Optionaloptions: EventEmitterOptionsAppends an event listener for events whose type attribute value is type. The callback argument sets the callback that will be invoked when the event is dispatched.
The options argument sets listener-specific options. For compatibility this can be a boolean, in which case the method behaves exactly as if the value was specified as options's capture.
When set to true, options's capture prevents callback from being invoked when the event's eventPhase attribute value is BUBBLING_PHASE. When false (or not present), callback will not be invoked when event's eventPhase attribute value is CAPTURING_PHASE. Either way, callback will be invoked if event's eventPhase attribute value is AT_TARGET.
When set to true, options's passive indicates that the callback will not cancel the event by invoking preventDefault(). This is used to enable performance optimizations described in § 2.8 Observing event listeners.
When set to true, options's once indicates that the callback will only be invoked once after which the event listener will be removed.
If an AbortSignal is passed for options's signal, then the event listener will be removed when signal is aborted.
The event listener is appended to target's event listener list and is not appended if it has the same type, callback, and capture.
Optionaloptions: boolean | AddEventListenerOptionsRemoves the event listener in target's event listener list with the same type, callback, and options.
Optionaloptions: boolean | EventListenerOptionsStaticcaptureValue: boolean
Change the default captureRejections option on all new EventEmitter objects.
Static ReadonlycaptureValue: Symbol.for('nodejs.rejection')
See how to write a custom rejection handler.
StaticdefaultBy default, a maximum of 10 listeners can be registered for any single
event. This limit can be changed for individual EventEmitter instances
using the emitter.setMaxListeners(n) method. To change the default
for allEventEmitter instances, the events.defaultMaxListeners property
can be used. If this value is not a positive number, a RangeError is thrown.
Take caution when setting the events.defaultMaxListeners because the
change affects all EventEmitter instances, including those created before
the change is made. However, calling emitter.setMaxListeners(n) still has
precedence over events.defaultMaxListeners.
This is not a hard limit. The EventEmitter instance will allow
more listeners to be added but will output a trace warning to stderr indicating
that a "possible EventEmitter memory leak" has been detected. For any single
EventEmitter, the emitter.getMaxListeners() and emitter.setMaxListeners() methods can be used to
temporarily avoid this warning:
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
emitter.setMaxListeners(emitter.getMaxListeners() + 1);
emitter.once('event', () => {
// do stuff
emitter.setMaxListeners(Math.max(emitter.getMaxListeners() - 1, 0));
});
The --trace-warnings command-line flag can be used to display the
stack trace for such warnings.
The emitted warning can be inspected with process.on('warning') and will
have the additional emitter, type, and count properties, referring to
the event emitter instance, the event's name and the number of attached
listeners, respectively.
Its name property is set to 'MaxListenersExceededWarning'.
Static ReadonlyerrorThis symbol shall be used to install a listener for only monitoring 'error' events. Listeners installed using this symbol are called before the regular 'error' listeners are called.
Installing a listener using this symbol does not change the behavior once an 'error' event is emitted. Therefore, the process will still crash if no
regular 'error' listener is installed.
Optional[captureSynchronously calls each of the listeners registered for the event named eventName, in the order they were registered, passing the supplied arguments
to each.
Returns true if the event had listeners, false otherwise.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEmitter = new EventEmitter();
// First listener
myEmitter.on('event', function firstListener() {
console.log('Helloooo! first listener');
});
// Second listener
myEmitter.on('event', function secondListener(arg1, arg2) {
console.log(`event with parameters ${arg1}, ${arg2} in second listener`);
});
// Third listener
myEmitter.on('event', function thirdListener(...args) {
const parameters = args.join(', ');
console.log(`event with parameters ${parameters} in third listener`);
});
console.log(myEmitter.listeners('event'));
myEmitter.emit('event', 1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
// Prints:
// [
// [Function: firstListener],
// [Function: secondListener],
// [Function: thirdListener]
// ]
// Helloooo! first listener
// event with parameters 1, 2 in second listener
// event with parameters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in third listener
Returns an array listing the events for which the emitter has registered
listeners. The values in the array are strings or Symbols.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.on('foo', () => {});
myEE.on('bar', () => {});
const sym = Symbol('symbol');
myEE.on(sym, () => {});
console.log(myEE.eventNames());
// Prints: [ 'foo', 'bar', Symbol(symbol) ]
Returns the current max listener value for the EventEmitter which is either
set by emitter.setMaxListeners(n) or defaults to EventEmitter.defaultMaxListeners.
