Node.js quick file server (static files over HTTP)

A good "ready-to-use tool" option could be http-server:

npm install http-server -g

To use it:

cd D:\Folderhttp-server

Or, like this:

http-server D:\Folder

Check it out: https://github.com/nodeapps/http-server

If you do not want to use ready tool, you can use the code below, as demonstrated by me at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Node_server_without_framework:

var http = require('http');var fs = require('fs');var path = require('path');http.createServer(function (request, response) {    console.log('request starting...');    var filePath = '.' + request.url;    if (filePath == './')        filePath = './index.html';    var extname = path.extname(filePath);    var contentType = 'text/html';    switch (extname) {        case '.js':            contentType = 'text/javascript';            break;        case '.css':            contentType = 'text/css';            break;        case '.json':            contentType = 'application/json';            break;        case '.png':            contentType = 'image/png';            break;              case '.jpg':            contentType = 'image/jpg';            break;        case '.wav':            contentType = 'audio/wav';            break;    }    fs.readFile(filePath, function(error, content) {        if (error) {            if(error.code == 'ENOENT'){                fs.readFile('./404.html', function(error, content) {                    response.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': contentType });                    response.end(content, 'utf-8');                });            }            else {                response.writeHead(500);                response.end('Sorry, check with the site admin for error: '+error.code+' ..\n');                response.end();             }        }        else {            response.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': contentType });            response.end(content, 'utf-8');        }    });}).listen(8125);console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8125/');

UPDATEIf you need to access your server from external demand/file, you need to overcome the CORS, in your node.js file by writing the below, as I mentioned in a previous answer here

// Website you wish to allow to connectresponse.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');// Request methods you wish to allowresponse.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET, POST, OPTIONS, PUT, PATCH, DELETE');// Request headers you wish to allowresponse.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'X-Requested-With,content-type');// Set to true if you need the website to include cookies in the requests sent// to the API (e.g. in case you use sessions)response.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', true);

UPDATE

As Adrian mentioned, in the comments, he wrote an ES6 code with full explanation here, I just re-posting his code below, in case the code gone from the original site for any reason:

const http = require('http');const url = require('url');const fs = require('fs');const path = require('path');const port = process.argv[2] || 9000;http.createServer(function (req, res) {  console.log(`${req.method} ${req.url}`);  // parse URL  const parsedUrl = url.parse(req.url);  // extract URL path  let pathname = `.${parsedUrl.pathname}`;  // based on the URL path, extract the file extension. e.g. .js, .doc, ...  const ext = path.parse(pathname).ext;  // maps file extension to MIME typere  const map = {    '.ico': 'image/x-icon',    '.html': 'text/html',    '.js': 'text/javascript',    '.json': 'application/json',    '.css': 'text/css',    '.png': 'image/png',    '.jpg': 'image/jpeg',    '.wav': 'audio/wav',    '.mp3': 'audio/mpeg',    '.svg': 'image/svg+xml',    '.pdf': 'application/pdf',    '.doc': 'application/msword'  };  fs.exists(pathname, function (exist) {    if(!exist) {      // if the file is not found, return 404      res.statusCode = 404;      res.end(`File ${pathname} not found!`);      return;    }    // if is a directory search for index file matching the extension    if (fs.statSync(pathname).isDirectory()) pathname += '/index' + ext;    // read file from file system    fs.readFile(pathname, function(err, data){      if(err){        res.statusCode = 500;        res.end(`Error getting the file: ${err}.`);      } else {        // if the file is found, set Content-type and send data        res.setHeader('Content-type', map[ext] || 'text/plain' );        res.end(data);      }    });  });}).listen(parseInt(port));console.log(`Server listening on port ${port}`);

For people wanting a server runnable from within NodeJS script:

You can use expressjs/serve-static which replaces connect.static (which is no longer available as of connect 3):

myapp.js:

var http = require('http');var finalhandler = require('finalhandler');var serveStatic = require('serve-static');var serve = serveStatic("./");var server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {  var done = finalhandler(req, res);  serve(req, res, done);});server.listen(8000);

and then from command line:

• $ npm install finalhandler serve-static
• $ node myapp.js