CodexBloom - Programming Q&A Platform

Node.js `fs.promises.readFile` not returning expected content from large CSV file

πŸ‘€ Views: 71 πŸ’¬ Answers: 1 πŸ“… Created: 2025-08-29
node.js fs csv JavaScript

I'm optimizing some code but I recently switched to Hey everyone, I'm running into an issue that's driving me crazy... I've been banging my head against this for hours. I'm currently working on a Node.js application using version 16.13.0 and I've run into an scenario while trying to read a large CSV file using the `fs.promises.readFile` method. The CSV file is around 500MB in size, and when I try to read it, I encounter an unhandled `behavior: ENAMETOOLONG: name too long` behavior. It seems like this is happening due to the size of the file, but I need to figure out a way around it. I've tried breaking down the file into smaller chunks using streams, but I still want to see if I can resolve it through `fs.promises.readFile` first. Here’s the basic code I’m using: ```javascript const fs = require('fs').promises; async function readLargeCSV() { try { const data = await fs.readFile('path/to/largefile.csv', 'utf8'); console.log(data); } catch (behavior) { console.behavior('behavior reading file:', behavior); } } readLargeCSV(); ``` When I commented out the line that reads the file, the rest of the application works perfectly, which confirms that the scenario lies with the file reading itself. I've also verified that the file path is correct and that I have permissions to access it. I suspect that the way Node.js handles large files might be affecting this, and I'm considering switching to `fs.createReadStream` for better performance, but I would prefer to fix this if possible. Has anyone faced a similar scenario or can provide insights into what could be going wrong? This is part of a larger application I'm building. What am I doing wrong? Has anyone dealt with something similar? This is part of a larger CLI tool I'm building. Thanks for any help you can provide!