How to emit/pipe array values as a readable stream in node.js?

You can solve this problem by creating a readable stream and pushing values into it.

Streams are a pain, but it's often easier to work with them directly than to use libraries.

Array of strings or buffers to stream

If you're working with an array of strings or buffers, this will work:

'use strict'const Stream = require('stream')const readable = new Stream.Readable()readable.pipe(process.stdout)const items = ['a', 'b', 'c']items.forEach(item => readable.push(item))// no more datareadable.push(null)

Notes:

• readable.pipe(process.stdout) does two things: puts the stream into "flowing" mode and sets up the process.stdout writable stream to receive data from readable
• the Readable#push method is for the creator of the readable stream, not the stream consumer.
• You have to do Readable#push(null) to signal that there is no more data.

Array of non-strings to stream

To make a stream from an array of things that are neither strings nor buffers, you need both the readable stream and the writable stream to be in "Object Mode". In the example below, I made the following changes:

• Initialize the readable stream with {objectMode: true}

• Instead of piping to process.stdout, pipe to a simple writable stream that is in object mode.

    'use strict'  const Stream = require('stream')  const readable = new Stream.Readable({objectMode: true})  const writable = new Stream.Writable({objectMode: true})  writable._write = (object, encoding, done) => {    console.log(object)    // ready to process the next chunk    done()  }  readable.pipe(writable)  const items = [1, 2, 3]  items.forEach(item => readable.push(item))  // end the stream  readable.push(null)

Performance Note

Where is the data coming from? If it's a streaming data source, it's better to manipulate the stream using a transform stream than to convert to/from an array.

As of Node 12.3, you can use stream.Readable.from(iterable, [options]) instead.

const { Readable } = require('stream');const readableStream = Readable.from(arr);

tl;dr;

This is a LIFO solution. Array.prototype.pop() has similar behavior to shift but applied to the last element in an array.

const items = [1,2,3]const stream = new Readable({  objectMode: true,  read() {    const item = items.pop()    if (!item) {      this.push(null);      return;    }    this.push(item)  },})