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  3. Node.js — How to Download a File

Node.js — How to Download a File

You can download a file in Node.js in different ways. Node.js comes with built-in functions to download and save a file to your local disk. You can combine the integrated https and fs modules to download files from the Internet.

This tutorial shows you how to use native Node.js features to download a file from the Internet to your local computer.

Node.js Series Overview

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  7. Overview of Promise-Based APIs in Node.js
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  1. Get a File’s Created Date
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  3. How to Create an Empty File
  4. Check If a Path or File Exists
  5. How to Rename a File
  6. Check If a Path Is a Directory
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  8. Retrieve the Path to the User’s Home Directory
  9. How to Touch a File
  10. Read File Content as String
  11. Check If a Directory Is Empty
  12. How to Create a Directory (and Parents If Needed)
  13. Get a File‘s Extension
  14. Get the Size of a File
  15. Get a File Name (With or Without Extension)
  16. Read a JSON File
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  23. What is `Fs.realpath`?
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  1. Calculate an MD5 Hash
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  1. Using the Styletext Utility for Terminal Text Formatting

Download a File in Node.js

Node.js’ https module allows you to send requests HTTPS requests. The given https.get method accepts the resource URL and an options object. In this example, we’re using the file URL on the Internet and skip the request options because we don’t need them.

The https.get method provides the response instance in a callback function. The response gives you access to the response status code, headers, and payload. Determine whether the request is successful and pipe the response data into a local file.

You can create a write stream piping the response data into a local target file. Here’s a sample function to download a file in Node.js:

import Fs from 'fs'  
import Https from 'https'

/**
 * Download a file from the given `url` into the `targetFile`.
 *
 * @param {String} url
 * @param {String} targetFile
 *
 * @returns {Promise<void>}
 */
async function downloadFile (url, targetFile) {  
  return await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    Https.get(url, response => {
      const code = response.statusCode ?? 0

      if (code >= 400) {
        return reject(new Error(response.statusMessage))
      }

      // handle redirects
      if (code > 300 && code < 400 && !!response.headers.location) {
        return resolve(
          downloadFile(response.headers.location, targetFile)
        )
      }

      // save the file to disk
      const fileWriter = Fs
        .createWriteStream(targetFile)
        .on('finish', () => {
          resolve({})
        })

      response.pipe(fileWriter)
    }).on('error', error => {
      reject(error)
    })
  })
}

Notice: the downloadFile function above wraps the https.get method into a promise. You may not need the promise. Modern Node.js code typically uses async/await instead of callbacks. That’s the reason you may want to use promises as well.

Then use the downloadFile method to download content from the Internet. For example, you may want to download a new wallpaper like this:

const targetFile = 'wallpaper.png'  
const wallpaperUrl = 'https://unsplash.com/photos/W-fi1aeE-N8'

await download(wallpaperUrl, targetFile)

That’s it! Enjoy downloading files in Node.js!

Mentioned Resources

Marcus Pöhls

Marcus is a fullstack JS developer. He’s passionate about the hapi framework for Node.js and loves to build web apps and APIs. Creator of Futureflix and the “learn hapi” learning path.

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