Node.js v7.10.1 Documentation

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OS#

Stability: 2 - Stable

The os module provides a number of operating system-related utility methods. It can be accessed using:

const os = require('os');

os.EOL#

Added in: v0.7.8

<string>

A string constant defining the operating system-specific end-of-line marker:

\n on POSIX
\r\n on Windows

os.arch()#

Added in: v0.5.0

Returns: <string>

The os.arch() method returns a string identifying the operating system CPU architecture for which the Node.js binary was compiled.

The current possible values are: 'arm', 'arm64', 'ia32', 'mips', 'mipsel', 'ppc', 'ppc64', 's390', 's390x', 'x32', 'x64', and 'x86'.

Equivalent to process.arch.

os.constants#

Added in: v6.3.0

<Object>

Returns an object containing commonly used operating system specific constants for error codes, process signals, and so on. The specific constants currently defined are described in OS Constants.

os.cpus()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <Array>

The os.cpus() method returns an array of objects containing information about each CPU/core installed.

The properties included on each object include:

model <string>
speed <number> (in MHz)
times <Object>
- user <number> The number of milliseconds the CPU has spent in user mode.
- nice <number> The number of milliseconds the CPU has spent in nice mode.
- sys <number> The number of milliseconds the CPU has spent in sys mode.
- idle <number> The number of milliseconds the CPU has spent in idle mode.
- irq <number> The number of milliseconds the CPU has spent in irq mode.

For example:

[
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 252020,
      nice: 0,
      sys: 30340,
      idle: 1070356870,
      irq: 0
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 306960,
      nice: 0,
      sys: 26980,
      idle: 1071569080,
      irq: 0
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 248450,
      nice: 0,
      sys: 21750,
      idle: 1070919370,
      irq: 0
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 256880,
      nice: 0,
      sys: 19430,
      idle: 1070905480,
      irq: 20
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 511580,
      nice: 20,
      sys: 40900,
      idle: 1070842510,
      irq: 0
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 291660,
      nice: 0,
      sys: 34360,
      idle: 1070888000,
      irq: 10
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 308260,
      nice: 0,
      sys: 55410,
      idle: 1071129970,
      irq: 880
    }
  },
  {
    model: 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         860  @ 2.80GHz',
    speed: 2926,
    times: {
      user: 266450,
      nice: 1480,
      sys: 34920,
      idle: 1072572010,
      irq: 30
    }
  }
]

Note: Because nice values are UNIX-specific, on Windows the nice values of all processors are always 0.

os.endianness()#

Added in: v0.9.4

Returns: <string>

The os.endianness() method returns a string identifying the endianness of the CPU for which the Node.js binary was compiled.

Possible values are:

'BE' for big endian
'LE' for little endian.

os.freemem()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <integer>

The os.freemem() method returns the amount of free system memory in bytes as an integer.

os.homedir()#

Added in: v2.3.0

Returns: <string>

The os.homedir() method returns the home directory of the current user as a string.

os.hostname()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <string>

The os.hostname() method returns the hostname of the operating system as a string.

os.loadavg()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <Array>

The os.loadavg() method returns an array containing the 1, 5, and 15 minute load averages.

The load average is a measure of system activity, calculated by the operating system and expressed as a fractional number. As a rule of thumb, the load average should ideally be less than the number of logical CPUs in the system.

The load average is a UNIX-specific concept with no real equivalent on Windows platforms. On Windows, the return value is always [0, 0, 0].

os.networkInterfaces()#

Added in: v0.6.0

Returns: <Object>

The os.networkInterfaces() method returns an object containing only network interfaces that have been assigned a network address.

Each key on the returned object identifies a network interface. The associated value is an array of objects that each describe an assigned network address.

