How to write file if parent folder doesn't exist?

I need to write file to the following path:

fs.writeFile('/folder1/folder2/file.txt', 'content', function () {…});

But '/folder1/folder2' path may not exists. So I get the following error:

> message=ENOENT, open /folder1/folder2/file.txt

How can I write content to that path?

As of Node v10, this is built into the fs.mkdir function, which we can use in combination with path.dirname:

var fs = require('fs');
var getDirName = require('path').dirname;

function writeFile(path, contents, cb) {
  fs.mkdir(getDirName(path), { recursive: true}, function (err) {
    if (err) return cb(err);

    fs.writeFile(path, contents, cb);
  });
}

For older versions, you can use mkdirp:

var mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
var fs = require('fs');
var getDirName = require('path').dirname;

function writeFile(path, contents, cb) {
  mkdirp(getDirName(path), function (err) {
    if (err) return cb(err);
    
    fs.writeFile(path, contents, cb);
  });
}

If the whole path already exists, mkdirp is a noop. Otherwise it creates all missing directories for you.

This module does what you want: https://npmjs.org/package/writefile . Got it when googling for "writefile mkdirp". This module returns a promise instead of taking a callback, so be sure to read some introduction to promises first. It might actually complicate things for you.

The function I gave works in any case.

I find that the easiest way to do this is to use the outputFile() method from the fs-extra module.

> Almost the same as writeFile (i.e. it overwrites), except that if the parent directory does not exist, it's created. options are what you'd pass to fs.writeFile().

Example:

var fs = require('fs-extra');
var file = '/tmp/this/path/does/not/exist/file.txt'

fs.outputFile(file, 'hello!', function (err) {
    console.log(err); // => null

    fs.readFile(file, 'utf8', function (err, data) {
        console.log(data); // => hello!
    });
});

It also has promise support out of the box these days!.

Edit

NodeJS version 10.12.0 has added a native support for both mkdir and mkdirSync to create the parent director recursively with recursive: true option as the following:

fs.mkdirSync(targetDir, { recursive: true });

And if you prefer fs Promises API, you can write

fs.promises.mkdir(targetDir, { recursive: true });

Original Answer

Create the parent directories recursively if they do not exist! (Zero dependencies)

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

function mkDirByPathSync(targetDir, { isRelativeToScript = false } = {}) {
  const sep = path.sep;
  const initDir = path.isAbsolute(targetDir) ? sep : '';
  const baseDir = isRelativeToScript ? __dirname : '.';

  return targetDir.split(sep).reduce((parentDir, childDir) => {
    const curDir = path.resolve(baseDir, parentDir, childDir);
    try {
      fs.mkdirSync(curDir);
    } catch (err) {
      if (err.code === 'EEXIST') { // curDir already exists!
        return curDir;
      }

      // To avoid `EISDIR` error on Mac and `EACCES`-->`ENOENT` and `EPERM` on Windows.
      if (err.code === 'ENOENT') { // Throw the original parentDir error on curDir `ENOENT` failure.
        throw new Error(`EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '${parentDir}'`);
      }

      const caughtErr = ['EACCES', 'EPERM', 'EISDIR'].indexOf(err.code) > -1;
      if (!caughtErr || caughtErr && curDir === path.resolve(targetDir)) {
        throw err; // Throw if it's just the last created dir.
      }
    }

    return curDir;
  }, initDir);
}

Usage

// Default, make directories relative to current working directory.
mkDirByPathSync('path/to/dir');

// Make directories relative to the current script.
mkDirByPathSync('path/to/dir', {isRelativeToScript: true});

// Make directories with an absolute path.
mkDirByPathSync('/path/to/dir');

Demo

Try It!

Explanations

• [UPDATE] This solution handles platform-specific errors like EISDIR for Mac and EPERM and EACCES for Windows.

• This solution handles both relative and absolute paths.

• In the case of relative paths, target directories will be created (resolved) in the current working directory. To Resolve them relative to the current script dir, pass {isRelativeToScript: true}.

• Using path.sep and path.resolve(), not just / concatenation, to avoid cross-platform issues.

• Using fs.mkdirSync and handling the error with try/catch if thrown to handle race conditions: another process may add the file between the calls to fs.existsSync() and fs.mkdirSync() and causes an exception.

  • The other way to achieve that could be checking if a file exists then creating it, I.e, if (!fs.existsSync(curDir) fs.mkdirSync(curDir);. But this is an anti-pattern that leaves the code vulnerable to race conditions.

• Requires Node v6 and newer to support destructuring. (If you have problems implementing this solution with old Node versions, just leave me a comment)

Perhaps most simply, you can just use the fs-path npm module.

Your code would then look like:

var fsPath = require('fs-path');

fsPath.writeFile('/folder1/folder2/file.txt', 'content', function(err){
  if(err) {
    throw err;
  } else {
    console.log('wrote a file like DaVinci drew machines');
  }
});

With node-fs-extra you can do it easily.

Install it

npm install --save fs-extra

Then use the outputFile method instead of writeFileSync

const fs = require('fs-extra');

fs.outputFile('tmp/test.txt', 'Hey there!', err => {
  if(err) {
    console.log(err);
  } else {
    console.log('The file was saved!');
  }
})

You can use

fs.stat('/folder1/folder2', function(err, stats){ ... });

stats is a fs.Stats type of object, you may check stats.isDirectory(). Depending on the examination of err and stats you can do something, fs.mkdir( ... ) or throw an error.

Reference

Update: Fixed the commas in the code.

Here's my custom function to recursively create directories (with no external dependencies):

var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');

var myMkdirSync = function(dir){
	if (fs.existsSync(dir)){
		return
	}
	
	try{
		fs.mkdirSync(dir)
	}catch(err){
		if(err.code == 'ENOENT'){
			myMkdirSync(path.dirname(dir)) //create parent dir
			myMkdirSync(dir) //create dir
		}
	}
}

myMkdirSync(path.dirname(filePath));
var file = fs.createWriteStream(filePath);

Here is my function which works in Node 10.12.0. Hope this will help.

const fs = require('fs');
function(dir,filename,content){
        fs.promises.mkdir(dir, { recursive: true }).catch(error => { console.error('caught exception : ', error.message); });
        fs.writeFile(dir+filename, content, function (err) {
            if (err) throw err;
            console.info('file saved!');
        });
    }

Here's part of Myrne Stol's answer broken out as a separate answer:

> This module does what you want: https://npmjs.org/package/writefile . > Got it when googling for "writefile mkdirp". This module returns a > promise instead of taking a callback, so be sure to read some > introduction to promises first. It might actually complicate things > for you.

let name = "./new_folder/" + file_name + ".png";
await driver.takeScreenshot().then(
  function(image, err) {
    require('mkdirp')(require('path').dirname(name), (err) => {
      require('fs').writeFile(name, image, 'base64', function(err) {
        console.log(err);
      });
    });
  }
);

In Windows you can use this code:

 try {  
   fs.writeFileSync(  './/..//..//filename.txt' , 'the text to write in the file', 'utf-8' );
     }
 catch(e){ 
  console.log(" catch XXXXXXXXX "); 
    }

This code in windows create file in 2 folder above the current folder.

> but I Can't create file in C:\ Directly