Is node.js rmdir recursive ? Will it work on non empty directories?

Question

The documentation for fs.rmdir is very short and doesn\'t explain the behavior of rmdir when the directory is not empty.

Q: What happens if I try to use

Answer 1

Following on @geedew's answer.

Here is an asynchronous implementation of rm -r (ie you can pass a path to a file or directory). I'm not an experienced nodejs developer and appreciate any suggestions or constructive criticism.

var fs = require('fs');

function ResultsCollector (numResultsExpected, runWhenDone) {
    this.numResultsExpected = numResultsExpected,
    this.runWhenDone = runWhenDone;
    this.numResults = 0;
    this.errors = [];

    this.report = function (err) {
        if (err) this.errors.push(err);
        this.numResults++;
        if (this.numResults == this.numResultsExpected) {
            if (this.errors.length > 0) return runWhenDone(this.errors);
            else return runWhenDone();
        }
    };
}

function rmRasync(path, cb) {
    fs.lstat(path, function(err, stats) {
        if (err && err.code == 'ENOENT') return cb(); // doesn't exist, nothing to do
        else if (err) {
            return cb(err);
        }
        if (stats.isDirectory()) {
            fs.readdir(path, function (err, files) {
                if (err) return cb(err);
                var resultsCollector = new ResultsCollector(files.length, function (err) {
                    if (err) return cb(err);
                    fs.rmdir(path, function (err) {
                        if (err) return cb(err);
                        return cb();
                    });
                });
                files.forEach(function (file) {
                    var filePath = path + '/' + file;
                    return rmRasync(filePath, function (err) {
                        return resultsCollector.report(err);
                    });
                });
            });
        }
        else { // file.
            // delete file or link
            fs.unlink(path, function (err) {
                if (err) return cb(err);
                return cb();
            });
        }
    });
};

Invoke like so:

rmRasync('/path/to/some/file/or/dir', function (err) {
    if (err) return console.error('Could not rm', err);
    // else success
});