Delete several files in node.js

Question

What is the best way to delete several files in node.js?

function deleteFiles(files, callback){
    ...
}

var files = [\'file1.js\', \'file2.jpg\', \'file3.css\         


        

Answer 1

You can use this to delete multiple files (for linux env ES6 syntax)

import {execSync} from "child_process";
...

...
const files = ['file1.js', 'file2.jpg', 'file3.css'];
// just example path
const rootDir = '/var/www/files/';
if (files.length > 0)
    execSync('rm -f' + files.map(o => rootDir + o.replace(/(\s+)/g, '\\$1')).join(' '));

rm -f to ignore if files are missing and replace to escape spaces if file names contains it,

Answer 2

Best way is delete files synchronously into a loop using unlinkSync(path) function (see the doc), from node v7.6.0 so far.

Syntax is provided below:

// myListOfFiles will be your list of files with paths relative to your script.
myListOfFiles.forEach(filePath => {
 fs.unlinkSync(filePath);
 return;
});

A reference here

Answer 3

I personally like shortcode (in one line)

files.forEach(path => fs.existsSync(path) && fs.unlinkSync(path))

So maybe using async/await style it's easier (complete example):

try {
  var files = ['file1.js', 'file2.jpg', 'file3.css'];
  files.forEach(path => fs.existsSync(path) && fs.unlinkSync(path))
  // success code here
} catch (err) {
  // error handling here
  console.error(err)
}

Answer 4

Promisified and slightly improved version Chris answer.

async deleteAll(filePathsList) {
    try {
        await this.deleteFiles(filePathsList);
        logger.log('info', "Following files deleted successfully from EFS --> " + filePathsList.toString());
        return true;
    } catch (error) {
        logger.log('error', error.stack || error);
        logger.log('error', "Error occured while deleting files from EFS");
        return false;
    }
}
async deleteFiles(files) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        let i = files.length;
        files.forEach(function(filepath) {
            fs.unlink(filepath, function(err) {
                i--;
                if (err && err.code == 'ENOENT') {
                    // file doens't exist
                    logger.log('info', "Following file doesn't exist, So won't be deleted-->" + (filepath || ''));
                } else if (err) {
                    // other errors, e.g. maybe we don't have enough permission
                    logger.log('error', "Error occured while deleting the file  " + (filepath || '') + " due to error" + err);
                    reject(err);
                    return;
                } else if (i <= 0) {
                    resolve();
                }
            });
        });
    })
}

Answer 5

This deletes the files in an array and runs the callback once only after all files have been deleted.

function deleteFiles(files, callback){
   if (files.length==0) callback();
   else {
      var f = files.pop();
      fs.unlink(f, function(err){
         if (err) callback(err);
         else {
            console.log(f + ' deleted.');
            deleteFiles(files, callback);
         }
      });
   }
}

Answer 6

Here is a code to delete several files from directory in node.js,

var fs = require('fs');

var removeFile= function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log("unlink failed", err);
    } else {
        console.log("file deleted");
    }
}

fs.unlink('filepath', removeFile); // for single file


//for multiple files...

_.map(yourArray,(files)=>{
    fs.unlink('filepath', removeFile);
});