A Node.js Buffer list collector, reader and streamer thingy.
bl is a storage object for collections of Node Buffers, exposing them with the main Buffer readable API. Also works as a duplex stream so you can collect buffers from a stream that emits them and emit buffers to a stream that consumes them!
The original buffers are kept intact and copies are only done as necessary. Any reads that require the use of a single original buffer will return a slice of that buffer only (which references the same memory as the original buffer). Reads that span buffers perform concatenation as required and return the results transparently.
npm install blimport { BufferList } from 'bl'
const bl = new BufferList()
bl.append(Buffer.from('abcd'))
bl.append(Buffer.from('efg'))
bl.append('hi') // bl will also accept & convert Strings
bl.append(Buffer.from('j'))
bl.append(Buffer.from([ 0x3, 0x4 ]))
console.log(bl.length) // 12
console.log(bl.slice(0, 10).toString('ascii')) // 'abcdefghij'
console.log(bl.slice(3, 10).toString('ascii')) // 'defghij'
console.log(bl.slice(3, 6).toString('ascii')) // 'def'
console.log(bl.slice(3, 8).toString('ascii')) // 'defgh'
console.log(bl.slice(5, 10).toString('ascii')) // 'fghij'
console.log(bl.indexOf('def')) // 3
console.log(bl.indexOf('asdf')) // -1
// or just use toString!
console.log(bl.toString()) // 'abcdefghij\u0003\u0004'
console.log(bl.toString('ascii', 3, 8)) // 'defgh'
console.log(bl.toString('ascii', 5, 10)) // 'fghij'
// other standard Buffer readables
console.log(bl.readUInt16BE(10)) // 0x0304
console.log(bl.readUInt16LE(10)) // 0x0403Collect the contents of a stream:
import { BufferListStream } from 'bl'
import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'
import { Readable } from 'node:stream'
const response = await fetch('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rvagg/bl/master/README.md')
const bl = new BufferListStream()
await pipeline(Readable.fromWeb(response.body), bl)
console.log(bl.toString())Or use it as a readable stream to pipe to an output:
import BufferListStream from 'bl'
import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'
import fs from 'node:fs'
const bl = new BufferListStream()
bl.append(Buffer.from('abcd'))
bl.append(Buffer.from('efg'))
bl.append(Buffer.from('hi'))
bl.append(Buffer.from('j'))
await pipeline(bl, fs.createWriteStream('gibberish.txt'))new BufferList([ buf ])BufferList.isBufferList(obj)bl.lengthbl.append(buffer)bl.prepend(buffer)bl.get(index)bl.indexOf(value[, byteOffset][, encoding])bl.slice([ start[, end ] ])bl.shallowSlice([ start[, end ] ])bl.copy(dest, [ destStart, [ srcStart [, srcEnd ] ] ])bl.duplicate()bl.consume(bytes)bl.toString([encoding, [ start, [ end ]]])bl.readDoubleBE(),bl.readDoubleLE(),bl.readFloatBE(),bl.readFloatLE(),bl.readBigInt64BE(),bl.readBigInt64LE(),bl.readBigUInt64BE(),bl.readBigUInt64LE(),bl.readInt32BE(),bl.readInt32LE(),bl.readUInt32BE(),bl.readUInt32LE(),bl.readInt16BE(),bl.readInt16LE(),bl.readUInt16BE(),bl.readUInt16LE(),bl.readInt8(),bl.readUInt8()new BufferListStream([ callback ])bl.getBuffers()
No arguments are required for the constructor, but you can initialise the list by passing in a single Buffer object or an array of Buffer objects.
import { BufferList } from 'bl'
const bl = new BufferList()Determines if the passed object is a BufferList. It will return true if the passed object is an instance of BufferList or BufferListStream and false otherwise.
N.B. this won't return true for BufferList or BufferListStream instances created by versions of this library before this static method was added.
