Class Writable

Returns true if the event had listeners, false otherwise.

const EventEmitter = require('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

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. Theemitter.prependListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.

const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.on('foo', () => console.log('a'));
myEE.prependListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
myEE.emit('foo');
// Prints:
//   b
//   a

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. Theemitter.prependOnceListener() method can be used as an alternative to add the event listener to the beginning of the listeners array.

const myEE = new EventEmitter();
myEE.once('foo', () => console.log('a'));
myEE.prependOnceListener('foo', () => console.log('b'));
myEE.emit('foo');
// Prints:
//   b
//   a

server.prependListener('connection', (stream) => {
  console.log('someone connected!');
});

Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

server.prependOnceListener('connection', (stream) => {
  console.log('Ah, we have our first user!');
});

Returns a reference to the EventEmitter, so that calls can be chained.

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 anyremoveListener() or removeAllListeners() calls after emitting and before the last listener finishes execution will not remove them fromemit() in progress. Subsequent events behave as expected.

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:

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.