How do I move files in node.js?

Question

According to seppo0010 comment, I used the rename function to do that.

http://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/fs.html#fs_fs_rename_oldpath_newpath_callback

fs.rename(oldPath, newPath, callback)

Added in: v0.0.2

oldPath <String> | <Buffer>
newPath <String> | <Buffer>
callback <Function>

Asynchronous rename(2). No arguments other than a possible exception are given to the completion callback.

Using nodejs natively

var fs = require('fs')

var oldPath = 'old/path/file.txt'
var newPath = 'new/path/file.txt'

fs.rename(oldPath, newPath, function (err) {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log('Successfully renamed - AKA moved!')
})

(NOTE: "This will not work if you are crossing partitions or using a virtual filesystem not supporting moving files. [...]" – Flavien Volken Sep 2 '15 at 12:50")

This example taken from: Node.js in Action

A move() function that renames, if possible, or falls back to copying

var fs = require('fs');

module.exports = function move(oldPath, newPath, callback) {

    fs.rename(oldPath, newPath, function (err) {
        if (err) {
            if (err.code === 'EXDEV') {
                copy();
            } else {
                callback(err);
            }
            return;
        }
        callback();
    });

    function copy() {
        var readStream = fs.createReadStream(oldPath);
        var writeStream = fs.createWriteStream(newPath);

        readStream.on('error', callback);
        writeStream.on('error', callback);

        readStream.on('close', function () {
            fs.unlink(oldPath, callback);
        });

        readStream.pipe(writeStream);
    }
}

Use the mv node module which will first try to do an fs.rename and then fallback to copying and then unlinking.

util.pump is deprecated in node 0.10 and generates warning message

 util.pump() is deprecated. Use readableStream.pipe() instead

So the solution for copying files using streams is:

var source = fs.createReadStream('/path/to/source');
var dest = fs.createWriteStream('/path/to/dest');

source.pipe(dest);
source.on('end', function() { /* copied */ });
source.on('error', function(err) { /* error */ });

The fs-extra module allows you to do this with it's move() method. I already implemented it and it works well if you want to completely move a file from one directory to another - ie. removing the file from the source directory. Should work for most basic cases.

var fs = require('fs-extra')

fs.move('/tmp/somefile', '/tmp/does/not/exist/yet/somefile', function (err) {
 if (err) return console.error(err)
 console.log("success!")
})

Using promises for Node versions greater than 8.0.0:

const {promisify} = require('util');
const fs = require('fs');
const {join} = require('path');
const mv = promisify(fs.rename);

const moveThem = async () => {
  // Move file ./bar/foo.js to ./baz/qux.js
  const original = join(__dirname, 'bar/foo.js');
  const target = join(__dirname, 'baz/qux.js'); 
  await mv(original, target);
}

moveThem();