Node JS

Node.
js - Quick Guide
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Node.js - 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 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.
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.
Node.js - 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 Live Demo option available at the top right corner of the
below sample code box (on our website) −
Live Demo
/* 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 are still willing to set up your environment for Node.js, you need the following two softwares available
on your computer, (a) Text Editor and (b) The Node.js binary installables.
Text Editor
This will be used to type your program. Examples of few editors include Windows Notepad, OS Edit
command, Brief, Epsilon, EMACS, and vim or vi.
Name and version of text editor can vary on different operating systems. 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 contain program source code. The source
files for Node.js programs are typically named with the extension ".js".
Before starting your programming, make sure you have one text editor in place and you have enough
experience to write a computer program, save it in a file, and finally execute it.
The Node.js Runtime

The source code written in source file is simply javascript. The Node.js interpreter will be used to interpret
and execute 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.
Following section guides you on how to install Node.js binary distribution on various OS.
Download Node.js archive

Download 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-v6.3.1-x64.msi
Linux node-v6.3.1-linux-x86.tar.gz
Mac node-v6.3.1-darwin-x86.tar.gz
SunOS node-v6.3.1-sunos-x86.tar.gz
Installation on UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X, and SunOS

Based on your OS architecture, download and extract the archive node-v6.3.1-osname.tar.gz into /tmp,
and then finally move extracted files into /usr/local/nodejs directory. For example:
$ cd /tmp
$ wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v6.3.1/node-v6.3.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz node-v6.3.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ mkdir -p /usr/local/nodejs
$ mv node-v6.3.1-linux-x64/* /usr/local/nodejs
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 the 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.
Live Demo
/* Hello, World! program in node.js */
console.log("Hello, World!")
Now execute main.js file using Node.js interpreter to see the result −
$ node main.js
If everything is fine with your installation, this should produce the following result −
Hello, World!
Node.js - 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 −
 Import required modules − We use the require directive to load Node.js modules.
 Create server − A server which will listen to client's requests similar to Apache HTTP Server.
 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');
}).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
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
// Send the response body as "Hello World"
response.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(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/
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.
Node.js - 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
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 World
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
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.
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)
>
Node.js - 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() 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)
├── 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"
},
"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": "https://expressjs.com/", "keywords": [
"express",
"framework",
"sinatra",
"web",
"rest",
"restful",
"router",
"app",
"api"
],
"dependencies": {
"accepts": "~1.2.3",
"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",
"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": {
"url": "https://github.com/strongloop/express/issues"
},
"_id": "express@4.11.2",
"_shasum": "8df3d5a9ac848585f00a0777601823faecd3b148",
"_from": "express@*",
"_npmVersion": "1.4.28",
"_npmUser": {
"name": "dougwilson",
},
"maintainers": [{
"name": "tjholowaychuk",
"email": "tj@vision-media.ca"
},
"name": "jongleberry",
"email": "jonathanrichardong@gmail.com"
},
"name": "shtylman",
"email": "shtylman@gmail.com"
},
"name": "dougwilson",
},
"name": "aredridel",
"email": "aredridel@nbtsc.org"
},
"name": "strongloop",
"email": "callback@strongloop.com"
},
"name": "rfeng",
"email": "enjoyjava@gmail.com"
}],
"dist": {
"shasum": "8df3d5a9ac848585f00a0777601823faecd3b148",
"tarball": "https://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
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.
$ 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.
Node.js - Callbacks 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 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.

