Node.js: get path from the request

Question

I have a service called "localhost:3000/returnStat" that should take a file path as parameter. For example '/BackupFolder/toto/tata/titi/myfile.txt'.

How can I test this service on my browser? How can I format this request using Express for instance?

exports.returnStat = function(req, res) {

var fs = require('fs');
var neededstats = [];
var p = __dirname + '/' + req.params.filepath;

fs.stat(p, function(err, stats) {
    if (err) {
        throw err;
    }
    neededstats.push(stats.mtime);
    neededstats.push(stats.size);
    res.send(neededstats);
});
};

Yep create a REST call see this article http://erichonorez.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/how-create-a-rest-api-with-node-js-and-express/ — lastboy, Sep 21 '13 at 10:28

score 86 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 24 '17 at 18:57

var http = require('http');
var url  = require('url');
var fs   = require('fs');

var neededstats = [];

http.createServer(function(req, res) {
    if (req.url == '/index.html' || req.url == '/') {
        fs.readFile('./index.html', function(err, data) {
            res.end(data);
        });
    } else {
        var p = __dirname + '/' + req.params.filepath;
        fs.stat(p, function(err, stats) {
            if (err) {
                throw err;
            }
            neededstats.push(stats.mtime);
            neededstats.push(stats.size);
            res.send(neededstats);
        });
    }
}).listen(8080, '0.0.0.0');
console.log('Server running.');

I have not tested your code but other things works

If you want to get the path info from request url

 var url_parts = url.parse(req.url);
 console.log(url_parts);
 console.log(url_parts.pathname);

1.If you are getting the URL parameters still not able to read the file just correct your file path in my example. If you place index.html in same directory as server code it would work...

2.if you have big folder structure that you want to host using node then I would advise you to use some framework like expressjs

If you want raw solution to file path

var http = require("http");
var url = require("url");

function start() {
function onRequest(request, response) {
    var pathname = url.parse(request.url).pathname;
    console.log("Request for " + pathname + " received.");
    response.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
    response.write("Hello World");
    response.end();
}

http.createServer(onRequest).listen(8888);
console.log("Server has started.");
}

exports.start = start;

source : http://www.nodebeginner.org/

My code works, but how can I retrive the file path (req parameter such as '/BackupFolder/toto/tata/titi/myfile.txt') — Nabil Djarallah, Sep 21 '13 at 11:02
Note, `url.parse()` is deprecated in favour of `new URL()`, but the later fails if you pass it `'/'` =/ — Klesun, May 10 '21 at 20:53

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '14 at 22:00

18

simply call req.url. that should do the work. you'll get something like /something?bla=foo

answered Apr 30 '14 at 22:00

Sagiv Ofek

25,190
8
60
55

1

The path in your example is `/something`. – Patrick Fisher May 14 '14 at 04:37
5

use `req.url.match('^[^?]*')[0]` to only show the path – epegzz May 30 '15 at 15:07
I feel like there's a builtin that doesn't require messy regex – Someone Feb 19 '21 at 23:54
There is, it's https://nodejs.org/api/url.html – therightstuff Jul 09 '23 at 14:03

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 06 '17 at 11:01

8

You can use this in app.js file .

var apiurl = express.Router();
apiurl.use(function(req, res, next) {
    var fullUrl = req.protocol + '://' + req.get('host') + req.originalUrl;
    next();
});
app.use('/', apiurl);

edited Sep 06 '17 at 11:01

Alexis Tyler

1,394
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answered Jul 26 '16 at 08:46

kumbhani bhavesh

2,189
1
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26

Use `hostname` not host. – Melroy van den Berg May 05 '21 at 11:17

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 04 '21 at 18:19

7

A more modern solution that utilises the URL WebAPI:

(req, res) => {
  const { pathname } = new URL(req.url || '', `https://${req.headers.host}`)
}

answered Jan 04 '21 at 18:19

kano

5,626
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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 16 '17 at 10:51

5

req.protocol + '://' + req.get('host') + req.originalUrl

or

req.protocol + '://' + req.headers.host + req.originalUrl // I like this one as it survives from proxy server, getting the original host name

answered Apr 16 '17 at 10:51

Xin

33,823
14
84
85

Use `hostname` not host. – Melroy van den Berg May 05 '21 at 11:17
@MelroyvandenBerg req.get('hostname') only got return with undefined. using only host is doing fine – Anonymous-E Feb 18 '22 at 14:35
Try `req.hostname` I mean. See docs: http://expressjs.com/en/api.html#req.hostname – Melroy van den Berg Feb 19 '22 at 20:23

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 18 '17 at 08:43

3

Based on @epegzz suggestion for the regex.

( url ) => {
  return url.match('^[^?]*')[0].split('/').slice(1)
}

returns an array with paths.

answered Feb 18 '17 at 08:43

Ideabile

181
1
7

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 30 '22 at 21:32

0

I've used this const { pathname } = req?._parsedUrl || {}; and it worked for me

answered May 30 '22 at 21:32

Mistico

231
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score -1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 03 '18 at 09:19

Combining solutions above when using express request:

let url=url.parse(req.originalUrl);
let page = url.parse(uri).path?url.parse(uri).path.match('^[^?]*')[0].split('/').slice(1)[0] : '';

this will handle all cases like

localhost/page
localhost:3000/page/
/page?item_id=1
localhost:3000/
localhost/

etc. Some examples:

> urls
[ 'http://localhost/page',
  'http://localhost:3000/page/',
  'http://localhost/page?item_id=1',
  'http://localhost/',
  'http://localhost:3000/',
  'http://localhost/',
  'http://localhost:3000/page#item_id=2',
  'http://localhost:3000/page?item_id=2#3',
  'http://localhost',
  'http://localhost:3000' ]
> urls.map(uri => url.parse(uri).path?url.parse(uri).path.match('^[^?]*')[0].split('/').slice(1)[0] : '' )
[ 'page', 'page', 'page', '', '', '', 'page', 'page', '', '' ]

Node.js: get path from the request

8 Answers8

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