OS | Node.js v7.8.0 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: Within Node.js' internals, this number is represented as a `double`. However, fractional seconds are not returned and the value can typically be treated as an integer.

## 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` |