How to download a file with Node.js (without using third-party libraries)?

Question

How do I download a file with Node.js without using third-party libraries?

I don\'t need anything special. I only want to download a file from a giv

Answer 1

gfxmonk's answer has a very tight data race between the callback and the file.close() completing. file.close() actually takes a callback that is called when the close has completed. Otherwise, immediate uses of the file may fail (very rarely!).

A complete solution is:

var http = require('http');
var fs = require('fs');

var download = function(url, dest, cb) {
  var file = fs.createWriteStream(dest);
  var request = http.get(url, function(response) {
    response.pipe(file);
    file.on('finish', function() {
      file.close(cb);  // close() is async, call cb after close completes.
    });
  });
}

Without waiting for the finish event, naive scripts may end up with an incomplete file. Without scheduling the cb callback via close, you may get a race between accessing the file and the file actually being ready.