Webpack nodejs fs.readFile is not a function

Question

I have a webpack config like:

var path = require('path')

module.exports = {
    entry: "./index.js",
    output: {
        path: path.join(__dirname, 'static'),
        filename:'bundle.js'
    },
    module: {
        loaders: [
            { test: /\.js$/, exclude: /node_modules/, loader: "babel-loader"},
            { test: /\.json$/, loader: 'json-loader' },
        ]
    },
    node: {
      fs: "empty"
    }
};

And I want to read a file using fs

I am doing something like:

var fs = require('fs')
console.log(fs)

fs.readFile('input.txt', function (err, buffer) {
        console.log("buffer")
        console.log(buffer)


    })

I just want to read a file here but when I do this it gives me error saying:

fs.readFile is not a function

I have installed fs using npm install --save fs

Also when I print fs it gives me empty object. Above I have done console.log(fs) it is giving me empty object

What is wrong in here?

Answer 1

Your code looks fine! So there is nothing wrong with the code. To cross verify try running the same code here https://www.tutorialspoint.com/execute_nodejs_online.php and you can see that console.log(fs); won't be blank.

So the reason that your code is showing error is because you installed the node module named 'fs' using the command npm install --save fs which you shouldn't! Node comes up with this module by default. All you got to do is just require is using const fs = require('fs'); (using var, or let is also acceptable but I will recommend const here).

So just delete the local node_modules folder and then run this code again by installing other modules that you want and it will run fine!

Hope this helps :)