Returns the number of listeners listening for the event named eventName.
If listener is provided, it will return how many times the listener is found
in the list of the listeners of the event.
The name of the event being listened for
Optionallistener: FunctionThe event handler function
Returns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName.
server.on('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
});
console.log(util.inspect(server.listeners('connection')));
// Prints: [ [Function] ]
Adds the listener function to the end of the listeners array for the event
named eventName. No checks are made to see if the listener has already
been added. Multiple calls passing the same combination of eventName and
listener will result in the listener being added, and called, multiple times.
server.on('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
By default, event listeners are invoked in the order they are added. The emitter.prependListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the
event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.on('foo', () => console.log('a'));
myEE.prependListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
myEE.emit('foo');
// Prints:
// b
// a
The callback function
Adds a one-time listener function for the event named eventName. The
next time eventName is triggered, this listener is removed and then invoked.
server.once('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
By default, event listeners are invoked in the order they are added. The emitter.prependOnceListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the
event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.once('foo', () => console.log('a'));
myEE.prependOnceListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
myEE.emit('foo');
// Prints:
// b
// a
The callback function
Sends a JavaScript value to the receiving side of this channel. value is transferred in a way which is compatible with
the HTML structured clone algorithm.
In particular, the significant differences to JSON are:
value may contain circular references.value may contain instances of builtin JS types such as RegExps, BigInts, Maps, Sets, etc.value may contain typed arrays, both using ArrayBuffers
and SharedArrayBuffers.value may contain WebAssembly.Module instances.value may not contain native (C++-backed) objects other than:import { MessageChannel } from 'node:worker_threads';
const { port1, port2 } = new MessageChannel();
port1.on('message', (message) => console.log(message));
const circularData = {};
circularData.foo = circularData;
// Prints: { foo: [Circular] }
port2.postMessage(circularData);
transferList may be a list of ArrayBuffer, MessagePort, and FileHandle objects.
After transferring, they are not usable on the sending side of the channel
anymore (even if they are not contained in value). Unlike with child processes, transferring handles such as network sockets is currently
not supported.
If value contains SharedArrayBuffer instances, those are accessible
from either thread. They cannot be listed in transferList.
value may still contain ArrayBuffer instances that are not in transferList; in that case, the underlying memory is copied rather than moved.
import { MessageChannel } from 'node:worker_threads';
const { port1, port2 } = new MessageChannel();
port1.on('message', (message) => console.log(message));
const uint8Array = new Uint8Array([ 1, 2, 3, 4 ]);
// This posts a copy of `uint8Array`:
port2.postMessage(uint8Array);
// This does not copy data, but renders `uint8Array` unusable:
port2.postMessage(uint8Array, [ uint8Array.buffer ]);
// The memory for the `sharedUint8Array` is accessible from both the
// original and the copy received by `.on('message')`:
const sharedUint8Array = new Uint8Array(new SharedArrayBuffer(4));
port2.postMessage(sharedUint8Array);
// This transfers a freshly created message port to the receiver.
// This can be used, for example, to create communication channels between
// multiple `Worker` threads that are children of the same parent thread.
const otherChannel = new MessageChannel();
port2.postMessage({ port: otherChannel.port1 }, [ otherChannel.port1 ]);
The message object is cloned immediately, and can be modified after posting without having side effects.
For more information on the serialization and deserialization mechanisms
behind this API, see the serialization API of the node:v8 module.
OptionaltransferList: readonly Transferable[]Adds the listener function to the beginning of the listeners array for the
event named eventName. No checks are made to see if the listener has
already been added. Multiple calls passing the same combination of eventName
and listener will result in the listener being added, and called, multiple times.
server.prependListener('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
The callback function
Adds a one-timelistener function for the event named eventName to the beginning of the listeners array. The next time eventName is triggered, this
listener is removed, and then invoked.
server.prependOnceListener('connection', (stream) => {
console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
});
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
The callback function
Returns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName,
including any wrappers (such as those created by .once()).
