dart:io library - Dart API

File, socket, HTTP, and other I/O support for server applications.

The I/O library is used for Dart server applications, which run on a stand-alone Dart VM from the command line. This library does not work in browser-based applications.

This library allows you to work with files, directories, sockets, processes, HTTP servers and clients, and more.

To use this library in your code:

import 'dart:io';

Note: Many operations related to input and output are asynchronous and are handled using Futures or Streams, both of which are defined in the dart:async library.

File, Directory, and Link

An instance of File, Directory, or Link represents a file, directory, or link, respectively, in the native file system.

You can manipulate the file system through objects of these types. For example, you can rename a file or directory:

File myFile = new File('myFile.txt');
myFile.rename('yourFile.txt').then((_) => print('file renamed'));

Many methods provided by the File, Directory, and Link classes run asynchronously and return a Future.

FileSystemEntity

File, Directory, and Link all extend FileSystemEntity. In addition to being the superclass for these classes, FileSystemEntity has a number of static methods for working with paths.

To get information about a path, you can use the FileSystemEntity static methods such as 'isDirectory', 'isFile', and 'exists'. Because file system access involves I/O, these methods are asynchronous and return a Future.

FileSystemEntity.isDirectory(myPath).then((isDir) {
  if (isDir) {
    print('$myPath is a directory');
  } else {
    print('$myPath is not a directory');
  }
});

HttpServer and HttpClient

The classes HttpServer and HttpClient provide HTTP server and HTTP client functionality.

The HttpServer class provides the basic functionality for implementing an HTTP server. For some higher-level building-blocks, we recommend that you try the http_server pub package, which contains a set of high-level classes that, together with the HttpServer class in this library, make it easier to implement HTTP servers.

Process

The Process class provides a way to run a process on the native machine. For example, the following code spawns a process that recursively lists the files under web.

Process.start('ls', ['-R', 'web']).then((process) {
  stdout.addStream(process.stdout);
  stderr.addStream(process.stderr);
  process.exitCode.then(print);
});

Using start() returns a Future, which completes with a Process object when the process has started. This Process object allows you to interact with the process while it is running. Using run() returns a Future, which completes with a ProcessResult object when the spawned process has terminated. This ProcessResult object collects the output and exit code from the process.

When using start(), you need to read all data coming on the stdout and stderr streams otherwise the system resources will not be freed.

WebSocket

The WebSocket class provides support for the web socket protocol. This allows full-duplex communications between client and server applications. Use the WebSocket class in the dart:html library for web clients.

A web socket server uses a normal HTTP server for accepting web socket connections. The initial handshake is a HTTP request which is then upgraded to a web socket connection. The server upgrades the request using WebSocketTransformer and listens for the data on the returned web socket. For example, here's a mini server that listens for 'ws' data on a WebSocket:

runZoned(() {
  HttpServer.bind('127.0.0.1', 4040).then((server) {
    server.listen((HttpRequest req) {
      if (req.uri.path == '/ws') {
        WebSocketTransformer.upgrade(req).then((socket) {
          socket.listen(handleMsg);
        });
      }
    });
  });
},
onError: (e) => print("An error occurred."));

The client connects to the WebSocket using the connect() method and a URI that uses the Web Socket protocol. The the client can write to the WebSocket with the add() method. For example,

WebSocket.connect('ws://127.0.0.1:4040/ws').then((socket) {
  socket.add('Hello, World!');
});

Check out the dartiverse_search sample for a client/server pair that uses WebSockets to communicate.

Socket and ServerSocket

Clients and servers use Sockets to communicate using the TCP protocol. Use ServerSocket on the server side and Socket on the client. The server creates a listening socket using the bind() method and then listens for incoming connections on the socket. For example:

ServerSocket.bind('127.0.0.1', 4041)
  .then((serverSocket) {
    serverSocket.listen((socket) {
      socket.transform(UTF8.decoder).listen(print);
    });
  });

A client connects a Socket using the connect() method, which returns a Future. Using write(), writeln(), or writeAll() are the easiest ways to send data over the socket. For example:

Socket.connect('127.0.0.1', 4041).then((socket) {
  socket.write('Hello, World!');
});

Besides Socket and ServerSocket, the RawSocket and RawServerSocket classes are available for lower-level access to async socket IO.

Standard output, error, and input streams

This library provides the standard output, error, and input streams, named 'stdout', 'stderr', and 'stdin', respectively.

The stdout and stderr streams are both IOSinks and have the same set of methods and properties.

To write a string to 'stdout':

stdout.writeln('Hello, World!');

To write a list of objects to 'stderr':

stderr.writeAll([ 'That ', 'is ', 'an ', 'error.', '\n']);

The standard input stream is a true Stream, so it inherits properties and methods from the Stream class.