The properties available on the assigned network address object include:

address <string> The assigned IPv4 or IPv6 address
netmask <string> The IPv4 or IPv6 network mask
family <string> Either IPv4 or IPv6
mac <string> The MAC address of the network interface
internal <boolean> true if the network interface is a loopback or similar interface that is not remotely accessible; otherwise false
scopeid <number> The numeric IPv6 scope ID (only specified when family is IPv6)

{
  lo: [
    {
      address: '127.0.0.1',
      netmask: '255.0.0.0',
      family: 'IPv4',
      mac: '00:00:00:00:00:00',
      internal: true
    },
    {
      address: '::1',
      netmask: 'ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff',
      family: 'IPv6',
      mac: '00:00:00:00:00:00',
      internal: true
    }
  ],
  eth0: [
    {
      address: '192.168.1.108',
      netmask: '255.255.255.0',
      family: 'IPv4',
      mac: '01:02:03:0a:0b:0c',
      internal: false
    },
    {
      address: 'fe80::a00:27ff:fe4e:66a1',
      netmask: 'ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::',
      family: 'IPv6',
      mac: '01:02:03:0a:0b:0c',
      internal: false
    }
  ]
}

os.platform()#

Added in: v0.5.0

Returns: <string>

The os.platform() method returns a string identifying the operating system platform as set during compile time of Node.js.

Currently possible values are:

'aix'
'darwin'
'freebsd'
'linux'
'openbsd'
'sunos'
'win32'

Equivalent to process.platform.

Note: The value 'android' may also be returned if the Node.js is built on the Android operating system. However, Android support in Node.js is considered to be experimental at this time.

os.release()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <string>

The os.release() method returns a string identifying the operating system release.

Note: On POSIX systems, the operating system release is determined by calling uname(3). On Windows, GetVersionExW() is used. Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uname#Examples for more information.

os.tmpdir()#

History

Version	Changes
v2.0.0	This function is now cross-platform consistent and no longer returns a path with a trailing slash on any platform
v0.9.9	Added in: v0.9.9

Returns: <string>

The os.tmpdir() method returns a string specifying the operating system's default directory for temporary files.

os.totalmem()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <integer>

The os.totalmem() method returns the total amount of system memory in bytes as an integer.

os.type()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <string>

The os.type() method returns a string identifying the operating system name as returned by uname(3). For example 'Linux' on Linux, 'Darwin' on OS X and 'Windows_NT' on Windows.

Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uname#Examples for additional information about the output of running uname(3) on various operating systems.

os.uptime()#

Added in: v0.3.3

Returns: <integer>

The os.uptime() method returns the system uptime in number of seconds.

Note: On Windows the returned value includes fractions of a second. Use Math.floor() to get whole seconds.

os.userInfo([options])#

Added in: v6.0.0

options <Object>
- encoding <string> Character encoding used to interpret resulting strings. If encoding is set to 'buffer', the username, shell, and homedir values will be Buffer instances. (Default: 'utf8')
Returns: <Object>

The os.userInfo() method returns information about the currently effective user -- on POSIX platforms, this is typically a subset of the password file. The returned object includes the username, uid, gid, shell, and homedir. On Windows, the uid and gid fields are -1, and shell is null.

The value of homedir returned by os.userInfo() is provided by the operating system. This differs from the result of os.homedir(), which queries several environment variables for the home directory before falling back to the operating system response.

OS Constants#

The following constants are exported by os.constants. Note: Not all constants will be available on every operating system.

Signal Constants#

History

Version	Changes
v5.11.0	Added support for `SIGINFO`.

The following signal constants are exported by os.constants.signals:

