Check synchronously if file/directory exists in Node.js

Question

The answer to this question has changed over the years. The current answer is here at the top, followed by the various answers over the years in chronological order:

Current Answer

You can use fs.existsSync():

const fs = require("fs"); // Or `import fs from "fs";` with ESM
if (fs.existsSync(path)) {
    // Do something
}

It was deprecated for several years, but no longer is. From the docs:

Note that fs.exists() is deprecated, but fs.existsSync() is not. (The callback parameter to fs.exists() accepts parameters that are inconsistent with other Node.js callbacks. fs.existsSync() does not use a callback.)

You've specifically asked for a synchronous check, but if you can use an asynchronous check instead (usually best with I/O), use fs.promises.access if you're using async functions or fs.access (since exists is deprecated) if not:

In an async function:

try {
    await fs.promises.access("somefile");
    // The check succeeded
} catch (error) {
    // The check failed
}

Or with a callback:

fs.access("somefile", error => {
    if (!error) {
        // The check succeeded
    } else {
        // The check failed
    }
});

---

Historical Answers

Here are the historical answers in chronological order:

• Original answer from 2010
  (stat/statSync or lstat/lstatSync)
• Update September 2012
  (exists/existsSync)
• Update February 2015
  (Noting impending deprecation of exists/existsSync, so we're probably back to stat/statSync or lstat/lstatSync)
• Update December 2015
  (There's also fs.access(path, fs.F_OK, function(){}) / fs.accessSync(path, fs.F_OK), but note that if the file/directory doesn't exist, it's an error; docs for fs.stat recommend using fs.access if you need to check for existence without opening)
• Update December 2016
  fs.exists() is still deprecated but fs.existsSync() is no longer deprecated. So you can safely use it now.

Original answer from 2010:

You can use statSync or lstatSync (docs link), which give you an fs.Stats object. In general, if a synchronous version of a function is available, it will have the same name as the async version with Sync at the end. So statSync is the synchronous version of stat; lstatSync is the synchronous version of lstat, etc.

lstatSync tells you both whether something exists, and if so, whether it's a file or a directory (or in some file systems, a symbolic link, block device, character device, etc.), e.g. if you need to know if it exists and is a directory:

var fs = require('fs');
try {
    // Query the entry
    stats = fs.lstatSync('/the/path');

    // Is it a directory?
    if (stats.isDirectory()) {
        // Yes it is
    }
}
catch (e) {
    // ...
}

...and similarly, if it's a file, there's isFile; if it's a block device, there's isBlockDevice, etc., etc. Note the try/catch; it throws an error if the entry doesn't exist at all.

If you don't care what the entry is and only want to know whether it exists, you can use path.existsSync (or with latest, fs.existsSync) as noted by user618408:

var path = require('path');
if (path.existsSync("/the/path")) { // or fs.existsSync
    // ...
}

It doesn't require a try/catch but gives you no information about what the thing is, just that it's there. path.existsSync was deprecated long ago.

---

Side note: You've expressly asked how to check synchronously, so I've used the xyzSync versions of the functions above. But wherever possible, with I/O, it really is best to avoid synchronous calls. Calls into the I/O subsystem take significant time from a CPU's point of view. Note how easy it is to call lstat rather than lstatSync:

// Is it a directory?
lstat('/the/path', function(err, stats) {
    if (!err && stats.isDirectory()) {
        // Yes it is
    }
});

But if you need the synchronous version, it's there.

Update September 2012

The below answer from a couple of years ago is now a bit out of date. The current way is to use fs.existsSync to do a synchronous check for file/directory existence (or of course fs.exists for an asynchronous check), rather than the path versions below.

Example:

var fs = require('fs');

if (fs.existsSync(path)) {
    // Do something
}

// Or

fs.exists(path, function(exists) {
    if (exists) {
        // Do something
    }
});

Update February 2015

And here we are in 2015 and the Node docs now say that fs.existsSync (and fs.exists) "will be deprecated". (Because the Node folks think it's dumb to check whether something exists before opening it, which it is; but that's not the only reason for checking whether something exists!)

So we're probably back to the various stat methods... Until/unless this changes yet again, of course.

Update December 2015

Don't know how long it's been there, but there's also fs.access(path, fs.F_OK, ...) / fs.accessSync(path, fs.F_OK). And at least as of October 2016, the fs.stat documentation recommends using fs.access to do existence checks ("To check if a file exists without manipulating it afterwards, fs.access() is recommended."). But note that the access not being available is considered an error, so this would probably be best if you're expecting the file to be accessible:

var fs = require('fs');

try {
    fs.accessSync(path, fs.F_OK);
    // Do something
} catch (e) {
    // It isn't accessible
}

// Or

fs.access(path, fs.F_OK, function(err) {
    if (!err) {
        // Do something
    } else {
        // It isn't accessible
    }
});

Update December 2016

You can use fs.existsSync():

if (fs.existsSync(path)) {
    // Do something
}

It was deprecated for several years, but no longer is. From the docs:

Note that fs.exists() is deprecated, but fs.existsSync() is not. (The callback parameter to fs.exists() accepts parameters that are inconsistent with other Node.js callbacks. fs.existsSync() does not use a callback.)

Looking at the source, there's a synchronous version of path.exists - path.existsSync. Looks like it got missed in the docs.

Update:

path.exists and path.existsSync are now deprecated. Please use fs.exists and fs.existsSync.

Update 2016:

fs.exists and fs.existsSync have also been deprecated. Use fs.stat() or fs.access() instead.

Update 2019:

use fs.existsSync. It's not deprecated. https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_existssync_path

Using the currently recommended (as of 2015) APIs (per the Node docs), this is what I do:

var fs = require('fs');

function fileExists(filePath)
{
    try
    {
        return fs.statSync(filePath).isFile();
    }
    catch (err)
    {
        return false;
    }
}

In response to the EPERM issue raised by @broadband in the comments, that brings up a good point. fileExists() is probably not a good way to think about this in many cases, because fileExists() can't really promise a boolean return. You may be able to determine definitively that the file exists or doesn't exist, but you may also get a permissions error. The permissions error doesn't necessarily imply that the file exists, because you could lack permission to the directory containing the file on which you are checking. And of course there is the chance you could encounter some other error in checking for file existence.

So my code above is really doesFileExistAndDoIHaveAccessToIt(), but your question might be doesFileNotExistAndCouldICreateIt(), which would be completely different logic (that would need to account for an EPERM error, among other things).

While the fs.existsSync answer addresses the question asked here directly, that is often not going to be what you want (you don't just want to know if "something" exists at a path, you probably care about whether the "thing" that exists is a file or a directory).

The bottom line is that if you're checking to see if a file exists, you are probably doing that because you intend to take some action based on the result, and that logic (the check and/or subsequent action) should accommodate the idea that a thing found at that path may be a file or a directory, and that you may encounter EPERM or other errors in the process of checking.

Another Update

Needing an answer to this question myself I looked up the node docs, seems you should not be using fs.exists, instead use fs.open and use outputted error to detect if a file does not exist:

from the docs:

fs.exists() is an anachronism and exists only for historical reasons. There should almost never be a reason to use it in your own code.

In particular, checking if a file exists before opening it is an anti-pattern that leaves you vulnerable to race conditions: another process may remove the file between the calls to fs.exists() and fs.open(). Just open the file and handle the error when it's not there.

http://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_exists_path_callback