Program Ended
Non-Blocking Code Example

Create a text file named input.txt with the following content.
Update main.js to have the following code −
fs.readFile('input.txt', function (err, data) {
if (err) return console.error(err);
});
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.
Program Ended
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.
Node.js - 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

var eventEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();
Following is the syntax to bind an event handler with an event −
// Bind event and event handler as follows

eventEmitter.on('eventName', eventHandler);
We can fire an event programmatically as follows −
// Fire an event
eventEmitter.emit('eventName');
Example
Live Demo
// Create an event handler as follows
var connectHandler = function connected() {
console.log('connection succesful.');
// 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 succesfully.');

});
// Fire the connection event
eventEmitter.emit('connection');
console.log("Program Ended.");
Now let's try to run the above program and check its output −
$ node 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.
Create a js file named main.js having the following code −
if (err) {
console.log(err.stack);
return;
});
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 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
Node.js - 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 −


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
Sr.No. Method & Description
addListener(event, listener)
1 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. 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
2
already been added. 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.
once(event, listener)
3 Adds a one time listener to the event. This listener is invoked only the next time the event is fired, after which it is
removed. Returns emitter, so calls can be chained.
removeListener(event, listener)
4 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 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 idea to remove listeners that were added
5
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 are added for a particular event. This is a
6
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.
Class Methods
listenerCount(emitter, event)
1
Returns the number of listeners for a given event.
Events
Sr.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
2  listener − Function The event handler function
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 −
Live Demo
// 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");
// Remove the binding of listner1 function
eventEmitter.removeListener('connection', listner1);
console.log("Listner1 will not listen now.");

eventListeners = require('events').EventEmitter.listenerCount(eventEmitter,'connection');
console.log(eventListeners + " Listner(s) listening to connection event");
console.log("Program Ended.");
$ 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.
Node.js - 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])
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
Live Demo
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
 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.
Return Value
This method decodes and returns a string from buffer data encoded using the specified character set
encoding.
Example
Live Demo
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
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.
Example
Live Demo
var buf = new Buffer('Simply Easy Learning');
var json = buf.toJSON(buf);
console.log(json);

{ type: 'Buffer',
data:
[
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
 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
Live Demo
var buffer1 = new Buffer('TutorialsPoint ');
var buffer2 = new Buffer('Simply Easy Learning');

var buffer3 = Buffer.concat([buffer1,buffer2]);
console.log("buffer3 content: " + buffer3.toString());
buffer3 content: TutorialsPoint Simply Easy Learning
Compare Buffers
Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to compare two Node buffers −
buf.compare(otherBuffer);
Parameters
 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
Live Demo
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);
ABC comes before ABCD
Copy Buffer
Syntax
Following is the syntax of the method to copy a node buffer −
buf.copy(targetBuffer[, targetStart][, sourceStart][, sourceEnd])
Parameters
 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
Live Demo
var buffer1 = new Buffer('ABC');
//copy a buffer
var buffer2 = new Buffer(3);
buffer1.copy(buffer2);
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])
Parameters
 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
Live Demo
var buffer1 = new Buffer('TutorialsPoint');
//slicing a buffer
var buffer2 = buffer1.slice(0,9);
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
Live Demo
var buffer = new Buffer('TutorialsPoint');
//length of the buffer
console.log("buffer length: " + buffer.length);
When the above program is executed, it produces 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.
1 new Buffer(size)
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
4 Returns the size of the buffer in bytes. Note that this is not necessarily 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])
5 Writes a string to the buffer at offset using the given encoding. offset 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])
6 Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset and byteLength. Supports up to 48 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert
to true to skip validation of value and offset. Defaults to false.
buf.writeUIntBE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])
buf.writeIntLE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])
buf.writeIntBE(value, offset, byteLength[, noAssert])
buf.readUIntLE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])
10 A generalized version of all numeric read methods. Supports up to 48 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])
12 buf.readIntLE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])

