other package name instead of index. We have
used index because we wanted to keep our main file name as index.jx. However,
the above command will pack everything and will create the following two files:

index.jxp This is an intermediate file which contains the complete project

detail needed to compile the project.

index.jx This is the binary file having the complete package that is
ready to be shipped to your client or to your production environment.

Launching JX File
Consider your original Node.js project was running as follows:

$ node index.js command_line_arguments

After compiling your package using JXcore, it can be started as follows:

$ jx index.jx command_line_arguments

To know more on JXcore, you can check its official website.

163