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fs,doc: undeprecate existsSync
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This has been dragged through various long discussions and has been
elevated to the CTC multiple times.

As noted in
#7455 (comment),
while this API is still generally considered an anti-pattern, there are
still use-cases it is best suited for, such as checking if a git rebase
is in progress by looking if ".git/rebase-apply/rebasing" exists.

The general consensus is to undeprecate just the sync version, given
that the async version still has the "arguments order inconsistency"
problem.

The consensus at the two last CTC meetings this came up at was also
to undeprecate existsSync() but keep exists() deprecated.
See: #8242 &
#8330

(Description write-up by @Fishrock123)

Fixes: #1592
Refs: #4217
Refs: #7455
PR-URL: #8364

Reviewed-By: James M Snell <jasnell@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Ilkka Myller <ilkka.myller@nodefield.com>
Reviewed-By: Matteo Collina <matteo.collina@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Benjamin Gruenbaum <benjamingr@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Сковорода Никита Андреевич <chalkerx@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Jeremiah Senkpiel <fishrock123@rocketmail.com>
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dfabulich authored and Fishrock123 committed Oct 5, 2016
1 parent e8e969a commit 7b5ffa4
Showing 1 changed file with 11 additions and 6 deletions.
17 changes: 11 additions & 6 deletions doc/api/fs.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -693,6 +693,12 @@ fs.exists('/etc/passwd', (exists) => {
});
```

**Note that the parameter to this callback is not consistent with other
Node.js callbacks.** Normally, the first parameter to a Node.js callback is
an `err` parameter, optionally followed by other parameters. The
`fs.exists()` callback has only one boolean parameter. This is one reason
`fs.access()` is recommended instead of `fs.exists()`.

Using `fs.exists()` to check for the existence of a file before calling
`fs.open()`, `fs.readFile()` or `fs.writeFile()` is not recommended. Doing
so introduces a race condition, since other processes may change the file's
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -774,17 +780,18 @@ process.
## fs.existsSync(path)
<!-- YAML
added: v0.1.21
deprecated: v1.0.0
-->

> Stability: 0 - Deprecated: Use [`fs.statSync()`][] or [`fs.accessSync()`][]
> instead.
* `path` {String | Buffer}

Synchronous version of [`fs.exists()`][].
Returns `true` if the file exists, `false` otherwise.

Note that `fs.exists()` is deprecated, but `fs.existsSync()` is not.
(The `callback` parameter to `fs.exists()` accepts parameters that are
inconsistent with other Node.js callbacks. `fs.existsSync()` does not use
a callback.)

## fs.fchmod(fd, mode, callback)
<!-- YAML
added: v0.4.7
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -2167,7 +2174,6 @@ The following constants are meant for use with the [`fs.Stats`][] object's
[`Buffer`]: buffer.html#buffer_buffer
[Caveats]: #fs_caveats
[`fs.access()`]: #fs_fs_access_path_mode_callback
[`fs.accessSync()`]: #fs_fs_accesssync_path_mode
[`fs.appendFile()`]: fs.html#fs_fs_appendfile_file_data_options_callback
[`fs.exists()`]: fs.html#fs_fs_exists_path_callback
[`fs.fstat()`]: #fs_fs_fstat_fd_callback
Expand All @@ -2180,7 +2186,6 @@ The following constants are meant for use with the [`fs.Stats`][] object's
[`fs.readFile`]: #fs_fs_readfile_file_options_callback
[`fs.stat()`]: #fs_fs_stat_path_callback
[`fs.Stats`]: #fs_class_fs_stats
[`fs.statSync()`]: #fs_fs_statsync_path
[`fs.utimes()`]: #fs_fs_futimes_fd_atime_mtime_callback
[`fs.watch()`]: #fs_fs_watch_filename_options_listener
[`fs.write()`]: #fs_fs_write_fd_buffer_offset_length_position_callback
Expand Down

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