A generalized version of all numeric read methods. Supports up to 48 bits of accuracy. Set noAssert to true to skip
buf.readIntBE(offset, byteLength[, noAssert])
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 even if the target memory region overlaps
19
with the source. If undefined, the targetStart and sourceStart parameters default to 0, while sourceEnd defaults to
buffer.length.
buf.slice([start][, end])
20 Returns a new buffer which references the same memory as the old, 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])
21 Reads an unsigned 8 bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset. 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.readUInt16LE(offset[, noAssert])
22 Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset 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.
23 buf.readUInt16BE(offset[, noAssert])
Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset with the specified endian format. Set noAssert
buf.readUInt32LE(offset[, noAssert])
buf.readUInt32BE(offset[, noAssert])
buf.readInt8(offset[, noAssert])
26 Reads a signed 8-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset. 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.readInt16LE(offset[, noAssert])
27 Reads a signed 16-bit integer from the buffer at the specified offset 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])
buf.readInt32LE(offset[, noAssert])
buf.readInt32BE(offset[, noAssert])
buf.readFloatLE(offset[, noAssert])
31 Reads a 32-bit float from the buffer at the specified offset 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.readFloatBE(offset[, noAssert])
32 Reads a 32-bit float from the buffer at the specified offset with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to
buf.readDoubleLE(offset[, noAssert])
33 Reads a 64-bit double from the buffer at the specified offset with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to
buf.readDoubleBE(offset[, noAssert])
34 Reads a 64-bit double from the buffer at the specified offset with the specified endian format. Set noAssert to true to
buf.writeUInt8(value, offset[, noAssert])
Writes a value to the buffer at the specified offset. Note that the value must be a valid unsigned 8-bit integer. Set
35 noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It 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.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
36 valid unsigned 16-bit integer. Set noAssert 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 correctness. Defaults to false.
buf.writeUInt16BE(value, offset[, noAssert])
silently dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of its correctness. Defaults to false.
buf.writeUInt32LE(value, offset[, noAssert])
buf.writeUInt32BE(value, offset[, noAssert])
buf.writeInt8(value, offset[, noAssert])
40 valid signed 8-bit integer. Set noAssert 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.
buf.writeInt16LE(value, offset[, noAssert])

41 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 means the value may be too
buf.writeInt16BE(value, offset[, noAssert])
large for the specific function and offset may be beyond the end of the buffer leading to the values being silently
buf.writeInt32LE(value, offset[, noAssert])
buf.writeInt32BE(value, offset[, noAssert])
dropped. It should not be used unless you are certain of correctness. Defaults to false.
buf.writeFloatLE(value, offset[, noAssert])
45 valid 32-bit float. Set noAssert to true to skip validation of value and offset. It means that 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
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-
46 bit float. Set noAssert 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.
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-
47 bit double. Set noAssert 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])

48 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 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.
buf.fill(value[, offset][, end])
49 Fills the buffer with the specified value. If the offset (defaults to 0) and end (defaults to buffer.length) are not given,
it will fill the entire buffer.
Class Methods
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])
3 Gives the actual byte length of a string. encoding defaults to 'utf8'. It 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.
Node.js - 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 −

var data = '';
// Create a readable stream
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) {
});
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.
Program Ended
Writing to a Stream
Live Demo
var data = 'Simply Easy Learning';
// Create a writable stream
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) {
});
$ 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.
// 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);
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.
Program Ended
Open output.txt created in your current directory; it should contain the following −

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.
var zlib = require('zlib');
// Compress the file input.txt to input.txt.gz
fs.createReadStream('input.txt')
.pipe(zlib.createGzip())
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('input.txt.gz'));
console.log("File Compressed.");
$ 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 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.");
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.

File Decompressed.
Node.js - 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 −
var 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 −

Let us create a js file named main.js with the following code −
// Asynchronous read
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());
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.
Synchronous read: Tutorials Point is giving self learning content

Program Ended
Asynchronous read: Tutorials Point is giving self learning content
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
 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).
Flags
Flags for read/write operations are −
Sr.No. Flag & Description
r
1
Open file for reading. An exception occurs if the file does not exist.
r+
2
Open file for reading and writing. An exception occurs if the file does not exist.
rs
3
Open file for reading in synchronous mode.
rs+
4 Open file for reading and writing, asking the OS to open it synchronously. See notes for 'rs' about using this with
caution.
w
5
Open file for writing. The file is created (if it does not exist) or truncated (if it exists).
wx
6
Like 'w' but fails if the path exists.
w+
7
Open file for reading and writing. The file is created (if it does not exist) or truncated (if it exists).
wx+
8
Like 'w+' but fails if path exists.
a
9
Open file for appending. The file is created if it does not exist.
ax
10
Like 'a' but fails if the path exists.
a+
11
Open file for reading and appending. The file is created if it does not exist.
ax+
12
Like 'a+' but fails if the 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.
// Asynchronous - Opening File
console.log("Going to open file!");
fs.open('input.txt', 'r+', function(err, fd) {
if (err) {
console.log("File opened successfully!");
});