Constant	Description
`SIGHUP`	Sent to indicate when a controlling terminal is closed or a parent process exits.
`SIGINT`	Sent to indicate when a user wishes to interrupt a process (`(Ctrl+C)`).
`SIGQUIT`	Sent to indicate when a user wishes to terminate a process and perform a core dump.
`SIGILL`	Sent to a process to notify that it has attempted to perform an illegal, malformed, unknown or privileged instruction.
`SIGTRAP`	Sent to a process when an exception has occurred.
`SIGABRT`	Sent to a process to request that it abort.
`SIGIOT`	Synonym for `SIGABRT`
`SIGBUS`	Sent to a process to notify that it has caused a bus error.
`SIGFPE`	Sent to a process to notify that it has performed an illegal arithmetic operation.
`SIGKILL`	Sent to a process to terminate it immediately.
`SIGUSR1` `SIGUSR2`	Sent to a process to identify user-defined conditions.
`SIGSEGV`	Sent to a process to notify of a segmentation fault.
`SIGPIPE`	Sent to a process when it has attempted to write to a disconnected pipe.
`SIGALRM`	Sent to a process when a system timer elapses.
`SIGTERM`	Sent to a process to request termination.
`SIGCHLD`	Sent to a process when a child process terminates.
`SIGSTKFLT`	Sent to a process to indicate a stack fault on a coprocessor.
`SIGCONT`	Sent to instruct the operating system to continue a paused process.
`SIGSTOP`	Sent to instruct the operating system to halt a process.
`SIGTSTP`	Sent to a process to request it to stop.
`SIGBREAK`	Sent to indicate when a user wishes to interrupt a process.
`SIGTTIN`	Sent to a process when it reads from the TTY while in the background.
`SIGTTOU`	Sent to a process when it writes to the TTY while in the background.
`SIGURG`	Sent to a process when a socket has urgent data to read.
`SIGXCPU`	Sent to a process when it has exceeded its limit on CPU usage.
`SIGXFSZ`	Sent to a process when it grows a file larger than the maximum allowed.
`SIGVTALRM`	Sent to a process when a virtual timer has elapsed.
`SIGPROF`	Sent to a process when a system timer has elapsed.
`SIGWINCH`	Sent to a process when the controlling terminal has changed its size.
`SIGIO`	Sent to a process when I/O is available.
`SIGPOLL`	Synonym for `SIGIO`
`SIGLOST`	Sent to a process when a file lock has been lost.
`SIGPWR`	Sent to a process to notify of a power failure.
`SIGINFO`	Synonym for `SIGPWR`
`SIGSYS`	Sent to a process to notify of a bad argument.
`SIGUNUSED`	Synonym for `SIGSYS`

Error Constants#

The following error constants are exported by os.constants.errno:

