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NodeJS: How To Use The OS Module

August, 2019

Intro

So we installed NodeJS on our machine.

Now we want to learn how to get information about the operating system by using the OS module.

Write a simple script

  • Open your terminal
  • Create a file named index.js:
touch index.js
  • Add this JavaScript code into it:
const { platform, arch, release, totalmem, freemem } = require("os");

console.log(`Your Operating System: ${release()} ${platform()} ${arch()}`);
console.log(
  `${((freemem() / totalmem()) * 100).toFixed(2)} % of your RAM is free.`
);

Note: I use the most used url properties to decrease the complexity of this simple example. To see all the available properties, read the docs of the OS module. There is a lot of cool stuff.

Every line explained

/*
  import the os module & destructure the desired properties/functions
  similar to:
  const os = require('os');
  const { platform, arch, release, totalmem, freemem } = os;
*/

const { platform, arch, release, totalmem, freemem } = require("os");

// log some information about the operating system
console.log(`Your Operating System: ${release()} ${platform()} ${arch()}`);

// log some information about the memory (ram) (number is rounded to two decimals)
console.log(
  `${((freemem() / totalmem()) * 100).toFixed(2)} % of your RAM is free.`
);

Run it from the terminal

  • Run it:
node index.js
  • Result:
Your Operating System: 5.2.9-arch1-1-ARCH linux x64
18.63 % of your RAM is free.

Further Reading

Questions

  • Do you have an interesting idea, what we could create with this module?
miku86

Hi! I'm Michael 👋 I'm a Mentor & Educator & Senior Web Developer - I help you to reach your (career) goals.