Copy folder recursively in Node js

Question

Is there an easier way to copy a folder and all its content without manually doing a sequence of fs readir  fs readfile  fs writefile recursively  I am just wondering if I m missing a function which would ideally work like this  fs copy  quot  path to source folder quot    quot  path to destination folder quot

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For a Linux Unix OS  you can use the shell syntax const shell   require  child process   execSync   const src     path src   const dist     path dist    shell  mkdir -p   dist     shell  cp -r   src      dist      That s it

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Yes  ncp is cool though    You might want should promisify its function to make it super cool  While you re at it  add it to a tools file to reuse it  Below is a working version which is Async and uses Promises   File index js const  copyFolder    require    tools      return copyFolder      yourSourcePath      yourDestinationPath    then      gt        console log  - gt  Backup completed        catch  err    gt        console log  quot - gt   ERR  Could not copy the folder   quot   err       File tools js const ncp   require  quot ncp quot            Promise Version of ncp ncp         This function promisifies ncp ncp       We take the asynchronous function ncp ncp   with    callback semantics and derive from it a new function with    promise semantics      ncp ncpAsync   function  sourcePath  destinationPath      return new Promise function  resolve  reject          try             ncp ncp sourcePath  destinationPath  function err                 if  err  reject err   else resolve                          catch  err              reject err                            Utility function to copy folders asynchronously using    the Promise returned by ncp ncp        const copyFolder    sourcePath  destinationPath    gt        return ncp ncpAsync sourcePath  destinationPath  function  err            if  err                return console error err                       module exports copyFolder   copyFolder

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Use shelljs npm i -D shelljs const bash   require  shelljs    bash cp  quot -rf quot    quot  path to source folder quot    quot  path to destination folder quot

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If you are on Linux  and performance is not an issue  you may use the exec function from child process module  to execute a Bash command  const   exec     require  child process    exec  cp -r source dest    error  stdout  stderr    gt           In some cases  I found this solution cleaner than downloading an entire module or even using the fs module

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You can use the ncp module  I think this is what you need

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This is pretty easy with Node js 10  const FSP   require  fs   promises   async function copyDir src dest        const entries   await FSP readdir src   withFileTypes  true        await FSP mkdir dest       for let entry of entries            const srcPath   Path join src  entry name           const destPath   Path join dest  entry name           if entry isDirectory                  await copyDir srcPath  destPath             else               await FSP copyFile srcPath  destPath                      This assumes dest does not exist

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The one with symbolic link support  import path from  quot path quot  import     existsSync  mkdirSync  readdirSync  lstatSync    copyFileSync  symlinkSync  readlinkSync   from  quot fs quot    export function copyFolderSync src  dest      if   existsSync dest   mkdirSync dest     readdirSync src  forEach dirent   gt        const  srcPath  destPath     src  dest  map dirPath   gt  path join dirPath  dirent       const stat   lstatSync srcPath       switch  true          case stat isFile            copyFileSync srcPath  destPath   break       case stat isDirectory            copyFolderSync srcPath  destPath   break       case stat isSymbolicLink            symlinkSync readlinkSync srcPath   destPath   break

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It looks like ncp and wrench both are no longer maintained  Probably the best option is to use fs-extra The Developer of Wrench directs users to use fs-extra as he has deprecated his library copySync  amp  moveSync both will copy and move folders even if they have files or subfolders and you can easily move or copy files using it const fse   require  fs-extra     const srcDir    path to file   const destDir    path to destination directory                                     To copy a folder or file   fse copySync srcDir  destDir  function  err      if  err                          console error err              overwrite  true      add if you want to replace existing folder or file with same name     else       console log  quot success  quot             OR    To copy a folder or file   fse moveSync srcDir  destDir  function  err      if  err                          console error err              overwrite  true      add if you want to replace existing folder or file with same name     else       console log  quot success  quot

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fs-extra worked for me when ncp and wrench fell short   https   www npmjs com package fs-extra