Get the length of the list in bytes. This is the sum of the lengths of all of the buffers contained in the list, minus any initial offset for a semi-consumed buffer at the beginning. Should accurately represent the total number of bytes that can be read from the list.
append(buffer) adds an additional buffer or BufferList to the internal list. this is returned so it can be chained.
prepend(buffer) adds an additional buffer or BufferList at the beginning of the internal list. this is returned so it can be chained.
get() will return the byte at the specified index.
indexOf() method returns the first index at which a given element can be found in the BufferList, or -1 if it is not present.
slice() returns a new Buffer object containing the bytes within the range specified. Both start and end are optional and will default to the beginning and end of the list respectively.
If the requested range spans a single internal buffer then a slice of that buffer will be returned which shares the original memory range of that Buffer. If the range spans multiple buffers then copy operations will likely occur to give you a uniform Buffer.
shallowSlice() returns a new BufferList object containing the bytes within the range specified. Both start and end are optional and will default to the beginning and end of the list respectively.
No copies will be performed. All buffers in the result share memory with the original list.
copy() copies the content of the list in the dest buffer, starting from destStart and containing the bytes within the range specified with srcStart to srcEnd. destStart, start and end are optional and will default to the beginning of the dest buffer, and the beginning and end of the list respectively.
duplicate() performs a shallow-copy of the list. The internal Buffers remains the same, so if you change the underlying Buffers, the change will be reflected in both the original and the duplicate. This method is needed if you want to call consume() or pipe() and still keep the original list. Example:
import BufferListStream from 'bl'
const bl = new BufferListStream()
bl.append('hello')
bl.append(' world')
bl.append('\n')
bl.duplicate().pipe(process.stdout, { end: false })
console.log(bl.toString())consume() will shift bytes off the start of the list. The number of bytes consumed don't need to line up with the sizes of the internal Buffers - initial offsets will be calculated accordingly in order to give you a consistent view of the data.
toString() will return a string representation of the buffer. The optional start and end arguments are passed on to slice(), while the encoding is passed on to toString() of the resulting Buffer. See the Buffer#toString() documentation for more information.
bl.readDoubleBE(), bl.readDoubleLE(), bl.readFloatBE(), bl.readFloatLE(), bl.readBigInt64BE(), bl.readBigInt64LE(), bl.readBigUInt64BE(), bl.readBigUInt64LE(), bl.readInt32BE(), bl.readInt32LE(), bl.readUInt32BE(), bl.readUInt32LE(), bl.readInt16BE(), bl.readInt16LE(), bl.readUInt16BE(), bl.readUInt16LE(), bl.readInt8(), bl.readUInt8()
All of the standard byte-reading methods of the Buffer interface are implemented and will operate across internal Buffer boundaries transparently.
See the Buffer documentation for how these work.
BufferListStream is a Node Duplex Stream, so it can be read from and written to like a standard Node stream. You can also pipe() to and from a BufferListStream instance.
The constructor takes an optional callback, if supplied, the callback will be called with an error argument followed by a reference to the bl instance, when bl.end() is called (i.e. from a piped stream). This is a convenient method of collecting the entire contents of a stream, particularly when the stream is chunky, such as a network stream.
Normally, no arguments are required for the constructor, but you can initialise the list by passing in a single Buffer object or an array of Buffer objects.
N.B. For backwards compatibility reasons, BufferListStream is the default export when you import from 'bl':
import { BufferListStream } from 'bl'
// equivalent to:
import BufferListStream from 'bl'getBuffers() returns the internal list of buffers.
v7 is a modernisation release:
- ESM-only: CommonJS
require('bl')is no longer supported. Useimportinstead. newis required:BufferListStream()andBufferList()can no longer be called withoutnew.- Zero runtime dependencies:
readable-stream,buffer, andinheritshave been removed.BufferListStreamnow uses Node's built-innode:streamDuplex directly. - Node.js >= 20: Browser bundling is no longer a supported use case. If you need buffer accumulation in the browser, consider working with
Uint8Arraydirectly.
bl is brought to you by the following hackers:
Copyright (c) 2013-2026 bl contributors (listed above).
bl is licensed under the MIT license. All rights not explicitly granted in the MIT license are reserved. See the included LICENSE.md file for more details.