What is the Buffer.from() method in Node.js?

In Node.js, the Buffer.from() method creates a new buffer filled with the specified string, array, buffer, or arrayBuffer.

This method copies buffer data onto a new Buffer instance.

Syntax

Buffer.from(obj, encoding);

Parameters

  • obj: This is required. And it could be a string, array, or buffer.

  • endcoding: This is optional. It is the encoding type. When not specified, Node.js uses utf8as default.

Return value

The Buffer.from() returns a buffer object.

Example

In this example, we will create a buffer using the Buffer.from(), access the buffer, and check the return value.

// Create a buffer
let buffer1 = Buffer.from("hello", "utf8")
// log the buffer to the console
console.log(buffer1);
// Check the instance of buffer
console.log(buffer1 instanceof Buffer)

In the example above, we created a buffer using a string. We logged it to the console. Then we checked the instance of the buffer to see whether it is actually an instance of the Buffer object, and whether it was true.

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