Node.js fs.lstat() Method

The fs.lstat() method is similar to the fs.stat() method except that it is used to return information about the symbolic link that is being used to refer to a file or directory. The fs.Stat object returned has several fields and methods to get more details about the file.

Syntax:

fs.lstat( path, options, callback )

Parameters: This method accept three parameters as mentioned above and described below:

• path: It is a String, Buffer or URL that holds the path of the symbolic link.
• options: It is an object that can be used to specify optional parameters that will affect the output. It has one optional parameter:
  • bigint: It is a boolean value which specifies if the numeric values returned in the fs.Stats object are bigint. The default value is false.
• callback: It is the function that would be called when the method is executed.
  • err: It is an error that would be thrown if the method.
  • Stats: It is the Stats object that contains the details of the file path.

Below examples illustrate the fs.lstat() method in Node.js:

Example 1: This example uses fs.lstat() method to get the details of a symbolic link to a file.

// Node.js program to demonstrate the
// fs.lstat() method

// Import the filesystem module
const fs = require('fs');

fs.symlinkSync(__dirname + "\\example_file.txt",
                        "symlinkToFile", 'file');
console.log("Symlink to file created")

fs.lstat("symlinkToFile", (err, stats) => {
  if (err)
    console.log(err);
  else {
    console.log("Stat of symlinkToFile")
    console.log(stats);
  }
});

Output:

Symlink to file created
Stat of symlinkToFile
Stats {
  dev: 3229478529,
  mode: 41398,
  nlink: 1,
  uid: 0,
  gid: 0,
  rdev: 0,
  blksize: 4096,
  ino: 281474976780939,
  size: 45,
  blocks: 0,
  atimeMs: 1585207132017.4473,
  mtimeMs: 1585207132017.4473,
  ctimeMs: 1585207132017.4473,
  birthtimeMs: 1585207132017.4473,
  atime: 2020-03-26T07:18:52.017Z,
  mtime: 2020-03-26T07:18:52.017Z,
  ctime: 2020-03-26T07:18:52.017Z,
  birthtime: 2020-03-26T07:18:52.017Z
}

Example 2: This example uses fs.lstat() method to get the details of a symbolic link to a folder.

// Node.js program to demonstrate the
// fs.lstat() method

// Import the filesystem module
const fs = require('fs');

fs.symlinkSync(__dirname + "\\example_directory",
                          "symlinkToDir", 'dir');

console.log("Symlink to directory created")

fs.lstat("symlinkToDir", (err, stats) => {
  if (err)
    console.log(err);
  else {
    console.log("Stat of symlinkToDir")
    console.log(stats);
  }
});

Output:

Symlink to directory created
Stat of symlinkToDir
Stats {
  dev: 3229478529,
  mode: 41398,
  nlink: 1,
  uid: 0,
  gid: 0,
  rdev: 0,
  blksize: 4096,
  ino: 281474976780940,
  size: 46,
  blocks: 0,
  atimeMs: 1585207184224.7136,
  mtimeMs: 1585207184224.7136,
  ctimeMs: 1585207184224.7136,
  birthtimeMs: 1585207184224.7136,
  atime: 2020-03-26T07:19:44.225Z,
  mtime: 2020-03-26T07:19:44.225Z,
  ctime: 2020-03-26T07:19:44.225Z,
  birthtime: 2020-03-26T07:19:44.225Z
}

Reference: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_lstat_path_options_callback