Variable not getting set correctly

Question

I'm having a problem: Variable output doesn't change the way it should. When logging it inside the while loop it's being edited in it shows up fine. But when logging it again outside the loop the change never happened.

Here is my code:

(function() {
  var foot, fs, head, inputFile, output, outputFile;

  fs = require('fs');

  head = "var setStyles = function(){";

  foot = "}";

  inputFile = "css/index.css";

  outputFile = "compiled/index.js";

  output = head;

  fs.readFile(inputFile, 'utf8', function(err, data) {
    var css, identifier, match, prop, regex, results, selector, styleMatch, styleRegex, styles, tag, val;
    if (err) {
      console.log(err);
    }
    css = data;
    regex = /(\.|#)?([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)\n*{([\s\S]+?)}/;
    results = [];
    while (match = css.match(regex)) {
      identifier = match[1];
      tag = match[2];
      styles = match[3];
      if (identifier === ".") {
        selector = "document.getElementsByClassName(" + tag + ");";
      } else if (identifier === "#") {
        selector = "document.getElementById(" + tag + ")";
      } else {
        selector = "document.getElementsByTagName(" + tag + ")";
      }
      output = "";
      styleRegex = /([a-zA-Z-_]+?):\s*(["'#-_a-zA-Z0-9]+?)\s*;/;
      while (styleMatch = styles.match(styleRegex)) {
        prop = styleMatch[1];
        val = styleMatch[2];
        styles = styles.replace(styleMatch[0], "");
      }
      results.push(css = css.replace(match[0], ""));
    }
    return results;
  });

  console.log(output);

  output += "\n" + foot;

  fs.writeFile(outputFile, output, function(err) {
    if (err) {
      return console.log(err);
    }
  });

}).call(this);

Could anyone please tell me what I'm doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance, Jordy

`readFile` is an async function, so you need to do everything inside a callback. You can use the `sync` version of the function if want to — Vsevolod Goloviznin, Oct 15 '15 at 14:39
@g3mini Nope, the callback ends with `return results; });`. [`readFileSync()`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_readfilesync_filename_options) may be your best bet. — Paul Roub, Oct 15 '15 at 14:42
You guys rock! I put the `writeFile` inside the callback and it works now =) — JordyvD, Oct 15 '15 at 14:42
Should I just put everything in the callback as is right now, or use `readFileSync`? — JordyvD, Oct 15 '15 at 14:43
generally in javascript use asynchronous code when you can. So I would recommend the callback. — ThinkBonobo, Oct 15 '15 at 14:46
@g3mini your `return results` won't return anything to the calling code anyway, so you can go with async version — Vsevolod Goloviznin, Oct 15 '15 at 14:47

Variable not getting set correctly

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