Introduction to Archiver

The archiver module is a powerful tool to create archives, such as zip and tar files, in Node.js. It is an essential package for Node.js developers who want to manipulate and manage archives efficiently. This guide dives into the usage of archiver and provides numerous API examples to help you get the most out of this robust module.

Installation

  
    npm install archiver
  

Basic Usage

  
    const fs = require('fs');
    const archiver = require('archiver');

    const output = fs.createWriteStream(__dirname + '/example.zip');
    const archive = archiver('zip', { zlib: { level: 9 } });

    output.on('close', function() {
      console.log(`Archive created: ${archive.pointer()} total bytes`);
    });

    archive.pipe(output);
    archive.append(fs.createReadStream('file1.txt'), { name: 'file1.txt' });
    archive.append(fs.createReadStream('file2.txt'), { name: 'file2.txt' });

    archive.finalize();
  

Appending Files and Directories

Appending files and directories is straightforward using the archiver API. Below are a few different ways to append content:

Append a File

  
    const filePath = 'file.txt';
    archive.append(fs.createReadStream(filePath), { name: 'file.txt' });
  

Append a Directory

  
    const directoryPath = 'mydir';
    archive.directory(directoryPath, false);
  

Advanced Example: Complete Web App File Archiving

  
    const express = require('express');
    const fs = require('fs');
    const archiver = require('archiver');
    const app = express();

    app.get('/download', function(req, res) {
      const output = fs.createWriteStream(__dirname + '/staticArchive.zip');
      const archive = archiver('zip', { zlib: { level: 9 } });

      output.on('close', function() {
        console.log(`Archive created with ${archive.pointer()} total bytes`);
        res.download(__dirname + '/staticArchive.zip');
      });

      archive.pipe(output);
      archive.directory(__dirname + '/public/', false);
      archive.finalize();
    });

    app.listen(3000, function() {
      console.log('App listening on port 3000');
    });
  

This complete web app allows users to download a zipped archive of the public directory when they navigate to the /download endpoint. The code utilizes express to handle requests and archiver to create the zip file.

With the extensive examples provided in this guide, you can now efficiently manage and manipulate file archives in your Node.js applications using the archiver module. Happy archiving!

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