Node.js — Handling `fs.Stats` Constructor is Deprecated

You may notice a deprecation warning in your terminal that the fs.Stats constructor is deprecated. Node.js deprecated the public fs.Stats constructor in version 22.0.0:

(node:17560) [DEP0180] DeprecationWarning: fs.Stats constructor is deprecated.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)

This tutorial shows you how to handle the deprecation in your project.

Node.js Series Overview

  1. String Replace All Appearances
  2. Remove All Whitespace From a String in JavaScript
  3. Generate a Random ID or String in Node.js or JavaScript
  4. Remove Extra Spaces From a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  5. Remove Numbers From a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  6. Get the Part Before a Character in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  7. Get the Part After a Character in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  8. How to Check if a Value is a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  9. Check If a String Includes All Strings in JavaScript/Node.js/TypeScript
  10. Check if a Value is a String in JavaScript and Node.js
  11. Limit and Truncate a String to a Given Length in JavaScript and Node.js
  12. Split a String into a List of Characters in JavaScript and Node.js
  13. How to Generage a UUID in Node.js
  14. Reverse a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  15. Split a String into a List of Lines in JavaScript or Node.js
  16. Split a String into a List of Words in JavaScript or Node.js
  17. Detect if a String is in camelCase Format in Javascript or Node.js
  18. Check If a String Is in Lowercase in JavaScript or Node.js
  19. Check If a String is in Uppercase in JavaScript or Node.js
  20. Get the Part After First Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  21. Get the Part Before First Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  22. Get the Part Before Last Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  23. Get the Part After Last Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  24. How to Count Words in a File
  25. How to Shuffle the Characters of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  26. Append Characters or Words to a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  27. Check if a String is Empty in JavaScript or Node.js
  28. Ensure a String Ends with a Given Character in JavaScript or Node.js
  29. Left-Trim Characters Off a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  30. Right-Trim Characters Off a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  31. Lowercase the First Character of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  32. Uppercase the First Character of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  33. Prepend Characters or Words to a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  34. Check if a String is a Number
  35. Convert a String to Buffer
  36. Prevent Line Breaks in String Template Literals
  37. How to Implement a Custom `toString` Method
  38. What Is `Symbol.toStringTag` and How to Use It (Coming soon)

Don’t use new Stats() in Node.js 22+

Starting from Node.js 22 you shouldn’t use the fs.Stats class constructor by yourself. Node.js prints this deprecation message when creating a new stats instance manually:

import { Stats } from 'node:fs'

const stats = new Stats() //  👈 public constructor is deprecated since Node.js v22  

Replace new Stats() with undefined

Let’s look at an example where you use a tryStatSync helper method. This tryStatSync helper method always returns a Stats instance:

import { Stats, statSync } from 'node:fs'

/**
 * @returns {Stats}
 */
function tryStatSync(filePath) {  
  try {
    return statSync(path)
  } catch {
    return new Stats() //  👈 deprecated since Node.js v22
  }
}

Notice the new Stats() call in the catch block. This manually created instance causes the deprecation message.

A way to refactor the tryStatSync method is to return undefined in cases of errors. You’re still catching all errors and the return values are a Stats instance or undefined. Here’s the updated tryStatSync method returning undefined when an error happens:

import { statSync } from 'node:fs'

/**
 * @returns {Stats | undefined}
 */
function tryStatSync(filePath) {  
  try {
    return statSync(path)
  } catch {
    return undefined // instead of `new Stats()` here
  }
}

Your code consuming the tryStatSync method must change to check whether the return value is a Stats instance. If yes, you can go ahead and call the methods or access attributes:

const stats = tryStatSync('my/file/path')

if (stats && stats.isDirectory()) {  
  // your handling …
}

That’s it!


Mentioned Resources

Explore the Library

Find interesting tutorials and solutions for your problems.