$ 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
 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.
stats.isFile()
1
Returns true if file type of a simple file.
stats.isDirectory()
2
Returns true if file type of a directory.
stats.isBlockDevice()
3
Returns true if file type of a block device.
stats.isCharacterDevice()
4
Returns true if file type of a character device.
stats.isSymbolicLink()
5
Returns true if file type of a symbolic link.
stats.isFIFO()
6
Returns true if file type of a FIFO.
stats.isSocket()
7
Returns true if file type of asocket.
Example
console.log("Going to get file info!");
fs.stat('input.txt', function (err, stats) {
if (err) {
console.log(stats);
console.log("Got file info successfully!");
// Check file type
console.log("isFile ? " + stats.isFile());
console.log("isDirectory ? " + stats.isDirectory());
});
$ 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 over-write the file if the file already exists. If you want to write into an existing file then
you should use another method available.
Parameters
 path − This is the string having the file name including path.
 data − This is the String or Buffer to be written into the file.
 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 −
Live Demo
console.log("Going to write into existing file");
fs.writeFile('input.txt', 'Simply Easy Learning!', function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log("Data written successfully!");
console.log("Let's read newly written data");
if (err) {
}
console.log("Asynchronous read: " + data.toString());
});
});
$ 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!
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
 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
console.log("Going to open an existing file");
if (err) {
console.log("Going to read the file");
fs.read(fd, buf, 0, buf.length, 0, function(err, bytes){
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());
});
});
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.
Going to open an existing file

Going to read the file
97 bytes read
Closing a File
Syntax
Following is the syntax to close an opened file −
fs.close(fd, callback)
Parameters
 fd − This is the file descriptor returned by file fs.open() method.

 callback − This is the callback function No arguments other than a possible exception are given to
the completion callback.
Example
if (err) {
console.log("Going to read the file");
fs.read(fd, buf, 0, buf.length, 0, function(err, bytes) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
if(bytes > 0) {
// Close the opened file.
fs.close(fd, function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
console.log("File closed successfully.");
});
});
});
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.

Going to read the file
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
 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.
Example
if (err) {
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);
if(bytes > 0) {
// Close the opened file.
fs.close(fd, function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
console.log("File closed successfully.");
});
});
});
});
$ node main.js
Verify the Output.

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
 path − This is the file name including path.
Example
console.log("Going to delete an existing file");
fs.unlink('input.txt', function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log("File deleted successfully!");
});
$ 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
 path − This is the directory name including path.
 mode − This is the directory permission to be set. Defaults to 0777.
Example
console.log("Going to create directory /tmp/test");
fs.mkdir('/tmp/test',function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log("Directory created successfully!");
});
$ node main.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

 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
console.log("Going to read directory /tmp");
fs.readdir("/tmp/",function(err, files) {
if (err) {
files.forEach( function (file) {
console.log( file );
});
});
$ node main.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
Example
console.log("Going to delete directory /tmp/test");
fs.rmdir("/tmp/test",function(err) {
if (err) {
console.log("Going to read directory /tmp");
fs.readdir("/tmp/",function(err, files) {
if (err) {
files.forEach( function (file) {
console.log( file );
});
});
});
$ 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.
Sr.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().
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.
15 fs.fchmodSync(fd, mode)
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)
19 Asynchronous lstat(). The callback gets two arguments (err, stats) 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)
20 Asynchronous fstat(). The callback gets two arguments (err, stats) 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.
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
26 type argument can be set to 'dir', 'file', or 'junction' (default is 'file') and is only available on 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, resolvedPath). May use process.cwd to resolve
29
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.
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)
37 Asynchronous readdir(3). Reads the contents of a directory. The 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.
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.
55 fs.readFile(filename[, options], callback)

