Node.js fs.readlinkSync() Method
The fs.readlinkSync() method is an inbuilt application programming interface of fs module which is used to synchronously return a symbolic link’s value, i.e. the path it is linked to. The optional argument can be used to specify the character encoding of the link path.
Syntax:
fs.readlinkSync( path, options )
Parameters: This method accepts two parameters as mentioned above and described below:
- path: It is a String, Buffer or URL which represents the path of the symbolic link.
- options: It is an object or String that can be used to specify optional parameters that will affect the output. It has one optional parameter:
- encoding: It is a string value which specifies the character encoding in which the link path is returned. The default value is ‘utf8’.
Below examples illustrate the fs.readlinkSync() method in Node.js:
Example 1:
// Node.js program to demonstrate the // fs.readlinkSync() method // Import the filesystem module const fs = require( 'fs' ); // Create a symbolic link fs.symlinkSync(__dirname + "\\example_file.txt" , "symlinkToFile" , 'file' ); console.log( "\nSymlink created\n" ); // Get the path of the symbolic link symlinkPath = fs.readlinkSync( "symlinkToFile" ); console.log( "Path of the symlink:" , symlinkPath); |
Output:
Symlink created Path of the symlink: G:\tutorials\nodejs-fs-readlinkSync\example_file.txt
Example 2: This example creates a symlink to a directory.
// Node.js program to demonstrate the // fs.readlinkSync() method // Import the filesystem module const fs = require( 'fs' ); // Create a symbolic link fs.symlinkSync(__dirname + "\\example_directory" , "symlinkToDir" , 'dir' ); console.log( "\nSymlink created\n" ); // Get the path of the symbolic link symlinkPath = fs.readlinkSync( "symlinkToDir" ); console.log( "Path of the symlink:" , symlinkPath); |
Output:
Symlink created Path of the symlink: G:\tutorials\nodejs-fs-readlinkSync\example_directory
Reference: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_readlinksync_path_options