Protected constructorNOTE: According to the documentation:
Instances of the
readline.Interfaceclass are constructed using thereadline.createInterface()method.
Optional output: WritableStreamOptional completer: Completer | AsyncCompleterOptional terminal: booleanNOTE: According to the documentation:
Instances of the
readline.Interfaceclass are constructed using thereadline.createInterface()method.
Readonly cursorThe cursor position relative to rl.line.
This will track where the current cursor lands in the input string, when reading input from a TTY stream. The position of cursor determines the portion of the input string that will be modified as input is processed, as well as the column where the terminal caret will be rendered.
v0.1.98
Readonly lineThe current input data being processed by node.
This can be used when collecting input from a TTY stream to retrieve the
current value that has been processed thus far, prior to the line event
being emitted. Once the line event has been emitted, this property will
be an empty string.
Be aware that modifying the value during the instance runtime may have
unintended consequences if rl.cursor is not also controlled.
If not using a TTY stream for input, use the 'line' event.
One possible use case would be as follows:
const values = ['lorem ipsum', 'dolor sit amet'];
const rl = readline.createInterface(process.stdin);
const showResults = debounce(() => {
console.log(
'\n',
values.filter((val) => val.startsWith(rl.line)).join(' '),
);
}, 300);
process.stdin.on('keypress', (c, k) => {
showResults();
});
v0.1.98
Readonly terminalStatic Readonly captureValue: Symbol.for('nodejs.rejection')
See how to write a custom rejection handler.
v13.4.0, v12.16.0
Static captureValue: boolean
Change the default captureRejections option on all new EventEmitter objects.
v13.4.0, v12.16.0
Static defaultBy default, a maximum of 10 listeners can be registered for any single
event. This limit can be changed for individual EventEmitter instances
using the emitter.setMaxListeners(n) method. To change the default
for allEventEmitter instances, the events.defaultMaxListenersproperty can be used. If this value is not a positive number, a RangeErroris thrown.
Take caution when setting the events.defaultMaxListeners because the
change affects allEventEmitter instances, including those created before
the change is made. However, calling emitter.setMaxListeners(n) still has
precedence over events.defaultMaxListeners.
This is not a hard limit. The EventEmitter instance will allow
more listeners to be added but will output a trace warning to stderr indicating
that a "possible EventEmitter memory leak" has been detected. For any singleEventEmitter, the emitter.getMaxListeners() and emitter.setMaxListeners()methods can be used to
temporarily avoid this warning:
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
emitter.setMaxListeners(emitter.getMaxListeners() + 1);
emitter.once('event', () => {
// do stuff
emitter.setMaxListeners(Math.max(emitter.getMaxListeners() - 1, 0));
});
The --trace-warnings command-line flag can be used to display the
stack trace for such warnings.
The emitted warning can be inspected with process.on('warning') and will
have the additional emitter, type, and count properties, referring to
the event emitter instance, the event's name and the number of attached
listeners, respectively.
Its name property is set to 'MaxListenersExceededWarning'.
v0.11.2
Static Readonly errorThis symbol shall be used to install a listener for only monitoring 'error'events. Listeners installed using this symbol are called before the regular'error' listeners are called.
Installing a listener using this symbol does not change the behavior once an'error' event is emitted. Therefore, the process will still crash if no
regular 'error' listener is installed.
v13.6.0, v12.17.0
Optional [captureevents.EventEmitter
Rest ...args: any[]The rl.close() method closes the Interface instance and
relinquishes control over the input and output streams. When called,
the 'close' event will be emitted.
Calling rl.close() does not immediately stop other events (including 'line')
from being emitted by the Interface instance.
v0.1.98
Synchronously calls each of the listeners registered for the event namedeventName, in the order they were registered, passing the supplied arguments
to each.
Returns true if the event had listeners, false otherwise.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEmitter = new EventEmitter();
// First listener
myEmitter.on('event', function firstListener() {
console.log('Helloooo! first listener');
});
// Second listener
myEmitter.on('event', function secondListener(arg1, arg2) {
console.log(`event with parameters ${arg1}, ${arg2} in second listener`);
});
// Third listener
myEmitter.on('event', function thirdListener(...args) {
const parameters = args.join(', ');
console.log(`event with parameters ${parameters} in third listener`);
});
console.log(myEmitter.listeners('event'));
myEmitter.emit('event', 1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
// Prints:
// [
// [Function: firstListener],
// [Function: secondListener],
// [Function: thirdListener]
// ]
// Helloooo! first listener
// event with parameters 1, 2 in second listener
// event with parameters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in third listener
Rest ...args: any[]v0.1.26
Returns an array listing the events for which the emitter has registered
listeners. The values in the array are strings or Symbols.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.on('foo', () => {});
myEE.on('bar', () => {});
const sym = Symbol('symbol');
myEE.on(sym, () => {});
console.log(myEE.eventNames());
// Prints: [ 'foo', 'bar', Symbol(symbol) ]
v6.0.0
Returns the current max listener value for the EventEmitter which is either
set by emitter.setMaxListeners(n) or defaults to defaultMaxListeners.