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
emitter.once('log', () => console.log('log once'));
// Returns a new Array with a function `onceWrapper` which has a property
// `listener` which contains the original listener bound above
const listeners = emitter.rawListeners('log');
const logFnWrapper = listeners[0];
// Logs "log once" to the console and does not unbind the `once` event
logFnWrapper.listener();
// Logs "log once" to the console and removes the listener
logFnWrapper();
emitter.on('log', () => console.log('log persistently'));
// Will return a new Array with a single function bound by `.on()` above
const newListeners = emitter.rawListeners('log');
// Logs "log persistently" twice
newListeners[0]();
emitter.emit('log');
Opposite of unref(). Calling ref() on a previously unref()ed port does not let the program exit if it's the only active handle left (the default
behavior). If the port is ref()ed, calling ref() again has no effect.
If listeners are attached or removed using .on('message'), the port
is ref()ed and unref()ed automatically depending on whether
listeners for the event exist.
Removes all listeners, or those of the specified eventName.
It is bad practice to remove listeners added elsewhere in the code,
particularly when the EventEmitter instance was created by some other
component or module (e.g. sockets or file streams).
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
OptionaleventName: string | symbolRemoves the specified listener from the listener array for the event named eventName.
const callback = (stream) => {
console.log('someone connected!');
};
server.on('connection', callback);
// ...
server.removeListener('connection', callback);
removeListener() will remove, at most, one instance of a listener from the
listener array. If any single listener has been added multiple times to the
listener array for the specified eventName, then removeListener() must be
called multiple times to remove each instance.
Once an event is emitted, all listeners attached to it at the
time of emitting are called in order. This implies that any removeListener() or removeAllListeners() calls after emitting and before the last listener finishes execution
will not remove them fromemit() in progress. Subsequent events behave as expected.
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
class MyEmitter extends EventEmitter {}
const myEmitter = new MyEmitter();
const callbackA = () => {
console.log('A');
myEmitter.removeListener('event', callbackB);
};
const callbackB = () => {
console.log('B');
};
myEmitter.on('event', callbackA);
myEmitter.on('event', callbackB);
// callbackA removes listener callbackB but it will still be called.
// Internal listener array at time of emit [callbackA, callbackB]
myEmitter.emit('event');
// Prints:
// A
// B
// callbackB is now removed.
// Internal listener array [callbackA]
myEmitter.emit('event');
// Prints:
// A
Because listeners are managed using an internal array, calling this will
change the position indices of any listener registered after the listener
being removed. This will not impact the order in which listeners are called,
but it means that any copies of the listener array as returned by
the emitter.listeners() method will need to be recreated.
When a single function has been added as a handler multiple times for a single
event (as in the example below), removeListener() will remove the most
recently added instance. In the example the once('ping') listener is removed:
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
function pong() {
console.log('pong');
}
ee.on('ping', pong);
ee.once('ping', pong);
ee.removeListener('ping', pong);
ee.emit('ping');
ee.emit('ping');
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
By default EventEmitters will print a warning if more than 10 listeners are
added for a particular event. This is a useful default that helps finding
memory leaks. The emitter.setMaxListeners() method allows the limit to be
modified for this specific EventEmitter instance. The value can be set to Infinity (or 0) to indicate an unlimited number of listeners.
Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.
Starts receiving messages on this MessagePort. When using this port
as an event emitter, this is called automatically once 'message' listeners are attached.
This method exists for parity with the Web MessagePort API. In Node.js,
it is only useful for ignoring messages when no event listener is present.
Node.js also diverges in its handling of .onmessage. Setting it
automatically calls .start(), but unsetting it lets messages queue up
until a new handler is set or the port is discarded.
Calling unref() on a port allows the thread to exit if this is the only
active handle in the event system. If the port is already unref()ed calling unref() again has no effect.
If listeners are attached or removed using .on('message'), the port is ref()ed and unref()ed automatically depending on whether
listeners for the event exist.
StaticaddExperimentalListens once to the abort event on the provided signal.
Listening to the abort event on abort signals is unsafe and may
lead to resource leaks since another third party with the signal can
call e.stopImmediatePropagation(). Unfortunately Node.js cannot change
this since it would violate the web standard. Additionally, the original
API makes it easy to forget to remove listeners.
