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node.jsfileerror-handlingfilestreamchmod

Node JS - No such file?

I'm using this piece of code to delete a file on demand

{
...
    fs.access(path, (err)=> err || fs.unlink(path));    
...
}

I got this error

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, unlink 'C:\ ... ' at Error (native)

Which makes no sense to me as I literally just checked for the files existence before attempting the unlink - I have a feeling something weird's going on behind the scenes like file locking.

How do I rectify this error?

Also, do I need to lock the file myself before I attempt to delete, to guarantee a robust and safe delete. I won't be there to manually delete the file and restart the server every time a user tries to delete their file.

Solution

  • calling fs.access before write or delete is not recommended. Please check the below link https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_access_path_mode_callback

    Using fs.access() to check for the accessibility of a file before calling fs.open(), fs.readFile() or fs.writeFile() is not recommended. Doing so introduces a race condition, since other processes may change the file's state between the two calls. Instead, user code should open/read/write the file directly and handle the error raised if the file is not accessible.