How to Fix the “util.pump is not a function” Error in Node.js

Learn how to resolve the “util.pump is not a function” error that may occur when executing outdated Node.js code.

If you encounter the “util.pump is not a function” error while running a Node.js application or snippet, it is likely due to the code being too old for the current Node.js runtime.

In the past, the pump() method was used in Node.js to transfer data from a readable stream to a writable stream using the following syntax:

1	util.pump(readableStream, writableStream)

However, this method has been deprecated for a significant period and was removed when Node.js 6.0 was released in April 2016.

Fortunately, solving this issue is straightforward. Simply replace the deprecated syntax with the following code:

const { pipeline } = require('stream');

//...

pipeline(readableStream, writableStream, () => {});

In this updated approach, the pipeline function from the ‘stream’ module is used instead. The third argument is a callback function that will be invoked when the pipeline process is completed.

To learn more about the pipeline function, refer to the official Node.js documentation.

tags: [“Node.js streams”, “util.pump”, “pipeline”]