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

The documents on fs.stat() says to use fs.access() if you are not going to manipulate the file. It did not give a justification, might be faster or less memeory use?

I use node for linear automation, so I thought I share the function I use to test for file existence.

var fs = require("fs");

function exists(path){
    //Remember file access time will slow your program.
    try{
        fs.accessSync(path);
    } catch (err){
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}