Node.js fs module and windows paths

Question

Does the Node.js fs module implicitly convert Windows folder path separators from '\\' to '/'?

For example, if I use this call on Windows:

fs.readdirSync(dir).forEach(function(file) {

});

file argument has '/' path separators, not '\\', why is that?

Yes... Now the path separator is not an issue to tackle – binariedMe Aug 06 '15 at 06:14 — binariedMe, Aug 06 '15 at 06:14

score 35 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 19 '19 at 18:37

35

Yes it does. See more: Writing cross-platform Node.js

Be sure to use path.join and path.normalize instead of having explicit path separators (/, \, \\, etc) in your code.

edited Jun 19 '19 at 18:37

marcusshep

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answered Aug 06 '15 at 06:41

krl

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and use `path.sep` where necessary, instead of explicit path separators – Alexander Mills Jul 12 '17 at 21:32
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For those who are curious, this is the source code of `path` in Node.js https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/lib/path.js – Joël Jan 11 '21 at 13:18
With the caveats around `node:path/posix` and friend. – Lee Goddard May 24 '23 at 11:24

Lee Goddard · Answer 2 · 2023-05-25T12:38:47.623

Sometimes. The documentation includes this:

path.win32 The path.win32 property provides access to Windows-specific implementations of the path methods.

The API is accessible via require('node:path').win32 or require('node:path/win32').

The docs also include this:

path.posix The path.posix property provides access to POSIX specific implementations of the path methods.

The API is accessible via require('node:path').posix or require('node:path/posix').

This only really becomes an issue for me when dealing with "drive letters": I try to keep everything relative, but there are times when that is not possible.

Node.js fs module and windows paths

2 Answers2