Expanding / Resolving ~ in node.js

Question

I am new to nodejs. Can node resolve ~ (unix home directory) example ~foo, ~bar to /home/foo, /home/bar

> path.normalize(\'~mvaidya\') 
\'~mvaidya\'
> path.resolve(         


        

Answer 1

This is a combination of some of the previous answers with a little more safety added in.

/**
 * Resolves paths that start with a tilde to the user's home directory.
 *
 * @param  {string} filePath '~/GitHub/Repo/file.png'
 * @return {string}          '/home/bob/GitHub/Repo/file.png'
 */
function resolveTilde (filePath) {
  const os = require('os');
  if (!filePath || typeof(filePath) !== 'string') {
    return '';
  }

  // '~/folder/path' or '~' not '~alias/folder/path'
  if (filePath.startsWith('~/') || filePath === '~') {
    return filePath.replace('~', os.homedir());
  }

  return filePath;
}

• Uses more modern os.homedir() instead of process.env.HOME.
• Uses a simple helper function that can be called from anywhere.
• Has basic type checking. You may want to default to returning os.homedir() if a non-string is passed in instead of returning empty string.
• Verifies that path starts with ~/ or is just ~, to not replace other aliases like ~stuff/.
• Uses a simple "replace first instance" approach, instead of less intuitive .slice(1).