v1.0.0
Returns the number of listeners listening for the event named eventName.
If listener is provided, it will return how many times the listener is found
in the list of the listeners of the event.
The name of the event being listened for
Optional listener: FunctionThe event handler function
v3.2.0
Returns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName.
server.on('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
});
console.log(util.inspect(server.listeners('connection')));
// Prints: [ [Function] ]
v0.1.26
Adds the listener function to the end of the listeners array for the
event named eventName. No checks are made to see if the listener has
already been added. Multiple calls passing the same combination of eventNameand listener will result in the listener being added, and called, multiple
times.
server.on('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
By default, event listeners are invoked in the order they are added. Theemitter.prependListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the
event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.on('foo', () => console.log('a'));
myEE.prependListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
myEE.emit('foo');
// Prints:
// b
// a
The name of the event.
The callback function
Rest ...args: any[]v0.1.101
Adds a one-timelistener function for the event named eventName. The
next time eventName is triggered, this listener is removed and then invoked.
server.once('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
By default, event listeners are invoked in the order they are added. Theemitter.prependOnceListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the
event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.once('foo', () => console.log('a'));
myEE.prependOnceListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
myEE.emit('foo');
// Prints:
// b
// a
The name of the event.
The callback function
Rest ...args: any[]v0.3.0
Adds the listener function to the beginning of the listeners array for the
event named eventName. No checks are made to see if the listener has
already been added. Multiple calls passing the same combination of eventNameand listener will result in the listener being added, and called, multiple
times.
server.prependListener('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
The name of the event.
The callback function
Rest ...args: any[]v6.0.0
Adds a one-timelistener function for the event named eventName to the beginning of the listeners array. The next time eventName is triggered, this
listener is removed, and then invoked.
server.prependOnceListener('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
The name of the event.
The callback function
Rest ...args: any[]v6.0.0
The rl.prompt() method writes the Interface instances configuredprompt to a new line in output in order to provide a user with a new
location at which to provide input.
When called, rl.prompt() will resume the input stream if it has been
paused.
If the Interface was created with output set to null orundefined the prompt is not written.
Optional preserveCursor: booleanIf true, prevents the cursor placement from being reset to 0.
v0.1.98
The rl.question() method displays the query by writing it to the output,
waits for user input to be provided on input, then invokes the callbackfunction passing the provided input as the first argument.
When called, rl.question() will resume the input stream if it has been
paused.
If the Interface was created with output set to null orundefined the query is not written.
The callback function passed to rl.question() does not follow the typical
pattern of accepting an Error object or null as the first argument.
The callback is called with the provided answer as the only argument.
An error will be thrown if calling rl.question() after rl.close().
Example usage:
rl.question('What is your favorite food? ', (answer) => {
console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
});
Using an AbortController to cancel a question.
const ac = new AbortController();
const signal = ac.signal;
rl.question('What is your favorite food? ', { signal }, (answer) => {
console.log(`Oh, so your favorite food is ${answer}`);
});
signal.addEventListener('abort', () => {
console.log('The food question timed out');
}, { once: true });
setTimeout(() => ac.abort(), 10000);
A statement or query to write to output, prepended to the prompt.
A callback function that is invoked with the user's input in response to the query.
v0.3.3
Returns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName,
including any wrappers (such as those created by .once()).
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
emitter.once('log', () => console.log('log once'));
// Returns a new Array with a function `onceWrapper` which has a property
// `listener` which contains the original listener bound above
const listeners = emitter.rawListeners('log');
const logFnWrapper = listeners[0];
// Logs "log once" to the console and does not unbind the `once` event
logFnWrapper.listener();
// Logs "log once" to the console and removes the listener
logFnWrapper();
emitter.on('log', () => console.log('log persistently'));
// Will return a new Array with a single function bound by `.on()` above
const newListeners = emitter.rawListeners('log');
// Logs "log persistently" twice
newListeners[0]();
emitter.emit('log');
v9.4.0
Removes all listeners, or those of the specified eventName.
