Strange error while deleting a file using the module fs in node js

Question

I'm trying to delete some files in a folder using the module fs. I need to delete a file only if it is older (modified time) that 1 minute. But I get a strange error.

var fs = require("fs");
var files = fs.readdirSync("./folder");
for (var i in files) {
  fs.stat("./folder/" + files[i], function (err, stats) {
    var currentTimestamp = Math.round(new Date().getTime() / 1000);
    var fileTimestamp = Math.round((new Date(stats.mtime).getTime() / 1000));
    if ((currentTimestamp - fileTimestamp) > 60 * 1) {
      //Elimino il file di cache
      fs.unlinkSync("./folder/" + files[i], function (err) {
        if (err) {
          console.log(err);
        } else {
          console.log("File deleted");
        }
      });
    }
  });
}

Unfortunately I get this error

fs.js:765
  return binding.unlink(pathModule._makeLong(path));
                 ^
Error: ENOENT, no such file or directory

Why does this happen? How can I solve ?? Thanks

EDIT

I make a log before the fs.unlinkSync("./folder/" + files[i], function (err) and I see that is called 2 times with the same file... but there is only one file in the folder.... with that name

how can you give a callback when are you using unlinkSync ? It should be unlink if you want a callback. — Mritunjay
– Mritunjay, Commented Jul 12, 2014 at 2:24

Mritunjay · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-09 11:28:18Z

Below is the problem:-

You are doing fs.stat an async call in for loop. And for is a sync block. There are chances that it will be called after the end of your for loop. In the end, it will call all callbacks with last value of i.

Since value of i is same it will search for the same file more than once and it will end up throwing an error.

There are two solutions to your problem.

1) Use fs.statSync & fs.unlinkSync so it will be sync call. The value of i won't increment until the whole loop executes, but it's not the good way of doing it.

2) Use Array.forEach because it is an async process, so it will call the function on each file. I will prefer this method.

I've modified your problem and got it working with Array.forEach.

var fs = require("fs");
var files = fs.readdirSync("./Folder");

var deleteFile = function (fileName) {
    fs.stat("./Folder/" + fileName, function (err, stats) {
       var currentTimestamp = Math.round(new Date().getTime() / 1000);
       var fileTimestamp = Math.round((new Date(stats.mtime).getTime() / 1000));
       if ((currentTimestamp - fileTimestamp) > 60 * 1) {
           //Elimino il file di cache
           console.log('deleting ',fileName)
           fs.unlink("./Folder/" + fileName, function (err) {
              if (err) {
                 console.log(err);
             } else {
                console.log("File deleted");
            }
           });
       }
   });
}

files.forEach(deleteFile);

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