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The fs-extra module works like a charm  Install fs-extra    npm install fs-extra  The following is the program to copy a source directory to a destination directory     Include the fs-extra package var fs   require  quot fs-extra quot     var source    folderA  var destination    folderB      Copy the source folder to the destination fs copy source  destination  function  err        if  err           console log  An error occurred while copying the folder            return console error err            console log  Copy completed         References fs-extra  https   www npmjs com package fs-extra Example  Node js Tutorial - Node js Copy a Folder

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I created a small working example that copies a source folder to another destination folder in just a few steps  based on shift66 s answer using ncp   Step 1 - Install ncp module  npm install ncp --save  Step 2 - create copy js  modify the srcPath and destPath variables to whatever you need   var path   require  path    var ncp   require  ncp   ncp   ncp limit   16   var srcPath   path dirname require main filename      Current folder var destPath     path to destination folder      Any destination folder  console log  Copying files       ncp srcPath  destPath  function  err      if  err        return console error err         console log  Copying files complete          Step 3 - run node copy js

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This code will work just fine  recursively copying any folder to any location  But it is Windows only  var child   require  quot child process quot    function copySync from  to       from   from replace     gim   quot    quot        to   to replace     gim   quot    quot        child exec  quot xcopy  y  q   quot  quot    from    quot      quot    quot  quot    to    quot     quot  quot       It works perfectly for my textbased game for creating new players

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I know so many answers are already here  but no one answered it in a simple way  Regarding fs-exra official documentation  you can do it very easy  const fs   require  fs-extra       Copy file fs copySync   tmp myfile     tmp mynewfile       Copy directory  even if it has subdirectories or files fs copySync   tmp mydir     tmp mynewdir

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I wrote this function for both copying  copyFileSync  or moving  renameSync  files recursively between directories     Copy files copyDirectoryRecursiveSync sourceDir  targetDir      Move files copyDirectoryRecursiveSync sourceDir  targetDir  true     function copyDirectoryRecursiveSync source  target  move        if   fs lstatSync source  isDirectory            return       var operation   move   fs renameSync   fs copyFileSync      fs readdirSync source  forEach function  itemName            var sourcePath   path join source  itemName           var targetPath   path join target  itemName            if  fs lstatSync sourcePath  isDirectory                  fs mkdirSync targetPath               copyDirectoryRecursiveSync sourcePath  targetDir                     else               operation sourcePath  targetPath

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If you want to copy all contents of source directory recursively then you need to pass recursive option as true and try catch is documented way by fs-extra for sync As fs-extra is complete replacement of fs so you don t need to import the base module const fs   require  fs-extra    let sourceDir     tmp src dir   let destDir     tmp dest dir   try     fs copySync sourceDir  destDir    recursive  true      console log  success      catch  err      console error err

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This is my approach to solve this problem without any extra modules  Just using the built-in fs and path modules  Note  This does use the read   write functions of fs  so it does not copy any meta data  time of creation  etc    As of Node js 8 5 there is a copyFileSync function available which calls the OS copy functions and therefore also copies meta data  I did not test them yet  but it should work to just replace them   See https   nodejs org api fs html fs fs copyfilesync src dest flags  var fs   require  fs    var path   require  path     function copyFileSync  source  target          var targetFile   target          If target is a directory  a new file with the same name will be created     if   fs existsSync  target               if   fs lstatSync  target   isDirectory                   targetFile   path join  target  path basename  source                           fs writeFileSync targetFile  fs readFileSync source       function copyFolderRecursiveSync  source  target         var files               Check if folder needs to be created or integrated     var targetFolder   path join  target  path basename  source          if    fs existsSync  targetFolder               fs mkdirSync  targetFolder                  Copy     if   fs lstatSync  source   isDirectory               files   fs readdirSync  source            files forEach  function   file                 var curSource   path join  source  file                if   fs lstatSync  curSource   isDirectory                       copyFolderRecursiveSync  curSource  targetFolder                  else                   copyFileSync  curSource  targetFolder

