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node.jssymlink

How to force a symlink creation by overriding the existing symlink?

I use the fs module to create symlinks.

fs.symlink("target", "path/to/symlink", function (e) {
   if (e) { ... }
});

If the path/to/symlink already exists, an error is sent in the callback.

How can I force symlink creation and override the existing symlink?

Is there another alternative than check error + delete existing symlink + try again?

Solution

  • When using the ln command line tool we can do this using the -f (force) flag

    ln -sf target symlink-name

    However, this is not possible using the fs API unless we implement this feature in a module.

    I created lnf - a module to override existing symlinks.

    // Dependencies
var Lnf = require("lnf");

// Create the symlink
Lnf.sync("foo", __dirname + "/baz");

// Override it
Lnf("bar", __dirname + "/baz", function (err) {
    console.log(err || "Overriden the baz symlink.");
});

    Read the full documentation on the GitHub repository