What is the difference between readFile and createReadStream in Nodejs?
In Node.js, both readFile and createReadStream are methods used to read files, but they differ in their approach and use cases. Here’s a breakdown of the differences:
readFile
createReadStream
fs
Example usage of readFile:
const fs = require('fs');fs.readFile('myfile.txt', 'utf8', (err, data) => { if (err) { console.error(err); return; } console.log(data);});
const fs = require('fs');
fs.readFile('myfile.txt', 'utf8', (err, data) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err);
return;
}
console.log(data);
});
Example usage of createReadStream:
const fs = require('fs');const readableStream = fs.createReadStream('myfile.txt', 'utf8');readableStream.on('data', (chunk) => { console.log(chunk);});readableStream.on('end', () => { console.log('File reading completed.');});
const readableStream = fs.createReadStream('myfile.txt', 'utf8');
readableStream.on('data', (chunk) => {
console.log(chunk);
readableStream.on('end', () => {
console.log('File reading completed.');
In summary, readFile is suitable for small to moderately sized files that can fit into memory, while createReadStream is more efficient for reading large files or streaming data. Use readFile when you need the entire file content in memory, and use createReadStream when you want to process the file in chunks or stream it to another destination.