POSIX Error Constants#

Constant	Description
`E2BIG`	Indicates that the list of arguments is longer than expected.
`EACCES`	Indicates that the operation did not have sufficient permissions.
`EADDRINUSE`	Indicates that the network address is already in use.
`EADDRNOTAVAIL`	Indicates that the network address is currently unavailable for use.
`EAFNOSUPPORT`	Indicates that the network address family is not supported.
`EAGAIN`	Indicates that there is currently no data available and to try the operation again later.
`EALREADY`	Indicates that the socket already has a pending connection in progress.
`EBADF`	Indicates that a file descriptor is not valid.
`EBADMSG`	Indicates an invalid data message.
`EBUSY`	Indicates that a device or resource is busy.
`ECANCELED`	Indicates that an operation was canceled.
`ECHILD`	Indicates that there are no child processes.
`ECONNABORTED`	Indicates that the network connection has been aborted.
`ECONNREFUSED`	Indicates that the network connection has been refused.
`ECONNRESET`	Indicates that the network connection has been reset.
`EDEADLK`	Indicates that a resource deadlock has been avoided.
`EDESTADDRREQ`	Indicates that a destination address is required.
`EDOM`	Indicates that an argument is out of the domain of the function.
`EDQUOT`	Indicates that the disk quota has been exceeded.
`EEXIST`	Indicates that the file already exists.
`EFAULT`	Indicates an invalid pointer address.
`EFBIG`	Indicates that the file is too large.
`EHOSTUNREACH`	Indicates that the host is unreachable.
`EIDRM`	Indicates that the identifier has been removed.
`EILSEQ`	Indicates an illegal byte sequence.
`EINPROGRESS`	Indicates that an operation is already in progress.
`EINTR`	Indicates that a function call was interrupted.
`EINVAL`	Indicates that an invalid argument was provided.
`EIO`	Indicates an otherwise unspecified I/O error.
`EISCONN`	Indicates that the socket is connected.
`EISDIR`	Indicates that the path is a directory.
`ELOOP`	Indicates too many levels of symbolic links in a path.
`EMFILE`	Indicates that there are too many open files.
`EMLINK`	Indicates that there are too many hard links to a file.
`EMSGSIZE`	Indicates that the provided message is too long.
`EMULTIHOP`	Indicates that a multihop was attempted.
`ENAMETOOLONG`	Indicates that the filename is too long.
`ENETDOWN`	Indicates that the network is down.
`ENETRESET`	Indicates that the connection has been aborted by the network.
`ENETUNREACH`	Indicates that the network is unreachable.
`ENFILE`	Indicates too many open files in the system.
`ENOBUFS`	Indicates that no buffer space is available.
`ENODATA`	Indicates that no message is available on the stream head read queue.
`ENODEV`	Indicates that there is no such device.
`ENOENT`	Indicates that there is no such file or directory.
`ENOEXEC`	Indicates an exec format error.
`ENOLCK`	Indicates that there are no locks available.
`ENOLINK`	Indications that a link has been severed.
`ENOMEM`	Indicates that there is not enough space.
`ENOMSG`	Indicates that there is no message of the desired type.
`ENOPROTOOPT`	Indicates that a given protocol is not available.
`ENOSPC`	Indicates that there is no space available on the device.
`ENOSR`	Indicates that there are no stream resources available.
`ENOSTR`	Indicates that a given resource is not a stream.
`ENOSYS`	Indicates that a function has not been implemented.
`ENOTCONN`	Indicates that the socket is not connected.
`ENOTDIR`	Indicates that the path is not a directory.
`ENOTEMPTY`	Indicates that the directory is not empty.
`ENOTSOCK`	Indicates that the given item is not a socket.
`ENOTSUP`	Indicates that a given operation is not supported.
`ENOTTY`	Indicates an inappropriate I/O control operation.
`ENXIO`	Indicates no such device or address.
`EOPNOTSUPP`	Indicates that an operation is not supported on the socket. Note that while `ENOTSUP` and `EOPNOTSUPP` have the same value on Linux, according to POSIX.1 these error values should be distinct.)
`EOVERFLOW`	Indicates that a value is too large to be stored in a given data type.
`EPERM`	Indicates that the operation is not permitted.
`EPIPE`	Indicates a broken pipe.
`EPROTO`	Indicates a protocol error.
`EPROTONOSUPPORT`	Indicates that a protocol is not supported.
`EPROTOTYPE`	Indicates the wrong type of protocol for a socket.
`ERANGE`	Indicates that the results are too large.
`EROFS`	Indicates that the file system is read only.
`ESPIPE`	Indicates an invalid seek operation.
`ESRCH`	Indicates that there is no such process.
`ESTALE`	Indicates that the file handle is stale.
`ETIME`	Indicates an expired timer.
`ETIMEDOUT`	Indicates that the connection timed out.
`ETXTBSY`	Indicates that a text file is busy.
`EWOULDBLOCK`	Indicates that the operation would block.
`EXDEV`	Indicates an improper link.

Windows Specific Error Constants#

The following error codes are specific to the Windows operating system:

Constant	Description
`WSAEINTR`	Indicates an interrupted function call.
`WSAEBADF`	Indicates an invalid file handle.
`WSAEACCES`	Indicates insufficient permissions to complete the operation.
`WSAEFAULT`	Indicates an invalid pointer address.
`WSAEINVAL`	Indicates that an invalid argument was passed.
`WSAEMFILE`	Indicates that there are too many open files.
`WSAEWOULDBLOCK`	Indicates that a resource is temporarily unavailable.
`WSAEINPROGRESS`	Indicates that an operation is currently in progress.
`WSAEALREADY`	Indicates that an operation is already in progress.
`WSAENOTSOCK`	Indicates that the resource is not a socket.
`WSAEDESTADDRREQ`	Indicates that a destination address is required.
`WSAEMSGSIZE`	Indicates that the message size is too long.
`WSAEPROTOTYPE`	Indicates the wrong protocol type for the socket.
`WSAENOPROTOOPT`	Indicates a bad protocol option.
`WSAEPROTONOSUPPORT`	Indicates that the protocol is not supported.
`WSAESOCKTNOSUPPORT`	Indicates that the socket type is not supported.
`WSAEOPNOTSUPP`	Indicates that the operation is not supported.
`WSAEPFNOSUPPORT`	Indicates that the protocol family is not supported.
`WSAEAFNOSUPPORT`	Indicates that the address family is not supported.
`WSAEADDRINUSE`	Indicates that the network address is already in use.
`WSAEADDRNOTAVAIL`	Indicates that the network address is not available.
`WSAENETDOWN`	Indicates that the network is down.
`WSAENETUNREACH`	Indicates that the network is unreachable.
`WSAENETRESET`	Indicates that the network connection has been reset.
`WSAECONNABORTED`	Indicates that the connection has been aborted.
`WSAECONNRESET`	Indicates that the connection has been reset by the peer.
`WSAENOBUFS`	Indicates that there is no buffer space available.
`WSAEISCONN`	Indicates that the socket is already connected.
`WSAENOTCONN`	Indicates that the socket is not connected.
`WSAESHUTDOWN`	Indicates that data cannot be sent after the socket has been shutdown.
`WSAETOOMANYREFS`	Indicates that there are too many references.
`WSAETIMEDOUT`	Indicates that the connection has timed out.
`WSAECONNREFUSED`	Indicates that the connection has been refused.
`WSAELOOP`	Indicates that a name cannot be translated.
`WSAENAMETOOLONG`	Indicates that a name was too long.
`WSAEHOSTDOWN`	Indicates that a network host is down.
`WSAEHOSTUNREACH`	Indicates that there is no route to a network host.
`WSAENOTEMPTY`	Indicates that the directory is not empty.
`WSAEPROCLIM`	Indicates that there are too many processes.
`WSAEUSERS`	Indicates that the user quota has been exceeded.
`WSAEDQUOT`	Indicates that the disk quota has been exceeded.
`WSAESTALE`	Indicates a stale file handle reference.
`WSAEREMOTE`	Indicates that the item is remote.
`WSASYSNOTREADY`	Indicates that the network subsystem is not ready.
`WSAVERNOTSUPPORTED`	Indicates that the winsock.dll version is out of range.
`WSANOTINITIALISED`	Indicates that successful WSAStartup has not yet been performed.
`WSAEDISCON`	Indicates that a graceful shutdown is in progress.
`WSAENOMORE`	Indicates that there are no more results.
`WSAECANCELLED`	Indicates that an operation has been canceled.
`WSAEINVALIDPROCTABLE`	Indicates that the procedure call table is invalid.
`WSAEINVALIDPROVIDER`	Indicates an invalid service provider.
`WSAEPROVIDERFAILEDINIT`	Indicates that the service provider failed to initialized.
`WSASYSCALLFAILURE`	Indicates a system call failure.
`WSASERVICE_NOT_FOUND`	Indicates that a service was not found.
`WSATYPE_NOT_FOUND`	Indicates that a class type was not found.
`WSA_E_NO_MORE`	Indicates that there are no more results.
`WSA_E_CANCELLED`	Indicates that the call was canceled.
`WSAEREFUSED`	Indicates that a database query was refused.

libuv Constants#

Constant	Description
`UV_UDP_REUSEADDR`

Table of Contents

OS#

os.EOL#

os.arch()#

os.constants#

os.cpus()#

os.endianness()#

os.freemem()#

os.homedir()#

os.hostname()#

os.loadavg()#

os.networkInterfaces()#

os.platform()#

os.release()#

os.tmpdir()#

os.totalmem()#

os.type()#

os.uptime()#

os.userInfo([options])#

OS Constants#

Signal Constants#

Error Constants#

POSIX Error Constants#

Windows Specific Error Constants#

libuv Constants#