To read text synchronously from the command line (the program blocks waiting for user to type information):

 String inputText = stdin.readLineSync();

Other resources

For an introduction to I/O in Dart, see the dart:io section of the library tour.

To learn more about I/O in Dart, refer to the tutorial about writing command-line apps.

Constants

APPEND → dynamic: The mode for opening a file for reading and writing to the end of it. The file is created if it does not already exist.

FileMode.APPEND
GZIP → GZipCodec: An instance of the default implementation of the GZipCodec.

const GZipCodec._default()
READ → dynamic: The mode for opening a file only for reading.

FileMode.READ
SYSTEM_ENCODING → SystemEncoding: The current system encoding.

const SystemEncoding()
WRITE → dynamic: The mode for opening a file for reading and writing. The file is overwritten if it already exists. The file is created if it does not already exist.

FileMode.WRITE
WRITE_ONLY → dynamic: Mode for opening a file for writing only. The file is overwritten if it already exists. The file is created if it does not already exist.

FileMode.WRITE_ONLY
WRITE_ONLY_APPEND → dynamic: Mode for opening a file for writing only to the end of it. The file is created if it does not already exist.

FileMode.WRITE_ONLY_APPEND
ZLIB → ZLibCodec: An instance of the default implementation of the ZLibCodec.

const ZLibCodec._default()

Typedefs

BadCertificateCallback(X509Certificate cr, String host, int port) → bool

Properties

exitCode → int: Get the global exit code for the Dart VM.

read / write
pid → int: Returns the PID of the current process.

read-only
stderr → Stdout: The standard output stream of errors written by this program.

read-only
stdin → Stdin: The standard input stream of data read by this program.

read-only
stdout → Stdout: The standard output stream of data written by this program.

read-only

Functions

exit(int code) → void: Exit the Dart VM process immediately with the given exit code.
sleep(Duration duration) → void: Sleep for the duration specified in duration.
stdioType(object) → StdioType: For a stream, returns whether it is attached to a file, pipe, terminal, or something else.

Enums

FileLock: Type of lock when requesting a lock on a file.
ProcessStartMode: Modes for running a new process.