This API allows safely using AbortSignals in Node.js APIs by solving these
two issues by listening to the event such that stopImmediatePropagation does
not prevent the listener from running.
Returns a disposable so that it may be unsubscribed from more easily.
import { addAbortListener } from 'node:events';
function example(signal) {
let disposable;
try {
signal.addEventListener('abort', (e) => e.stopImmediatePropagation());
disposable = addAbortListener(signal, (e) => {
// Do something when signal is aborted.
});
} finally {
disposable?.[Symbol.dispose]();
}
}
Disposable that removes the abort listener.
StaticgetReturns a copy of the array of listeners for the event named eventName.
For EventEmitters this behaves exactly the same as calling .listeners on
the emitter.
For EventTargets this is the only way to get the event listeners for the
event target. This is useful for debugging and diagnostic purposes.
import { getEventListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
{
const ee = new EventEmitter();
const listener = () => console.log('Events are fun');
ee.on('foo', listener);
console.log(getEventListeners(ee, 'foo')); // [ [Function: listener] ]
}
{
const et = new EventTarget();
const listener = () => console.log('Events are fun');
et.addEventListener('foo', listener);
console.log(getEventListeners(et, 'foo')); // [ [Function: listener] ]
}
StaticgetReturns the currently set max amount of listeners.
For EventEmitters this behaves exactly the same as calling .getMaxListeners on
the emitter.
For EventTargets this is the only way to get the max event listeners for the
event target. If the number of event handlers on a single EventTarget exceeds
the max set, the EventTarget will print a warning.
import { getMaxListeners, setMaxListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
{
const ee = new EventEmitter();
console.log(getMaxListeners(ee)); // 10
setMaxListeners(11, ee);
console.log(getMaxListeners(ee)); // 11
}
{
const et = new EventTarget();
console.log(getMaxListeners(et)); // 10
setMaxListeners(11, et);
console.log(getMaxListeners(et)); // 11
}
StaticlistenerA class method that returns the number of listeners for the given eventName registered on the given emitter.
import { EventEmitter, listenerCount } from 'node:events';
const myEmitter = new EventEmitter();
myEmitter.on('event', () => {});
myEmitter.on('event', () => {});
console.log(listenerCount(myEmitter, 'event'));
// Prints: 2
The emitter to query
The event name
Staticonimport { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo')) {
// The execution of this inner block is synchronous and it
// processes one event at a time (even with await). Do not use
// if concurrent execution is required.
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// Unreachable here
Returns an AsyncIterator that iterates eventName events. It will throw
if the EventEmitter emits 'error'. It removes all listeners when
exiting the loop. The value returned by each iteration is an array
composed of the emitted event arguments.
An AbortSignal can be used to cancel waiting on events:
import { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ac = new AbortController();
(async () => {
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo', { signal: ac.signal })) {
// The execution of this inner block is synchronous and it
// processes one event at a time (even with await). Do not use
// if concurrent execution is required.
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// Unreachable here
})();
process.nextTick(() => ac.abort());
Use the close option to specify an array of event names that will end the iteration:
import { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
ee.emit('close');
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo', { close: ['close'] })) {
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// the loop will exit after 'close' is emitted
console.log('done'); // prints 'done'
Optionaloptions: StaticEventEmitterIteratorOptionsAn AsyncIterator that iterates eventName events emitted by the emitter
import { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo')) {
// The execution of this inner block is synchronous and it
// processes one event at a time (even with await). Do not use
// if concurrent execution is required.
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// Unreachable here
Returns an AsyncIterator that iterates eventName events. It will throw
if the EventEmitter emits 'error'. It removes all listeners when
exiting the loop. The value returned by each iteration is an array
composed of the emitted event arguments.
An AbortSignal can be used to cancel waiting on events:
import { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ac = new AbortController();
(async () => {
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo', { signal: ac.signal })) {
// The execution of this inner block is synchronous and it
// processes one event at a time (even with await). Do not use
// if concurrent execution is required.
