Understanding Buffers
A Buffer represents a fixed-size sequence of bytes. Buffers are important when working with files, network protocols, cryptography, images, compressed data, and other binary content.
Buffers are built on top of JavaScript typed-array capabilities but provide Node-specific APIs for binary data.
Creating and Reading a Buffer
const buffer = Buffer.from('Hello Node.js', 'utf8');
console.log(buffer);
console.log(buffer.toString('utf8'));💡
Buffer.from() converts text into bytes, while toString() converts those bytes back into text.Key Takeaways
- Buffers represent binary byte sequences.
- Buffers are commonly used by Node.js I/O APIs.
- Always know the encoding when converting between bytes and strings.
Knowledge Check
What does a Node.js Buffer represent?