Classes

BytesBuilder: Builds a list of bytes, allowing bytes and lists of bytes to be added at the end.
CompressionOptions: The CompressionOptions class allows you to control the options of WebSocket compression.
ContentType: Representation of a content type. An instance of ContentType is immutable.
Cookie: Representation of a cookie. For cookies received by the server as Cookie header values only name and value fields will be set. When building a cookie for the 'set-cookie' header in the server and when receiving cookies in the client as 'set-cookie' headers all fields can be used.
Datagram: Datagram package. Data send to and received from datagram sockets contains the internet address and port of the destination or source togeter with the data.
DetachedSocket: When detaching a socket from either the HttpServer or the HttpClient due to a HTTP connection upgrade there might be unparsed data already read from the socket. This unparsed data together with the detached socket is returned in an instance of this class.
Directory: A reference to a directory (or folder) on the file system.
File: A reference to a file on the file system.
FileMode: The modes in which a File can be opened.
FileStat: A FileStat object represents the result of calling the POSIX stat() function on a file system object. It is an immutable object, representing the snapshotted values returned by the stat() call.
FileSystemCreateEvent: File system event for newly created file system objects.
FileSystemDeleteEvent: File system event for deletion of file system objects.
FileSystemEntity: The common super class for File, Directory, and Link objects.
FileSystemEntityType: The type of an entity on the file system, such as a file, directory, or link.
FileSystemEvent: Base event class emitted by FileSystemEntity.watch.
FileSystemModifyEvent: File system event for modifications of file system objects.
FileSystemMoveEvent: File system event for moving of file system objects.
GZipCodec: The GZipCodec encodes raw bytes to GZip compressed bytes and decodes GZip compressed bytes to raw bytes.
HeaderValue: Representation of a header value in the form:
HttpClient: A client that receives content, such as web pages, from a server using the HTTP protocol.
HttpClientBasicCredentials: Represents credentials for basic authentication.
HttpClientCredentials
HttpClientDigestCredentials: Represents credentials for digest authentication. Digest authentication is only supported for servers using the MD5 algorithm and quality of protection (qop) of either "none" or "auth".
HttpClientRequest: HTTP request for a client connection.
HttpClientResponse: HTTP response for a client connection.
HttpConnectionInfo: Information about an HttpRequest, HttpResponse, HttpClientRequest, or HttpClientResponse connection.
HttpConnectionsInfo: Summary statistics about an HttpServers current socket connections.
HttpDate: Utility functions for working with dates with HTTP specific date formats.
HttpHeaders: Headers for HTTP requests and responses.
HttpRequest: A server-side object that contains the content of and information about an HTTP request.
HttpResponse: An HTTP response, which returns the headers and data from the server to the client in response to an HTTP request.
HttpServer: A server that delivers content, such as web pages, using the HTTP protocol.
HttpSession
HttpStatus: HTTP status codes.
InternetAddress: An internet address.
InternetAddressType: InternetAddressType is the type an InternetAddress. Currently, IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6) are supported.
IOSink: A combined byte and text output.
Link: Link objects are references to filesystem links.
NetworkInterface: A NetworkInterface represents an active network interface on the current system. It contains a list of InternetAddresses that are bound to the interface.
OSError: An OSError object holds information about an error from the operating system.
Platform: Information about the environment in which the current program is running.
Process: The means to execute a program.
ProcessResult: ProcessResult represents the result of running a non-interactive process started with Process.run or Process.runSync.
ProcessSignal: On Posix systems, ProcessSignal is used to send a specific signal to a child process, see Process.kill.
RandomAccessFile: RandomAccessFile provides random access to the data in a file.
RawDatagramSocket: The RawDatagramSocket is a low-level interface to an UDP socket, exposing the raw events signaled by the system. It's a Stream of RawSocketEvents.
RawSecureServerSocket: The RawSecureServerSocket is a server socket, providing a stream of low-level RawSecureSockets.
RawSecureSocket: RawSecureSocket provides a secure (SSL or TLS) network connection. Client connections to a server are provided by calling RawSecureSocket.connect. A secure server, created with RawSecureServerSocket, also returns RawSecureSocket objects representing the server end of a secure connection. The certificate provided by the server is checked using the trusted certificates set in the SecurityContext object. The default SecurityContext object contains a built-in set of trusted root certificates for well-known certificate authorities.
RawServerSocket: A RawServerSocket represents a listening socket, and provides a stream of low-level RawSocket objects, one for each connection made to the listening socket.
RawSocket: The RawSocket is a low-level interface to a socket, exposing the raw events signaled by the system. It's a Stream of RawSocketEvents.
RawSocketEvent: Events for the RawSocket.
RedirectInfo: Redirect information.
SecureServerSocket: The SecureServerSocket is a server socket, providing a stream of high-level Sockets.
SecureSocket: A high-level class for communicating securely over a TCP socket, using TLS and SSL. The SecureSocket exposes both a Stream and an IOSink interface, making it ideal for using together with other Streams.
SecurityContext: The object containing the certificates to trust when making a secure client connection, and the certificate chain and private key to serve from a secure server.
ServerSocket: A ServerSocket represents a listening socket, and provides a stream of Socket objects, one for each connection made to the listening socket.
Socket: A high-level class for communicating over a TCP socket.
SocketDirection: The SocketDirection is used as a parameter to Socket.close and RawSocket.close to close a socket in the specified direction(s).
SocketOption: The SocketOption is used as a parameter to Socket.setOption and RawSocket.setOption to set customize the behaviour of the underlying socket.
Stdin: Stdin allows both synchronous and asynchronous reads from the standard input stream.
StdioType: The type of object a standard IO stream is attached to.
Stdout: Stdout represents the IOSink for either stdout or stderr.
SystemEncoding: The system encoding is the current code page on Windows and UTF-8 on Linux and Mac.
WebSocket: A two-way HTTP communication object for client or server applications.
WebSocketStatus: WebSocket status codes used when closing a WebSocket connection.
WebSocketTransformer: The WebSocketTransformer provides the ability to upgrade a HttpRequest to a WebSocket connection. It supports both upgrading a single HttpRequest and upgrading a stream of HttpRequests.
X509Certificate: X509Certificate represents an SSL certificate, with accessors to get the fields of the certificate.
ZLibCodec: The ZLibCodec encodes raw bytes to ZLib compressed bytes and decodes ZLib compressed bytes to raw bytes.
ZLibDecoder: The ZLibDecoder is used by ZLibCodec and GZipCodec to decompress data.
ZLibEncoder: The ZLibEncoder encoder is used by ZLibCodec and GZipCodec to compress data.
ZLibOption: Exposes ZLib options for input parameters.

Exceptions / Errors

CertificateException: An exception that happens in the handshake phase of establishing a secure network connection, when looking up or verifying a certificate.
FileSystemException: Exception thrown when a file operation fails.
HandshakeException: An exception that happens in the handshake phase of establishing a secure network connection.
HttpException
IOException: Base class for all IO related exceptions.
ProcessException
RedirectException
SignalException
SocketException
StdoutException
TlsException: A secure networking exception caused by a failure in the TLS/SSL protocol.
WebSocketException

library dart:io

Dart SDK