Asynchronously reads the entire contents of a file.
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])
62 Stop watching for changes on filename. If listener is specified, only that 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 an 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.
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
70 type argument can be set to 'dir', 'file', or 'junction' (default is 'file') and is only available on 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.
Node.js - 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
Live Demo
// Let's try to print the value of __filename
console.log( __filename );
$ 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
Live Demo
// Let's try to print the value of __dirname

console.log( __dirname );
$ node main.js
Based on the location of your program, it will print 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
Live Demo
function printHello() {
console.log( "Hello, World!");
// Now call above function after 2 seconds
setTimeout(printHello, 2000);
$ 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.
Example
Live Demo

}
var t = setTimeout(printHello, 2000);
// Now clear the timer
clearTimeout(t);
$ 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
Live Demo
setInterval(printHello, 2000);
$ node main.js
The above program will execute printHello() after every 2 second. Due to system limitation.
Global Objects
The following table provides a list of other objects which we use frequently in our applications. For a more
detail, you can refer to the official documentation.
Sr.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.
Node.js - 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.
Sr.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.
Node.js - 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.
 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
response.writeHead(404, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
} else {
//Page found
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
// Write the content of the file to response body
response.write(data.toString());
// Send the response body
response.end();
});
}).listen(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.
Make a request to Node.js server

Open http://127.0.0.1:8081/index.htm in any browser to see the following result.
Verify the Output at server end.

Request for /index.htm received.
Creating 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) {
// 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 server end.

Request for /index.htm received.
Node.js - 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
Hello world Example

Following is a very basic Express app which starts a server and listens on port 8081 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 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
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.

// --
})
 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.
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.
// This responds with "Hello World" on the homepage
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.
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');
})
})
$ 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 screens shots showing different responses for different URLs.
Screen showing again http://127.0.0.1:8081/list_user
Screen showing again http://127.0.0.1:8081/abcd

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.
res.send('Hello World');
})
})
$ node server.js
Now open http://127.0.0.1:8081/images/logo.png in any browser and see observe 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.
<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 home page requests as well as the input
sent by the HTML form.
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));
})
})
Accessing the HTML document using http://127.0.0.1:8081/index.htm will generate the following form −
First Name:
Last Name:
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>
Let's save the above code in index.htm and modify server.js to handle home page requests as well as the
input sent by the HTML form.

var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
// Create application/x-www-form-urlencoded parser
var urlencodedParser = bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false })
})
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));
})
})
First Name:
Last Name:
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>
Let's save above code in index.htm and modify server.js to handle home page requests as well as file
upload.
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var multer = require('multer');

app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(multer({ dest: '/tmp/'}));
})
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 );
res.end( JSON.stringify( response ) );
});
});
})

})
File Upload:
Select a file to upload:
NOTE: This is just dummy form and would not work, but it must work at your server.
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())
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
console.log("Cookies: ", req.cookies)
})
app.listen(8081)
Node.js - RESTful API

