node.js - How to write file if parent folder doesn't exist?

Question

I need to write file to the following path:

fs.writeFile('/folder1/folder2/file.txt', 'content', function () {…});

But '/folder1/folder2' path may not exists. So I get the following error:

message=ENOENT, open /folder1/folder2/file.txt

How can I write content to that path?

score 146 · Accepted Answer

As of Node v10, this is built into the fs.mkdir function, which we can use in combination with path.dirname:

var fs = require('fs');
var getDirName = require('path').dirname;

function writeFile(path, contents, cb) {
  fs.mkdir(getDirName(path), { recursive: true}, function (err) {
    if (err) return cb(err);

    fs.writeFile(path, contents, cb);
  });
}

For older versions, you can use mkdirp:

var mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
var fs = require('fs');
var getDirName = require('path').dirname;

function writeFile(path, contents, cb) {
  mkdirp(getDirName(path), function (err) {
    if (err) return cb(err);
    
    fs.writeFile(path, contents, cb);
  });
}

If the whole path already exists, mkdirp is a noop. Otherwise it creates all missing directories for you.

This module does what you want: https://npmjs.org/package/writefile . Got it when googling for "writefile mkdirp". This module returns a promise instead of taking a callback, so be sure to read some introduction to promises first. It might actually complicate things for you.

The function I gave works in any case.

score 34 · Accepted Answer

I find that the easiest way to do this is to use the outputFile() method from the fs-extra module.

Almost the same as writeFile (i.e. it overwrites), except that if the parent directory does not exist, it's created. options are what you'd pass to fs.writeFile().

Example:

var fs = require('fs-extra');
var file = '/tmp/this/path/does/not/exist/file.txt'

fs.outputFile(file, 'hello!', function (err) {
    console.log(err); // => null

    fs.readFile(file, 'utf8', function (err, data) {
        console.log(data); // => hello!
    });
});

It also has promise support out of the box these days!.

score 32 · Accepted Answer

Edit

NodeJS version 10.12.0 has added a native support for both mkdir and mkdirSync to create the parent director recursively with recursive: true option as the following:

fs.mkdirSync(targetDir, { recursive: true });

And if you prefer fs Promises API, you can write

fs.promises.mkdir(targetDir, { recursive: true });

Original Answer

Create the parent directories recursively if they do not exist! (Zero dependencies)

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

function mkDirByPathSync(targetDir, { isRelativeToScript = false } = {}) {
  const sep = path.sep;
  const initDir = path.isAbsolute(targetDir) ? sep : '';
  const baseDir = isRelativeToScript ? __dirname : '.';

  return targetDir.split(sep).reduce((parentDir, childDir) => {
    const curDir = path.resolve(baseDir, parentDir, childDir);
    try {
      fs.mkdirSync(curDir);
    } catch (err) {
      if (err.code === 'EEXIST') { // curDir already exists!
        return curDir;
      }

      // To avoid `EISDIR` error on Mac and `EACCES`-->`ENOENT` and `EPERM` on Windows.
      if (err.code === 'ENOENT') { // Throw the original parentDir error on curDir `ENOENT` failure.
        throw new Error(`EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '${parentDir}'`);
      }

      const caughtErr = ['EACCES', 'EPERM', 'EISDIR'].indexOf(err.code) > -1;
      if (!caughtErr || caughtErr && curDir === path.resolve(targetDir)) {
        throw err; // Throw if it's just the last created dir.
      }
    }

    return curDir;
  }, initDir);
}

Usage

// Default, make directories relative to current working directory.
mkDirByPathSync('path/to/dir');

// Make directories relative to the current script.
mkDirByPathSync('path/to/dir', {isRelativeToScript: true});

// Make directories with an absolute path.
mkDirByPathSync('/path/to/dir');

Demo

Try It!

Explanations

[UPDATE] This solution handles platform-specific errors like EISDIR for Mac and EPERM and EACCES for Windows.
This solution handles both relative and absolute paths.
In the case of relative paths, target directories will be created (resolved) in the current working directory. To Resolve them relative to the current script dir, pass {isRelativeToScript: true}.
Using path.sep and path.resolve(), not just / concatenation, to avoid cross-platform issues.
Using fs.mkdirSync and handling the error with try/catch if thrown to handle race conditions: another process may add the file between the calls to fs.existsSync() and fs.mkdirSync() and causes an exception.
- The other way to achieve that could be checking if a file exists then creating it, I.e, if (!fs.existsSync(curDir) fs.mkdirSync(curDir);. But this is an anti-pattern that leaves the code vulnerable to race conditions.
Requires Node v6 and newer to support destructuring. (If you have problems implementing this solution with old Node versions, just leave me a comment)

score 21 · Accepted Answer

Perhaps most simply, you can just use the fs-path npm module.

Your code would then look like:

var fsPath = require('fs-path');

fsPath.writeFile('/folder1/folder2/file.txt', 'content', function(err){
  if(err) {
    throw err;
  } else {
    console.log('wrote a file like DaVinci drew machines');
  }
});

score 5 · Accepted Answer

With node-fs-extra you can do it easily.

Install it

npm install --save fs-extra

Then use the outputFile method instead of writeFileSync

const fs = require('fs-extra');

fs.outputFile('tmp/test.txt', 'Hey there!', err => {
  if(err) {
    console.log(err);
  } else {
    console.log('The file was saved!');
  }
})

score 4 · Accepted Answer

You can use

fs.stat('/folder1/folder2', function(err, stats){ ... });

stats is a fs.Stats type of object, you may check stats.isDirectory(). Depending on the examination of err and stats you can do something, fs.mkdir( ... ) or throw an error.

Reference

Update: Fixed the commas in the code.

score 4 · Accepted Answer

Here's my custom function to recursively create directories (with no external dependencies):

var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');

var myMkdirSync = function(dir){
    if (fs.existsSync(dir)){
        return
    }

    try{
        fs.mkdirSync(dir)
    }catch(err){
        if(err.code == 'ENOENT'){
            myMkdirSync(path.dirname(dir)) //create parent dir
            myMkdirSync(dir) //create dir
        }
    }
}

myMkdirSync(path.dirname(filePath));
var file = fs.createWriteStream(filePath);

score 3 · Accepted Answer

Here is my function which works in Node 10.12.0. Hope this will help.

const fs = require('fs');
function(dir,filename,content){
        fs.promises.mkdir(dir, { recursive: true }).catch(error => { console.error('caught exception : ', error.message); });
        fs.writeFile(dir+filename, content, function (err) {
            if (err) throw err;
            console.info('file saved!');
        });
    }

score -1 · Accepted Answer

Here's part of Myrne Stol's answer broken out as a separate answer:

This module does what you want: https://npmjs.org/package/writefile . Got it when googling for "writefile mkdirp". This module returns a promise instead of taking a callback, so be sure to read some introduction to promises first. It might actually complicate things for you.

score -1 · Accepted Answer

let name = "./new_folder/" + file_name + ".png";
await driver.takeScreenshot().then(
  function(image, err) {
    require('mkdirp')(require('path').dirname(name), (err) => {
      require('fs').writeFile(name, image, 'base64', function(err) {
        console.log(err);
      });
    });
  }
);

score -1 · Accepted Answer

In Windows you can use this code:

 try {  
   fs.writeFileSync(  './/..//..//filename.txt' , 'the text to write in the file', 'utf-8' );
     }
 catch(e){ 
  console.log(" catch XXXXXXXXX "); 
    }

This code in windows create file in 2 folder above the current folder.

but I Can't create file in C:\ Directly