[Edit]

Node.js - detect operating system name (Windows, Linux, macOS)

1 contributors

2 contributions

0 discussions

8 points

Created by:

Krzysiek

741

In this short article, we would like to show how to detect used operating system in Node.js application.

Quick solution:

xxxxxxxxxx
 
const os = require('os');
​
console.log(os.type());  // e.g. Windows_NT, Linux, Darwin, etc.

Reusable function

Edit

In this section, you can find function that lets in simple way to detect normalised operating system name omitting details, e.g. NT postfix for Windows, etc.

xxxxxxxxxx
 
const os = require('os');
​
const detectOSType = () => {
    const type = os.type();
    if (type.startsWith('Windows')) return 'Windows';
    if (type.startsWith('Linux'))   return 'Linux';
    if (type.startsWith('Darwin'))  return 'Mac';
    return 'UNKNOWN';
};
​
​
// Usage example:
​
console.log(detectOSType());  // e.g. Windows, Linux, Mac and UNKNOWN

Alternative solution

Edit

Node.js API provides information about platform that helps in easy way to detect operating system.

xxxxxxxxxx
 
const detectOSType = () => {
    switch (process.platform) {
        case 'win32':  return 'Windows';
        case 'linux':  return 'Linux';
        case 'darwin': return 'Mac';
        default:       return 'UNKNOWN';
    }
};
​
​
// Usage example:
​
console.log(detectOSType());  // e.g. Windows, Linux, Mac and UNKNOWN