ensureSymlink() function in fs-extra - NodeJS

Introduction to Async ensureSymlink()

This method will ensure whether the symlink exists or not. It will create the directory structure if it does not exist.

Syntax

createSymlink(srcPath, destPah[, type] [, callback])

Parameters

• srcPath – The source path of the file.

• destPath – Destination path of the file.

• type – This parameter is only available on Windows and ignored on other platforms.The possible values for this parameter is dir, file or junction.

• callback – This function will give a callback if any error occurs.

Example

• Check that fs-extra is installed before proceeding; if not, install fs-exra.

• You can use the following command to check whether fs-extra is installed or not.

npm ls fs-extra

• Create a createSymlink.js and copy-paste the following code snippet into that file.

• Now, run the following command to run the following code snippet.

node createSymlink.js

const fs = require('fs-extra')

const srcPath = '/tmp/file.txt'
const destPath = '/tmp/dest/file.txt'

// Creating Symlink with a callback:
fs.ensureSymlink(srcPath, destPath, err => {
   console.log(err) // This will return null.
   // Successfully created the symlink
})

// Creating Symlink with Promises:
fs.ensureSymlink(srcPath, destPath)
.then(() => {
   console.log('success!')
})
.catch(err => {
   console.error(err)
})

// Creating Symlink with async/await:
async function createSymlinkExample (src, dest) {
   try {
      await fs.ensureSymlink(src, dest)
      console.log('Success!')
   } catch (err) {
      console.error(err)
   }
}
createSymlinkExample(srcPath, destPath)

Output

C:\Users\tutorialsPoint\> node createSymlinkExample.js
null
{ [Error: EEXIST: file already exists, symlink '/tmp/file.txt' ->
'/tmp/dest/file.txt']
   errno: -17,
   code: 'EEXIST',
   syscall: 'symlink',
   path: '/tmp/file.txt',
   dest: '/tmp/dest/file.txt' }
   { [Error: EEXIST: file already exists, symlink '/tmp/file.txt' ->
   '/tmp/dest/file.txt']
   errno: -17,
   code: 'EEXIST',
   syscall: 'symlink',
   path: '/tmp/file.txt',
dest: '/tmp/dest/file.txt' }

Introduction to ensureSymlinkSync()

This method also ensures that the symlink exists. It creates the directory structure if does not exist.

Syntax

createSymlinkSync(srcPath, destPath[, type])

Parameters

• srcPath – The source path of the file.

• destPath – Destination path of the file.

• type – This parameter is only available on Windows and ignored on other platforms. The possible values for this parameter is dir, file or junction.

Example

• Check that fs-extra is installed before proceeding; if not, install fs-exra.

• You can use the following command to check whether fs-extra is installed or not.

npm ls fs-extra

• Create a createSymlinkSyncExample.js and copy-paste the following code snippet into that file.

• Now, run the following command to run the following code snippet.

node createSymlinkSyncExample.js

Code Snippet−

const fs = require('fs-extra')

const srcPath = '/tmp/file.txt'
const destPath = '/tmp/dest2/file.txt'
fs.ensureSymlinkSync(srcPath, destPath)
console.log('Success... !')

Output

C:\Users\tutorialsPoint\> node createSymlinkSyncExample.js
Success... !