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# formidable [![npm version][npmv-img]][npmv-url] [![MIT license][license-img]][license-url] [![Libera Manifesto][libera-manifesto-img]][libera-manifesto-url] [![Twitter][twitter-img]][twitter-url]
> A Node.js module for parsing form data, especially file uploads.
### Important Notes
- This README is for the upcoming (end of February) v2 release!
- Every version prior and including `v1.2.2` is deprecated, please upgrade!
- Install with `formidable@canary` until v2 land officially in `latest`
- see more about the changes in the [CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/node-formidable/formidable/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)
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If you have any _how-to_ kind of questions, please read the [Contributing
Guide][contributing-url] and [Code of Conduct][code_of_conduct-url]
documents.<br /> For bugs reports and feature requests, [please create an
issue][open-issue-url] or ping [@tunnckoCore](https://twitter.com/tunnckoCore)
at Twitter.
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## Status: Maintained [![npm version][npmv-canary-img]][npmv-url]
This module was initially developed by
[**@felixge**](https://github.com/felixge) for
[Transloadit](http://transloadit.com/), a service focused on uploading and
encoding images and videos. It has been battle-tested against hundreds of GBs of
file uploads from a large variety of clients and is considered production-ready
and is used in production for years.
Currently, we are few maintainers trying to deal with it. :) More contributors
are always welcome! :heart: Jump on
[issue #412](https://github.com/felixge/node-formidable/issues/412) which is
closed, but if you are interested we can discuss it and add you after strict rules, like
enabling Two-Factor Auth in your npm and GitHub accounts.
_**Note:** The github `master` branch is a "canary" branch - try it with `npm i formidable@canary`.
Do not expect (for now) things from it to be inside the`latest` "dist-tag" in the
Npm. The`formidable@latest`is the`v1.2.1` version and probably it will be the
last`v1` release!_
_**Note: v2 is coming soon!**_
## Highlights
- [Fast (~900-2500 mb/sec)](#benchmarks) & streaming multipart parser
- Automatically writing file uploads to disk (soon optionally)
- [Plugins API](#useplugin-plugin) - allowing custom parsers and plugins
- Low memory footprint
- Graceful error handling
- Very high test coverage
## Install
This project requires `Node.js >= 10.13`. Install it using
[yarn](https://yarnpkg.com) or [npm](https://npmjs.com).<br /> _We highly
recommend to use Yarn when you think to contribute to this project._
```sh
npm install formidable
# or the canary version
npm install formidable@canary
```
or with Yarn v1/v2
```sh
yarn add formidable
# or the canary version
yarn add formidable@canary
```
This is a low-level package, and if you're using a high-level framework it _may_
already be included. Check the examples below and the `examples/` folder.
## Examples
For more examples look at the `examples/` directory.
### with Node.js http module
Parse an incoming file upload, with the
[Node.js's built-in `http` module](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html).
```js
const http = require('http');
const formidable = require('formidable');
const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
if (req.url === '/api/upload' && req.method.toLowerCase() === 'post') {
// parse a file upload
const form = formidable({ multiples: true });
form.parse(req, (err, fields, files) => {
res.writeHead(200, { 'content-type': 'application/json' });
res.end(JSON.stringify({ fields, files }, null, 2));
});
return;
}
// show a file upload form
res.writeHead(200, { 'content-type': 'text/html' });
res.end(`
<h2>With Node.js <code>"http"</code> module</h2>
<form action="/api/upload" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post">
<div>Text field title: <input type="text" name="title" /></div>
<div>File: <input type="file" name="multipleFiles" multiple="multiple" /></div>
<input type="submit" value="Upload" />
</form>
`);
});
server.listen(8080, () => {
console.log('Server listening on http://localhost:8080/ ...');
});
```
### with Express.js
There are multiple variants to do this, but Formidable just need Node.js Request
stream, so something like the following example should work just fine, without
any third-party [Express.js](https://ghub.now.sh/express) middleware.
Or try the
[examples/with-express.js](https://github.com/node-formidable/node-formidable/blob/master/examples/with-express.js)
```js
const express = require('express');
const formidable = require('formidable');
const app = express();
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.send(`
<h2>With <code>"express"</code> npm package</h2>
<form action="/api/upload" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post">
<div>Text field title: <input type="text" name="title" /></div>
<div>File: <input type="file" name="someExpressFiles" multiple="multiple" /></div>
<input type="submit" value="Upload" />
</form>
`);
});
app.post('/api/upload', (req, res, next) => {
const form = formidable({ multiples: true });
form.parse(req, (err, fields, files) => {
if (err) {
next(err);
return;
}
res.json({ fields, files });
});
});
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('Server listening on http://localhost:3000 ...');
});
```
### with Koa and Formidable
Of course, with [Koa v1, v2 or future v3](https://ghub.now.sh/koa) the things
are very similar. You can use `formidable` manually as shown below or through
the [koa-better-body](https://ghub.now.sh/koa-better-body) package which is
using `formidable` under the hood and support more features and different
request bodies, check its documentation for more info.
_Note: this example is assuming Koa v2. Be aware that you should pass `ctx.req`
which is Node.js's Request, and **NOT** the `ctx.request` which is Koa's Request
object - there is a difference._
```js
const Koa = require('koa');
const formidable = require('formidable');
const app = new Koa();
app.on('error', (err) => {
console.error('server error', err);
});
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
if (ctx.url === '/api/upload' && ctx.method.toLowerCase() === 'post') {
const form = formidable({ multiples: true });
// not very elegant, but that's for now if you don't want touse `koa-better-body`
// or other middlewares.
await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
form.parse(ctx.req, (err, fields, files) => {
if (err) {
reject(err);