What is the role of the fs module in Node.js?

The fs module in Node.js, short for File System, provides an API for interacting with the file system on the local machine. It allows Node.js applications to perform various operations related to file I/O, such as reading from and writing to files, manipulating directories, and managing file permissions. The fs module plays a fundamental role in many Node.js applications, enabling them to work with files and directories efficiently.

Some common tasks and functionalities provided by the fs module include:

• File Operations: The fs module allows applications to perform operations such as reading from files (fs.readFile, fs.readFileSync), writing to files (fs.writeFile, fs.writeFileSync), appending to files (fs.appendFile, fs.appendFileSync), renaming files (fs.rename), deleting files (fs.unlink), and checking file existence (fs.exists).
• Directory Operations: Developers can create directories (fs.mkdir, fs.mkdirSync), remove directories (fs.rmdir, fs.rmdirSync), read directory contents (fs.readdir, fs.readdirSync), and determine whether a path refers to a file or directory (fs.stat, fs.statSync).
• File Streams: Node.js supports streaming file I/O using streams, which can be created with fs.createReadStream and fs.createWriteStream. Streams allow for efficient processing of large files without loading the entire file into memory at once.
• File Permissions: The fs module provides methods for setting file permissions (fs.chmod, fs.chmodSync) and retrieving file permissions (fs.access, fs.accessSync).
• Symbolic Links: Developers can create symbolic links (fs.symlink, fs.symlinkSync) and read symbolic link information (fs.readlink, fs.readlinkSync).
• File Watching: Node.js applications can monitor changes to files and directories using the fs.watch and fs.watchFile methods.

By providing these functionalities, the fs module enables Node.js applications to interact with the file system, manipulate files and directories, and implement various file-related operations efficiently.