How to create a file using the filesystem (fs) module in Node.js

The feature of create a file, is one of the most basic programming tasks that you need to know in any programming language. In this case, in Node.js this task is really easy to achieve.

The basics

To create a file with Node.js, we are going to use the built-in FileSystem module. To use this module use:

var fileSystem = require('fs');

all the methods have asynchronous and synchronous forms.

There are 3 ways to create a file: asynchronously, synchronously and non-blocking:

Asynchronously

To create a file in the asynchronous way, use the following snippet. It uses the writeFile method, this method writes data to a file, replacing the file if it already exists. The data can be a string or a buffer.

var fs = require('fs');

// Change the content of the file as you want
// or either set fileContent to null to create an empty file
var fileContent = "Hello World!";

// The absolute path of the new file with its name
var filepath = "mynewfile.txt";

fs.writeFile(filepath, fileContent, (err) => {
    if (err) throw err;

    console.log("The file was succesfully saved!");
}); 

Or write a buffer directly. In this case, we are going to save a file image from a base64 string:

var fs = require('fs');
// a base64 string of a gif image
var fileContent = "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";

// The absolute path of the new file with its name
var filepath = "image.gif";

// Save with a buffer as content from a base64 image
fs.writeFile(filepath, new Buffer(fileContent, "base64"), (err) => {
    if (err) throw err;

    console.log("The file was succesfully saved!");
}); 

If you want to change the encoding of your file, provide it as third parameter.

var content = "hello world!";
var encoding = "utf8";

fs.writeFile('myfile.txt', content, encoding, (err) => {
    if (err) throw err;

    console.log("The file was succesfully saved!");
});

Note that it is unsafe to use fs.writeFile multiple times on the same file without waiting for the callback. For this scenario, fs.createWriteStream is strongly recommended.

Synchronously

To write a file synchronously, use the writeFileSync method. This method is the synchronous version of fs.writeFile. It always returns undefined, so use a try and catch block to handle any error.

var fs = require('fs');
var content = "hello world!";

try{
    fs.writeFileSync('myfile.txt', content);
}catch (e){
    console.log("Cannot write file ", e);
}

All data needs to be stored at the same time, that means that you cannot perform sequential writes.

In the same way that fs.writeFile does, you can save a buffer instead of a string and specify the encoding by setting the third parameter.

Non-blocking way

Instead of write a huge file with some data at once, you can optimize the performance by implementing a writable stream. This method comes in handy when you work with huge text files like log files.

var fs = require('fs');
var stream = fs.createWriteStream("myfile.txt");

stream.once('open', (fd) => {
    stream.write("First line\n");
    stream.write("Second line\n");

    // Important to close the stream when you're ready
    stream.end();
});

A WriteStream will be created, which is very convenient because you don't need to wait for any callback. In the same way writeFile and writeFileSync does, if the second parameter of createWriteStream is a string, then it specifies the encoding.