Class default

Alias for emitter.on(eventName, listener).

Since

v0.1.26

Synchronously 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

Since

v0.1.26

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) ]

Since

v6.0.0

Returns the current max listener value for the EventEmitter which is either set by emitter.setMaxListeners(n) or defaults to defaultMaxListeners.

Since

v1.0.0

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.

Since

v3.2.0

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] ]

Since

v0.1.26

Alias for emitter.removeListener().

Since

v10.0.0

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

Since

v0.1.101

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

Since

v0.3.0

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.

Since

v6.0.0

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.

Since

v6.0.0

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');

Since

v9.4.0

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.

Since

v0.1.26

Removes 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.

Since

v0.1.26

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.

Since

v0.3.5

Listens 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]();
  }
}

Since

v20.5.0

Returns

Disposable that removes the abort listener.

Returns 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] ]
}

Since

v15.2.0, v14.17.0

Returns 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
}

Since

v19.9.0

A 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

Since

v0.9.12

Deprecated

Since v3.2.0 - Use listenerCount instead.

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'

Since

v13.6.0, v12.16.0

Returns

An AsyncIterator that iterates eventName events emitted by the emitter

Creates 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!

Since

v11.13.0, v10.16.0

import { setMaxListeners, EventEmitter } from 'node:events';

const target = new EventTarget();
const emitter = new EventEmitter();

setMaxListeners(5, target, emitter);

Since

v15.4.0