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Be careful when picking your package  Some packages like copy-dir does not support copying large files more than 0X1FFFFFE8 characters  about 537 MB  long  It will throw some error like   buffer js 630 Uncaught Error  Cannot create a string longer than 0x1fffffe8 characters  I have experienced something like this in one of my projects  Ultimately  I had to change the package I was using and adjust a lot of code  I would say that this is not a very pleasant experience  If multiple source and multiple destination copies are desired  you can use better-copy and write something like this     Copy from multiple source into a directory bCopy    path to your folder1     path to some file txt      path to destination folder     Or even     Copy from multiple source into multiple destination bCopy    path to your folder1     path to some file txt       path to destination folder     path to another folder

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Mallikarjun M  thank you  fs-extra did the thing and it can even return a Promise if you do not provide a callback     const path   require  path   const fs   require  fs-extra    let source   path resolve    dirname   folderA   let destination   path resolve    dirname   folderB    fs copy source  destination     then      gt  console log  Copy completed        catch  err   gt        console log  An error occurred while copying the folder        return console error err

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Since I m just building a simple Node js script  I didn t want the users of the script to need to import a bunch of external modules and dependencies  so I put on my thinking cap and did a search for running commands from the Bash shell  This Node js code snippet recursively copies a folder called node-webkit app to a folder called build  child   exec  quot cp -r node-webkit app build quot   function error  stdout  stderr        sys print  quot stdout   quot    stdout       sys print  quot stderr   quot    stderr       if error     null            console log  quot exec error   quot    error         else               Thanks to Lance Pollard at dzone for getting me started  The above snippet is limited to Unix-based platforms  like macOS and Linux  but a similar technique may work for Windows

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ncp locks the file descriptor and fires a callback when it hasn t been unlocked yet  I recommend to use the recursive-copy module instead  It supports events and you can be sure in the copy ending

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I tried fs-extra and copy-dir to copy-folder-recursively  but I want it to  work normally  copy-dir throws an unreasonable error  provide two arguments in filter  filepath and filetype  fs-extra does t tell filetype  have a dir-to-subdir check and a dir-to-file check  So I wrote my own     Node js module for Node js 8 6  var path   require  quot path quot    var fs   require  quot fs quot     function copyDirSync src  dest  options      var srcPath   path resolve src     var destPath   path resolve dest     if path relative srcPath  destPath  charAt 0      quot   quot       throw new Error  quot dest path must be out of src path quot      var settings   Object assign Object create copyDirSync options   options     copyDirSync0 srcPath  destPath  settings     function copyDirSync0 srcPath  destPath  settings        var files   fs readdirSync srcPath       if   fs existsSync destPath           fs mkdirSync destPath        else if  fs lstatSync destPath  isDirectory            if settings overwrite          throw new Error  Cannot overwrite non-directory    destPath   with directory    srcPath             return            files forEach function filename          var childSrcPath   path join srcPath  filename         var childDestPath   path join destPath  filename         var type   fs lstatSync childSrcPath  isDirectory      quot directory quot     quot file quot         if  settings filter childSrcPath  type           return        if  type     quot directory quot             copyDirSync0 childSrcPath  childDestPath  settings           else           fs copyFileSync childSrcPath  childDestPath  settings overwrite   0   fs constants COPYFILE EXCL           if  settings preserveFileDate            fs futimesSync childDestPath  Date now    Date now                           copyDirSync options       overwrite  true    preserveFileDate  true    filter  function filepath  type        return true          And a similar function  mkdirs  which is an alternative to mkdirp  function mkdirsSync dest      var destPath   path resolve dest     mkdirsSync0 destPath     function mkdirsSync0 destPath        var parentPath   path dirname destPath       if parentPath    destPath        throw new Error  cannot mkdir   destPath   invalid root        if   fs existsSync destPath           mkdirsSync0 parentPath         fs mkdirSync destPath        else if  fs lstatSync destPath  isDirectory            throw new Error  cannot mkdir   destPath   a file already exists there

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This is how I would do it personally  function copyFolderSync from  to        fs mkdirSync to       fs readdirSync from  forEach element   gt            if  fs lstatSync path join from  element   isFile                  fs copyFileSync path join from  element   path join to  element              else               copyFolderSync path join from  element   path join to  element                         It works for folders and files

