node - fs.writeFile creates a blank file

Question

I'm trying to write a new file inside a grunt-search callback.

The process takes and object, traverses through it for some data, creates a new array, and then writes that array to a JSON file. The writing part isn't working out so well...

// onComplete is the callback, job is a returned object.
onComplete: function(job) {
    console.log("Creating file \"localize_template\"...");
    var fs = require('fs');
    var localArray = {};
    var foundEntries = job.matches;

    var stringCount = 0;

    // Drill down to the strings that matched the search.
    for (var foundEntry in foundEntries) {
        // Stay on target...
        if (foundEntries.hasOwnProperty(foundEntry)) {
            var singleEntry = foundEntries[foundEntry];
            // Almost...there...
            for( var match in singleEntry ) {
                if (singleEntry.hasOwnProperty(match)) {

                    // Direct hit!  We've drilled down to the match string itself.
                    var theMatch = singleEntry[match].match;

                    // Now, get the terms inside the strings that were referenced.
                    var terms = theMatch.match(/".*?"/g);

                    // Iterate through those strings and add them as entries in the localArray.
                    for( var i=0; i<terms.length; i++ ) {
                        var term = terms[i].replace(/"/g, '');

                        localArray[term] = 'xx:'+term;
                        stringCount++;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    fs.writeFile( 'i18n/localize_template.json', localArray, {encoding: 'utf8'}, function(err){
        console.log("File localize_template.json create successfully.");
        if(err) {
            throw err;
        } else {
           console.log("File localize_template.json create successfully.");
        }
    });    
}

The file is being created, but it's blank. I've tried using a generic Hello World! string instead of localArray to test, but the file is still blank.

Answer 1

You need to use the synchronous version:

fs.writeFileSync("./output.txt", "file contents");