How to check synchronously if a file/directory exists in Node.js

Overview

The existsSync method of the fs module is used to check if a file or directory exists in the file system.

Syntax

Parameters

path: This could be a string, URL, or buffer.

Return value

It returns true if the file exists, and false otherwise.

Example

Explanation

• We have created a file with the name temp.js. This file can be viewed in the left side panel of the code widget.

• Lines 3–15: We create a function, checkIfFileExists. This method uses the existsSync method to check if the file present in the provided path.

• Line 17: We create a path variable with the file path, ./temp.js, as a value.

• Line 18: We call the checkIfFileExists method with the path variable as an argument. This returns true.

• Line 20: We assign the value, ./te.js, to the path variable.

• Line 21: We call the checkIfFileExists method with the path variable as an argument. This returns false.