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// Unreachable here
})();
process.nextTick(() => ac.abort());
Use the close option to specify an array of event names that will end the iteration:
import { on, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
// Emit later on
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('foo', 'bar');
ee.emit('foo', 42);
ee.emit('close');
});
for await (const event of on(ee, 'foo', { close: ['close'] })) {
console.log(event); // prints ['bar'] [42]
}
// the loop will exit after 'close' is emitted
console.log('done'); // prints 'done'
Optionaloptions: StaticEventEmitterIteratorOptionsAn AsyncIterator that iterates eventName events emitted by the emitter
StaticonceCreates a Promise that is fulfilled when the EventEmitter emits the given
event or that is rejected if the EventEmitter emits 'error' while waiting.
The Promise will resolve with an array of all the arguments emitted to the
given event.
This method is intentionally generic and works with the web platform EventTarget interface, which has no special'error' event
semantics and does not listen to the 'error' event.
import { once, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('myevent', 42);
});
const [value] = await once(ee, 'myevent');
console.log(value);
const err = new Error('kaboom');
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('error', err);
});
try {
await once(ee, 'myevent');
} catch (err) {
console.error('error happened', err);
}
The special handling of the 'error' event is only used when events.once() is used to wait for another event. If events.once() is used to wait for the
'error' event itself, then it is treated as any other kind of event without
special handling:
import { EventEmitter, once } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
once(ee, 'error')
.then(([err]) => console.log('ok', err.message))
.catch((err) => console.error('error', err.message));
ee.emit('error', new Error('boom'));
// Prints: ok boom
An AbortSignal can be used to cancel waiting for the event:
import { EventEmitter, once } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
const ac = new AbortController();
async function foo(emitter, event, signal) {
try {
await once(emitter, event, { signal });
console.log('event emitted!');
} catch (error) {
if (error.name === 'AbortError') {
console.error('Waiting for the event was canceled!');
} else {
console.error('There was an error', error.message);
}
}
}
foo(ee, 'foo', ac.signal);
ac.abort(); // Abort waiting for the event
ee.emit('foo'); // Prints: Waiting for the event was canceled!
Optionaloptions: StaticEventEmitterOptionsCreates a Promise that is fulfilled when the EventEmitter emits the given
event or that is rejected if the EventEmitter emits 'error' while waiting.
The Promise will resolve with an array of all the arguments emitted to the
given event.
This method is intentionally generic and works with the web platform EventTarget interface, which has no special'error' event
semantics and does not listen to the 'error' event.
import { once, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import process from 'node:process';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('myevent', 42);
});
const [value] = await once(ee, 'myevent');
console.log(value);
const err = new Error('kaboom');
process.nextTick(() => {
ee.emit('error', err);
});
try {
await once(ee, 'myevent');
} catch (err) {
console.error('error happened', err);
}
The special handling of the 'error' event is only used when events.once() is used to wait for another event. If events.once() is used to wait for the
'error' event itself, then it is treated as any other kind of event without
special handling:
import { EventEmitter, once } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
once(ee, 'error')
.then(([err]) => console.log('ok', err.message))
.catch((err) => console.error('error', err.message));
ee.emit('error', new Error('boom'));
// Prints: ok boom
An AbortSignal can be used to cancel waiting for the event:
import { EventEmitter, once } from 'node:events';
const ee = new EventEmitter();
const ac = new AbortController();
async function foo(emitter, event, signal) {
try {
await once(emitter, event, { signal });
console.log('event emitted!');
} catch (error) {
if (error.name === 'AbortError') {
console.error('Waiting for the event was canceled!');
} else {
console.error('There was an error', error.message);
}
}
}
foo(ee, 'foo', ac.signal);
ac.abort(); // Abort waiting for the event
ee.emit('foo'); // Prints: Waiting for the event was canceled!
Optionaloptions: StaticEventEmitterOptionsStaticsetimport { setMaxListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
const target = new EventTarget();
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
setMaxListeners(5, target, emitter);
Optionaln: numberA non-negative number. The maximum number of listeners per EventTarget event.
Zero or more {EventTarget} or {EventEmitter} instances. If none are specified, n is set as the default max for all newly created {EventTarget} and {EventEmitter}
objects.
Instances of the
worker.MessagePortclass represent one end of an asynchronous, two-way communications channel. It can be used to transfer structured data, memory regions and otherMessagePorts between differentWorkers.This implementation matches browser
MessagePorts.Since
v10.5.0