Check synchronously if file/directory exists in Node.js

Question

How can I synchronously check, using node.js, if a file or directory exists?

Answer 1

Looking at the source, there's a synchronous version of path.exists - path.existsSync. Looks like it got missed in the docs.

Update:

path.exists and path.existsSync are now deprecated. Please use fs.exists and fs.existsSync.

Update 2016:

fs.exists and fs.existsSync have also been deprecated. Use fs.stat() or fs.access() instead.

Update 2019:

use fs.existsSync. It's not deprecated. https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_existssync_path