What is REST architecture?
REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer. REST is web standards based architecture and uses HTTP
Protocol. It revolves around resource 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 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 like text, JSON, XML but JSON is the most popular one.
HTTP methods
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 a 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 webservices uses
HTTP methods to implement the concept of REST architecture. A RESTful web service usually defines a URI,
Uniform Resource Identifier a service, which provides resource representation such as JSON and set of
HTTP Methods.
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",
"profession" : "librarian",
"id": 2
},
"user3" : {
"name" : "ramesh",
"profession" : "clerk",
"id": 3
Based on this information we are going to provide following RESTful APIs.
Sr.No. URI HTTP Method POST body Result
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.
4 :id GET empty Show details of a user.
I'm keeping most of the part of all the examples in the form of hard coding assuming you already know
how to pass values from 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 −
server.js
app.get('/listUsers', function (req, res) {
fs.readFile( __dirname + "/" + "users.json", 'utf8', function (err, data) {
console.log( data );
res.end( data );
});
})
})
Now try to access defined API using URL: http://127.0.0.1:8081/listUsers and HTTP Method : GET on local
machine using any REST client. This should produce following result −
You can change given IP address when you will put the solution in production environment.
"user1" : {
"name" : "mahesh",
"id": 1
},
"user2" : {
"name" : "suresh",
"profession" : "librarian",
"id": 2
},
"user3" : {
"name" : "ramesh",
"profession" : "clerk",
"id": 3
Add User
Following API will show you how to add new user in the list. Following is the detail of the new user −
user = {
"user4" : {
"name" : "mohit",
"id": 4
You can accept the same input in the form of JSON using Ajax call but for teaching point of view, we are
making it hard coded here. Following is the addUser API to a new user in the database −
server.js
var user = {
"user4" : {
"name" : "mohit",
"id": 4
app.post('/addUser', function (req, res) {
// First read existing users.
data = JSON.parse( data );
data["user4"] = user["user4"];
res.end( JSON.stringify(data));
});
})
})
Now try to access defined API using URL: http://127.0.0.1:8081/addUser and HTTP Method : POST on local
machine using any REST client. This 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.
server.js
app.get('/:id', function (req, res) {
var users = JSON.parse( data );
var user = users["user" + req.params.id]
console.log( user );
res.end( JSON.stringify(user));
});
})
})
Now try to access defined API using URL: http://127.0.0.1:8081/2 and HTTP Method : GET on local machine
using any REST client. This should produce following result −
{"name":"suresh","password":"password2","profession":"librarian","id":2}
Delete 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 user with ID 2.
server.js
var id = 2;
app.delete('/deleteUser', function (req, res) {
data = JSON.parse( data );
delete data["user" + 2];
res.end( JSON.stringify(data));
});
})

})
Now try to access defined API using URL: http://127.0.0.1:8081/deleteUser and HTTP Method : DELETE on
local machine using any REST client. This should produce following result −
{"user1":{"name":"mahesh","password":"password1","profession":"teacher","id":1},
"user3":{"name":"ramesh","password":"password3","profession":"clerk","id":3}}
Node.js - Scaling 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
 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 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);
});
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
Child process exited with exit code 0

stdout: Child Process 1 executed.
stderr:
stderr:
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
 command (String) The command to run
 args (Array) List of string arguments
o cwd (String) Current working directory of the child process.
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.
The spawn() method returns streams (stdout &stderr) and it should be used when the process returns a
volume amount 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

File: master.js
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) {
console.log('child process exited with code ' + code);
});
$ node master.js
Verify the Output. Server has started
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
 modulePath (String) The module to run in the child.
 args (Array) List of string arguments
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.
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 details (default is false).
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
File: master.js
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);
});
}
$ node master.js
Child Process 0 executed.

Node.js - 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 https://github.com/jxcore/jxcore, 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.zipand 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
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.

Node JS

Uploaded by

Node JS

Uploaded by

Node.

Node.js = Runtime Environment + JavaScript Library

 License − Node.js is released under the MIT license.

Who Uses Node.js?

 Projects, Applications, and Companies Using Node

Where to Use Node.js?

 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?

Node.js - Environment Setup

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

Local Environment Setup

The Node.js Runtime

Download Node.js archive

Installation on UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X, and SunOS

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

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

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

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

Verify installation: Executing a File

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

Node.js - First Application

Creating Node.js Application

var http = require("http");

Step 2 - Create Server

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"

// Console will print the message

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

Step 3 - Testing Request & Response

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"

// 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 −

Verify the Output. Server has started.

Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

Make a Request to the Node.js Server

Node.js - REPL Terminal

 Eval − Takes and evaluates the data structure.

 Print − Prints the result.

Online REPL Terminal

 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.

 Online repositories for node.js packages/modules which are searchable on search.nodejs.org

$ sudo npm install npm -g

Installing Modules using NPM

$ npm install express

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

var express = require('express');

Global vs Local Installation

$ npm install express -g

"description": "Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework",

"name": "TJ Holowaychuk",

"name": "Aaron Heckmann",

"name": "Ciaran Jessup",

"name": "Douglas Christopher Wilson",

"name": "Guillermo Rauch",