It is bad practice to remove listeners added elsewhere in the code,
particularly when the EventEmitter instance was created by some other
component or module (e.g. sockets or file streams).
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
Optional event: string | symbolv0.1.26
Removes the specified listener from the listener array for the event namedeventName.
const callback = (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
};
server.on('connection', callback);
// ...
server.removeListener('connection', callback);
removeListener() will remove, at most, one instance of a listener from the
listener array. If any single listener has been added multiple times to the
listener array for the specified eventName, then removeListener() must be
called multiple times to remove each instance.
Once an event is emitted, all listeners attached to it at the
time of emitting are called in order. This implies that anyremoveListener() or removeAllListeners() calls after emitting and before the last listener finishes execution
will not remove them fromemit() in progress. Subsequent events behave as expected.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
class MyEmitter extends EventEmitter {}
const myEmitter = new MyEmitter();
const callbackA = () => {
console.log('A');
myEmitter.removeListener('event', callbackB);
};
const callbackB = () => {
console.log('B');
};
myEmitter.on('event', callbackA);
myEmitter.on('event', callbackB);
// callbackA removes listener callbackB but it will still be called.
// Internal listener array at time of emit [callbackA, callbackB]
myEmitter.emit('event');
// Prints:
// A
// B
// callbackB is now removed.
// Internal listener array [callbackA]
myEmitter.emit('event');
// Prints:
// A
Because listeners are managed using an internal array, calling this will
change the position indices of any listener registered after the listener
being removed. This will not impact the order in which listeners are called,
but it means that any copies of the listener array as returned by
the emitter.listeners() method will need to be recreated.
When a single function has been added as a handler multiple times for a single
event (as in the example below), removeListener() will remove the most
recently added instance. In the example the once('ping')listener is removed:
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
function pong() {
console.log('pong');
}
ee.on('ping', pong);
ee.once('ping', pong);
ee.removeListener('ping', pong);
ee.emit('ping');
ee.emit('ping');
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
Rest ...args: any[]v0.1.26
By default EventEmitters will print a warning if more than 10 listeners are
added for a particular event. This is a useful default that helps finding
memory leaks. The emitter.setMaxListeners() method allows the limit to be
modified for this specific EventEmitter instance. The value can be set toInfinity (or 0) to indicate an unlimited number of listeners.
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
v0.3.5
The rl.write() method will write either data or a key sequence identified
by key to the output. The key argument is supported only if output is
a TTY text terminal. See TTY keybindings for a list of key
combinations.
If key is specified, data is ignored.
When called, rl.write() will resume the input stream if it has been
paused.
If the Interface was created with output set to null orundefined the data and key are not written.
rl.write('Delete this!');
// Simulate Ctrl+U to delete the line written previously
rl.write(null, { ctrl: true, name: 'u' });
The rl.write() method will write the data to the readline Interface'sinputas if it were provided by the user.
v0.1.98
Static addExperimental Listens once to the abort event on the provided signal.
Listening to the abort event on abort signals is unsafe and may
lead to resource leaks since another third party with the signal can
call e.stopImmediatePropagation(). Unfortunately Node.js cannot change
this since it would violate the web standard. Additionally, the original
API makes it easy to forget to remove listeners.
This API allows safely using AbortSignals in Node.js APIs by solving these
two issues by listening to the event such that stopImmediatePropagation does
not prevent the listener from running.
Returns a disposable so that it may be unsubscribed from more easily.
import { addAbortListener } from 'node:events';
function example(signal) {
let disposable;
try {
signal.addEventListener('abort', (e) => e.stopImmediatePropagation());
disposable = addAbortListener(signal, (e) => {
// Do something when signal is aborted.
});
} finally {
disposable?.[Symbol.dispose]();
}
}
Disposable that removes the abort listener.
v20.5.0
Static getReturns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName.
For EventEmitters this behaves exactly the same as calling .listeners on
the emitter.
For EventTargets this is the only way to get the event listeners for the
event target. This is useful for debugging and diagnostic purposes.
import { getEventListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
{
const ee = new EventEmitter();
const listener = () => console.log('Events are fun');
ee.on('foo', listener);
console.log(getEventListeners(ee, 'foo')); // [ [Function: listener] ]
}
{
const et = new EventTarget();
const listener = () => console.log('Events are fun');
et.addEventListener('foo', listener);
console.log(getEventListeners(et, 'foo')); // [ [Function: listener] ]
}
v15.2.0, v14.17.0
Static getReturns the currently set max amount of listeners.
