How to get a list of files in a Google Cloud Storage folder using Node.js?

Question

Using bucket.getFiles() it is possible to get all the files in a bucket.

My bucket has thousands of files and I really only want to get metadata on the

Answer 1

Google cloud storage doesn't have folders/sub directories. It is an illusion on top of the flat namespace. i.e what you see as sub directories are actually objects which has a "/" character in its name.

You can read more about how Google cloud storage subdirectories work at the following link https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/gsutil/addlhelp/HowSubdirectoriesWork

So by setting the prefix parameter of GetFilesRequest to the sub directory name you are interested in will return the object you are looking for.

Answer 2

There is an ability to specify a prefix of the required path in options, e.g.

async function readFiles () {
  const [files] = await bucket.getFiles({ prefix: 'users/user42'});
  console.log('Files:');
  files.forEach(file => {
    console.log(file.name);
  });
};

This example is the last here: https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/docs/reference/storage/2.3.x/Bucket#getFiles

It's sad that there is so little information about possible options for methods. Hope documenting team will change it soon.