Check if a file exists with Node.js

To check if a file exists in the filesystem using Node.js, you can use the fs.existsSync method.

import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';

if (existsSync('/etc/passwd')) {
  console.log('The path exists.');
}

This method is synchronous, which means it’s blocking. If you want to check if a file exists without opening it, you can use fs.access.

import { access, constants } from 'node:fs';

const file = 'package.json';

access(file, constants.F_OK, (err) => {
  console.log(`${file} ${err ? 'does not exist' : 'exists'}`);
});