fs.rmdir vs. fs.rmdirSync in Node.js

The fs module is a built-in file system module in Node.js that consists of several methods that can be used to access and manipulate files on the operating system. rmdir() and rmdirSync() are fs methods used to remove an empty and existing directory.

Note: If you want to remove a non-empty directory, use rimraf.sync().

Key differences

	rmdir()	rmdirSync()
Asynchronous vs. Synchronous	It is asynchronous. That means when this function is called, it will execute and remove an empty directory while the other code continues to execute.	It is synchronous. That means when this function is called, it will execute and remove an empty directory and send a callback. Till then the system will go in waiting and nothing else is executed.
Syntax	Use if–else to handle cases.	Use try–catch to handle cases.
When to use	Used when there is a need to handle non-blocking requests. Hence, no immediate need to remove the directory.	Used where there is a need for a blocking request to ensure immedate directory removal.
Real life example	We can delete a user file in a web application asynchronously, allowing the website to respond while it simultaneously handles remove requests.	We can remove directories synchronously when performing a clean up operation to ensure the directory is removed completely before the script exits.

Parameters

path: The destination of the directory that is to be removed.
directoryName: The name of the directory that is to be removed.
error: A callback function that is called once the method is executed and returns one of the two cases:
- error: The method failed to remove the specified directory.
- null: The method successfully removed the specified directory.

Example code

This code shows the syntax of both methods for removing an empty directory. In this case, public directory contains test.txt file and two empty directories: SyncDir and AsyncDir.

//required import
const fs = require('fs');
console.log("\nFile in current directory")
console.log(fs.readdirSync("./public"));
//removing empty directory asynchronously 
fs.rmdir('./public/AsyncDir' , (error) => {
  if (error) {
    console.log(err);
  } else {
    console.log('\nDirectory removed successfully asynchronously.');
  }
});
console.log("\nFile in current directory")
console.log(fs.readdirSync("./public"));
//removing empty directory synchronously
try {
    fs.rmdirSync('./public/SyncDir');
    console.log('\nDirectory removed successfully synchronously.');
  } catch (error) {
    console.log(error);
}
console.log("\nFile in current directory")
console.log(fs.readdirSync("./public"));

Contents of the public directory are printed and contains AsyncDir, SyncDir and test.txt.
Contents of the public directory are printed again after the rmdir() method is called. Note that no callback is received, but the AsyncDir directory is removed from public directory.
The rmdirSync() method is executed, and its success case statement is printed immediately as the proceeding code does not execute until and unless a callback for a synchronous method is received.
Contents of the public directory are again printed to check the rmdirSync() method's change since we already received a successful callback from it. Notice that the SyncDir directory is removed from public directory.
The success case statement of the rmdir() method is printed once all the other code has been executed.

fs.rmdir vs. fs.rmdirSync in Node.js

Difference between the two methods

Key differences

Required import

Syntax

Parameters

Example code

Output explanation

Common query