Node.js moving contents of subdirectory into current directory - node.js

Question

I have a Node script that downloads a zip into tmp/archive.zip and extracts that to tmp/archive.
I would like to move the contents of tmp/archive into .. I'm having difficulty finding how to use fs.rename in a way that is equivalent to mv tmp/archive/* .
I have tried fs.rename('tmp/archive/*', '.', function(err){ but that gives me the following error: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename 'tmp/archive/*' -> '.'
I have also tried using glob to list the contents of tmp/archive and then iterate through it and move the files using fs-extra's move, as follows:
glob('tmp/archive/*', {}, function(err, files){
for (var i = files.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
fs.move(files[i], '.', function(err){});
}
}.bind(this));
which results in the folowing error: Error: EEXIST: file already exists, link 'tmp/archive/subdirectory' -> '.'
I could just call mv tmp/archive/* . from the script but i would like to avoid that if possible. Is there something obvious I am missing? How can I go about doing this?

Answer 1

Here's one way to move a directory of files from one location to another (assuming they are on the same volume and thus can be renamed rather than copied):
var Promise = require('bluebird');
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require('fs'));
var path = require('path');
function moveFiles(srcDir, destDir) {
return fs.readdirAsync(srcDir).map(function(file) {
var destFile = path.join(destDir, file);
console.log(destFile);
return fs.renameAsync(path.join(srcDir, file), destFile).then(function() {
return destFile;
});
});
}
// sample usage:
moveFiles(path.join(".", "tempSource"), path.join(".", "tempDest")).then(function(files) {
// all done here
}).catch(function(err) {
// error here
});
This will move both files and sub-directories in the srcDir to destDir. Since fs.rename() will move a sub-directory all at once, you don't have to traverse recursively.
When designing a function like this, you have a choice of error behavior. The above implementation aborts upon the first error. You could change the implementation to move all files possible and then just return a list of files that could not be moved.
Here's a version that renames all files that it can and if there were any errors, it rejects at the end with a list of the files that failed and their error objects:
function moveFilesAll(srcDir, destDir) {
return fs.readdirAsync(srcDir).map(function(file) {
var destFile = path.join(destDir, file);
var srcFile = path.join(srcDir, file);
return fs.renameAsync(srcFile, destFile).then(function() {
return {file: srcFile, err: 0};
}).catch(function(err) {
console.log("error on " + srcFile);
return {file: srcFile, err: err}
});
}).then(function(files) {
var errors = files.filter(function(item) {
return item.err !== 0;
});
if (errors.length > 0) {
// reject with a list of error files and their corresponding errors
throw errors;
}
// for success, return list of all files moved
return files.filter(function(item) {
return item.file;
});
});
}
// sample usage:
moveFilesAll(path.join(".", "tempSource"), path.join(".", "tempDest")).then(function(files) {
// all done here
}).catch(function(errors) {
// list of errors here
});