Read large files line by line in node.js

Update

This solution no longer works with the latest version of node.js since bufferSize support was dropped, for an updated solution rather view https://coderwall.com/p/ohjerg?&p=8&q=

When working with large data files (500MB+) you don't want to read an entire file into memory, currently the node.js API doesn't support reading files line by line using createReadStream().

For this reason we check each character for a new line, this might seem a bit weird, but once you start working with large files keeping your memory low is of top priority, and the pros quickly outweigh the cons.

//get the filesystem module
var fs = require('fs'),
  stream = fs.createReadStream("/path/to/large/file", {
    flags: 'r',
    encoding: 'utf-8',
    fd: null,
    bufferSize: 1
  }),
  line ='';
//start reading the file
stream.addListener('data', function (char) {
    // pause stream if a newline char is found
    stream.pause();
    if(char == '\n'){
        (function(){
          //do whatever you want to do with the line here.
          //....
          //When done set the line back to empty, and resume the strem
          line = '';
          stream.resume();
        })();
    }
    else{
        //add the new char to the current line
        line += char;
        stream.resume();
    }
})