util.promisify

History

util.promisify(original): Function

Attributes

original:Function

Returns:Function

Takes a function following the common error-first callback style, i.e. taking an (err, value) => ... callback as the last argument, and returns a version that returns promises.

import { promisify } from 'node:util';
import { stat } from 'node:fs';

const promisifiedStat = promisify(stat);
promisifiedStat('.').then((stats) => {
  // Do something with `stats`
}).catch((error) => {
  // Handle the error.
});

JavaScript

const { promisify } = require('node:util');
const { stat } = require('node:fs');

const promisifiedStat = promisify(stat);
promisifiedStat('.').then((stats) => {
  // Do something with `stats`
}).catch((error) => {
  // Handle the error.
});

JavaScript

Or, equivalently using async functions:

import { promisify } from 'node:util';
import { stat } from 'node:fs';

const promisifiedStat = promisify(stat);

async function callStat() {
  const stats = await promisifiedStat('.');
  console.log(`This directory is owned by ${stats.uid}`);
}

callStat();

JavaScript

const { promisify } = require('node:util');
const { stat } = require('node:fs');

const promisifiedStat = promisify(stat);

async function callStat() {
  const stats = await promisifiedStat('.');
  console.log(`This directory is owned by ${stats.uid}`);
}

callStat();

JavaScript

If there is an original[util.promisify.custom] property present, promisify will return its value, see Custom promisified functions.

promisify() assumes that original is a function taking a callback as its final argument in all cases. If original is not a function, promisify() will throw an error. If original is a function but its last argument is not an error-first callback, it will still be passed an error-first callback as its last argument.

Using promisify() on class methods or other methods that use this may not work as expected unless handled specially:

import { promisify } from 'node:util';

class Foo {
  constructor() {
    this.a = 42;
  }

  bar(callback) {
    callback(null, this.a);
  }
}

const foo = new Foo();

const naiveBar = promisify(foo.bar);
// TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'a')
// naiveBar().then(a => console.log(a));

naiveBar.call(foo).then((a) => console.log(a)); // '42'

const bindBar = naiveBar.bind(foo);
bindBar().then((a) => console.log(a)); // '42'

JavaScript

const { promisify } = require('node:util');

class Foo {
  constructor() {
    this.a = 42;
  }

  bar(callback) {
    callback(null, this.a);
  }
}

const foo = new Foo();

const naiveBar = promisify(foo.bar);
// TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'a')
// naiveBar().then(a => console.log(a));

naiveBar.call(foo).then((a) => console.log(a)); // '42'

const bindBar = naiveBar.bind(foo);
bindBar().then((a) => console.log(a)); // '42'

JavaScript

Custom promisified functions

Using the util.promisify.custom symbol one can override the return value of util.promisify():

import { promisify } from 'node:util';

function doSomething(foo, callback) {
  // ...
}

doSomething[promisify.custom] = (foo) => {
  return getPromiseSomehow();
};

const promisified = promisify(doSomething);
console.log(promisified === doSomething[promisify.custom]);
// prints 'true'

JavaScript

const { promisify } = require('node:util');

function doSomething(foo, callback) {
  // ...
}

doSomething[promisify.custom] = (foo) => {
  return getPromiseSomehow();
};

const promisified = promisify(doSomething);
console.log(promisified === doSomething[promisify.custom]);
// prints 'true'

JavaScript

This can be useful for cases where the original function does not follow the standard format of taking an error-first callback as the last argument.

For example, with a function that takes in (foo, onSuccessCallback, onErrorCallback):

doSomething[util.promisify.custom] = (foo) => {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    doSomething(foo, resolve, reject);
  });
};

JavaScript

If promisify.custom is defined but is not a function, promisify() will throw an error.

util.promisify.custom

History

Type:symbol

that can be used to declare custom promisified variants of functions, see Custom promisified functions.

In addition to being accessible through util.promisify.custom, this symbol is registered globally and can be accessed in any environment as Symbol.for('nodejs.util.promisify.custom').

For example, with a function that takes in (foo, onSuccessCallback, onErrorCallback):

const kCustomPromisifiedSymbol = Symbol.for('nodejs.util.promisify.custom');

doSomething[kCustomPromisifiedSymbol] = (foo) => {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    doSomething(foo, resolve, reject);
  });
};

JavaScript