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Here s a function that recursively copies a directory and its contents to another directory  const fs   require  quot fs quot   const path   require  quot path quot           Look ma  it s cp -R      param  string  src  The path to the thing to copy      param  string  dest The path to the new copy      var copyRecursiveSync   function src  dest      var exists   fs existsSync src     var stats   exists  amp  amp  fs statSync src     var isDirectory   exists  amp  amp  stats isDirectory      if  isDirectory        fs mkdirSync dest       fs readdirSync src  forEach function childItemName          copyRecursiveSync path join src  childItemName                           path join dest  childItemName                else       fs copyFileSync src  dest

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The easiest approach for this problem is to use only the  fs  and  Path  module and some logic    All files in the root folder copy with the new name if you want to just set the version number  i e    quot  var v    Your Directory Name  quot  In the file name prefix with content added with the file name  var fs   require  fs-extra    var path   require  path     var c   0  var i   0  var v    quot 1 0 2 quot   var copyCounter   0  var directoryCounter   0  var directoryMakerCounter   0  var recursionCounter   -1  var Flag   false  var directoryPath       var directoryName       var directoryFileName       var fileName  var directoryNameStorer  var dc   0  var route   if   fs existsSync v         fs mkdirSync v      var basePath   path join   dirname  v     function walk dir         fs readdir dir  function err  items             items forEach function file                 file   path resolve dir  file                fs stat file  function err  stat                     if stat  amp  amp  stat isDirectory                          directoryNameStorer   path basename file                       route   file                      route   route replace  quot gd quot   v                        directoryFileName directoryCounter    route                      directoryPath directoryCounter    file                      directoryName directoryCounter    directoryNameStorer                       directoryCounter                        dc                         if   fs existsSync basePath    quot   quot    directoryName directoryMakerCounter                              fs mkdirSync directoryFileName directoryMakerCounter                            directoryMakerCounter                                                            else                       fileName   path basename file                       if recursionCounter  gt   0                            fs copyFileSync file  directoryFileName recursionCounter     quot   quot    v    quot   quot    fileName  err   gt                                if err  return console error err                                                       copyCounter                                              else                           fs copyFileSync file  v    quot   quot    v    quot   quot    fileName  err   gt                                if err  return console error err                                                       copyCounter                                                            if copyCounter   dc    items length  amp  amp  directoryCounter  gt  0  amp  amp  recursionCounter  lt  directoryMakerCounter-1                        console log  quot COPY COUNTER               quot    copyCounter                       console log  quot DC COUNTER                 quot    dc                       recursionCounter                        dc   0                      copyCounter   0                      console log  quot ITEM DOT LENGTH            quot    items length                       console log  quot RECURSION COUNTER          quot    recursionCounter                       console log  quot DIRECOTRY MAKER COUNTER    quot    directoryMakerCounter                       console log  quot   START RECURSION          quot    directoryPath recursionCounter                        walk directoryPath recursionCounter      recursive call to copy sub-folder                                                        walk    gd   function err  data       Just pass the root directory which you want to copy     if err          throw err      console log  quot done quot

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This is how I did it  let fs   require  fs    let path   require  path     Then  let filePath      Your file path  let fileList          var walkSync   function filePath  filelist                let files   fs readdirSync filePath           filelist   filelist                files forEach function file                        if  fs statSync path join filePath  file   isDirectory                                  filelist   walkSync path join filePath  file   filelist                             else                               filelist push path join filePath  file                                          Ignore hidden files         filelist   filelist filter item   gt                     g  test item             return filelist          Then call the method  This walkSync filePath  fileList

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There are some modules that support copying folders with their content  The most popular would be wrench js     Deep-copy an existing directory wrench copyDirSyncRecursive  directory to copy    location where copy should end up     An alternative would be node-fs-extra  fs copy   tmp mydir     tmp mynewdir   function  err      if  err        console error err       else       console log  quot success  quot               Copies directory  even if it has subdirectories or files

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