For EventEmitters this behaves exactly the same as calling .getMaxListeners on
the emitter.
For EventTargets this is the only way to get the max event listeners for the
event target. If the number of event handlers on a single EventTarget exceeds
the max set, the EventTarget will print a warning.
import { getMaxListeners, setMaxListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
{
const ee = new EventEmitter();
console.log(getMaxListeners(ee)); // 10
setMaxListeners(11, ee);
console.log(getMaxListeners(ee)); // 11
}
{
const et = new EventTarget();
console.log(getMaxListeners(et)); // 10
setMaxListeners(11, et);
console.log(getMaxListeners(et)); // 11
}
v19.9.0
Static listenerA class method that returns the number of listeners for the given eventNameregistered on the given emitter.
import { EventEmitter, listenerCount } from 'node:events';
const myEmitter = new EventEmitter();
myEmitter.on('event', () => {});
myEmitter.on('event', () => {});
console.log(listenerCount(myEmitter, 'event'));
// Prints: 2
The emitter to query
The event name
v0.9.12
Since v3.2.0 - Use listenerCount instead.
Static onimport { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo')) {
// The execution of this inner block is synchronous and it
// processes one event at a time (even with await). Do not use
// if concurrent execution is required.
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// Unreachable here
Returns an AsyncIterator that iterates eventName events. It will throw
if the EventEmitter emits 'error'. It removes all listeners when
exiting the loop. The value returned by each iteration is an array
composed of the emitted event arguments.
An AbortSignal can be used to cancel waiting on events:
import { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ac = new AbortController();
(async () => {
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo', { signal: ac.signal })) {
// The execution of this inner block is synchronous and it
// processes one event at a time (even with await). Do not use
// if concurrent execution is required.
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// Unreachable here
})();
process.nextTick(() => ac.abort());
The name of the event being listened for
Optional options: StaticEventEmitterOptionsthat iterates eventName events emitted by the emitter
v13.6.0, v12.16.0
Static onceCreates a Promise that is fulfilled when the EventEmitter emits the given
event or that is rejected if the EventEmitter emits 'error' while waiting.
The Promise will resolve with an array of all the arguments emitted to the
given event.
This method is intentionally generic and works with the web platform EventTarget interface, which has no special'error' event
semantics and does not listen to the 'error' event.
import { once, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('myevent', 42);
});
const [value] = await once(ee, 'myevent');
console.log(value);
const err = new Error('kaboom');
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('error', err);
});
try {
await once(ee, 'myevent');
} catch (err) {
console.error('error happened', err);
}
The special handling of the 'error' event is only used when events.once()is used to wait for another event. If events.once() is used to wait for the
'error' event itself, then it is treated as any other kind of event without
special handling:
import { EventEmitter, once } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
once(ee, 'error')
.then(([err]) => console.log('ok', err.message))
.catch((err) => console.error('error', err.message));
ee.emit('error', new Error('boom'));
// Prints: ok boom
An AbortSignal can be used to cancel waiting for the event:
import { EventEmitter, once } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
const ac = new AbortController();
async function foo(emitter, event, signal) {
try {
await once(emitter, event, { signal });
console.log('event emitted!');
} catch (error) {
if (error.name === 'AbortError') {
console.error('Waiting for the event was canceled!');
} else {
console.error('There was an error', error.message);
}
}
}
foo(ee, 'foo', ac.signal);
ac.abort(); // Abort waiting for the event
ee.emit('foo'); // Prints: Waiting for the event was canceled!
Optional options: StaticEventEmitterOptionsv11.13.0, v10.16.0
Optional options: StaticEventEmitterOptionsStatic setimport { setMaxListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const target = new EventTarget();
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
setMaxListeners(5, target, emitter);
Optional n: numberA non-negative number. The maximum number of listeners per EventTarget event.
Rest ...eventTargets: (EventEmitter | _DOMEventTarget)[]v15.4.0
Generated using TypeDoc
Instances of the
readline.Interfaceclass are constructed using thereadline.createInterface()method. Every instance is associated with a singleinputReadablestream and a singleoutputWritablestream. Theoutputstream is used to print prompts for user input that arrives on, and is read from, theinputstream.Since
v0.1.104