Non-standard
This feature is non-standard and is not on a standards track. Do not use it on production sites facing the Web: it will not work for every user. There may also be large incompatibilities between implementations and the behavior may change in the future.
The FileSystemEntry
interface of the File and Directory Entries API represents a single in a file system. The entry can be a file or a directory (directories are represented by the DirectoryEntry
interface). It includes methods for working with files—including copying, moving, removing, and reading files—as well as information about a file it points to—including the file name and its path from the root to the entry.
Because this is a non-standard API, whose specification is not currently on a standards track, it's important to keep in mind that not all browsers implement it, and those that do may implement only small portions of it. Check the Browser compatibility section for details.
Basic concepts
You don't create FileSystemEntry
objects directly. Instead, you will receive an object based on this interface through other APIs. This interface serves as a base class for the FileSystemFileEntry
and FileSystemDirectoryEntry
interfaces, which provide features specific to file system entries representing files and directories, respectively.
The FileSystemEntry
interface includes methods that you would expect for manipulating files and directories, but it also includes a convenient method for obtaining the URL of the entry: toURL()
. It also introduces a new URL scheme: filesystem:
.
You can use the filesystem:
scheme on Google Chrome to see all the files and folders that are stored in the origin of your app. Just use filesystem:
scheme for the root directory of the origin of the app. For example, if your app is in http://www.html5rocks.com
, open filesystem:http://www.html5rocks.com/temporary/
in a tab. Chrome shows a read-only list of all the files and folders stored the origin of your app.
Example
To see an example of how toURL()
works, see the method description. The snippet below shows you how you can remove a file by name.
// Taking care of the browser-specific prefixes. window.requestFileSystem = window.requestFileSystem || window.webkitRequestFileSystem; ... // Opening a file system with temporary storage window.requestFileSystem(TEMPORARY, 1024*1024 /*1MB*/, function(fs) { fs.root.getFile('log.txt', {}, function(fileEntry) { fileEntry.remove(function() { console.log('File removed.'); }, onError); }, onError); }, onError);
Properties
This interface provides the following properties.
filesystem
Read only- A
FileSystem
object representing the file system in which the entry is located. fullPath
Read only- A
USVString
object which provides the full, absolute path from the file system's root to the entry; it can also be thought of as a path which is relative to the root directory, prepended with a "/" character. isDirectory
Read only- A
Boolean
which istrue
if the entry represents a directory; otherwise, it'sfalse
. isFile
Read only- A Boolean which is
true
if the entry represents a file. If it's not a file, this value isfalse
. name
Read only- A
USVString
containing the name of the entry (the final part of the path, after the last "/" character).
Methods
This interface defines the following methods.
copyTo()
- Copies the file or directory to a new location on the file system.
getMetadata()
- Obtains metadata about the file, such as its modification date and size.
getParent()
- Returns a
FileSystemDirectoryEntry
representing the entry's parent directory. moveTo()
- Moves the file or directory to a new location on the file system, or renames the file or directory.
remove()
- Removes the specified file or directory. You can only remove directories which are empty.
toURL()
- Creates and returns a URL which identifies the entry. This URL uses the URL scheme
"filesystem:"
.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
File and Directory Entries API | Draft | Draft of proposed API |
This API has no official W3C or WHATWG specification.
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FileSystemEntry | Chrome
Full support
8
| Edge
Full support
79
| Firefox Full support 50 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android
Full support
≤37
| Chrome Android
Full support
18
| Firefox Android Full support 50 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android
Full support
Yes
|
copyTo | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
filesystem | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 50 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 50 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
fullPath | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 50 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 50 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
getMetadata | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
getParent | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
isDirectory | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 50 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 50 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
isFile | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 50 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 50 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
moveTo | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
name | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 50 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 50 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
remove | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
toURL | Chrome Full support 8 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
- Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
- Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
- Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Uses a non-standard name.
- Uses a non-standard name.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
See also
- File and Directory Entries API
- Introduction to the File System API
FileSystemFileEntry
andFileSystemDirectoryEntry
are based onFileSystemEntry
.