How to check if a directory exists in Node.js

The Node.js fs native module provides several useful methods that you can use to work with directories. The simplest way to check if a certain directory exists in Node.js is by using the fs.existsSync() method.

The existsSync() method asynchronously checks for the existence of the given directory. Here is an example:

const fs = require('fs')

// directory to check if exists
const dir = './uploads'

// check if directory exists
if (fs.existsSync(dir)) {
  console.log('Directory exists!')
} else {
  console.log('Directory not found.')
}

The existsSync() method returns true if the path exists, false otherwise.

If you prefer to use an asynchronous check, use the fs.access() method instead. This method takes a path as input and tests the user's permissions.

Let us look at the below example that uses fs.access() to check if the given directory exists:

const fs = require('fs')

// directory to check if exists
const dir = './uploads'

// check if directory exists
fs.access(dir, err => {
  console.log(`Directory ${err ? 'does not exist' : 'exists'}`)
})

Read this guide to learn more about reading and writing files in a Node.js application.

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