Block API

• block.get
• block.put
• block.rm
• block.stat

block.get

Get a raw IPFS block.

ipfs.block.get(cid, [options])

cid is a cid which can be passed as:

• Buffer, the raw Buffer of the cid
• CID, a CID instance
• String, the base58 encoded version of the multihash

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Block>	A Block type object, containing both the data and the hash of the block

Example:

const block = await ipfs.block.get(cid)
console.log(block.data)

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

block.put

Stores input as an IPFS block.

ipfs.block.put(block, [options])

Where block can be:

• Buffer - the raw bytes of the Block
• Block instance

and options is an Object that can contain the following properties:

• cid - a cid which can be passed as:
  • Buffer, the raw Buffer of the cid
  • CID, a CID instance
  • String, the base58 encoded version of the multihash
• format
• mhtype
• mhlen
• version

if no options are passed, it defaults to { format: 'dag-pb', mhtype: 'sha2-256', version: 0 }

Note: If you pass a Block instance as the block parameter, you don't need to pass options, as the block instance will carry the CID value as a property.

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Block>	A Block type object, containing both the data and the hash of the block

Example:

// Defaults
const buf = new Buffer('a serialized object')

const block = await ipfs.block.put(buf)

console.log(block.data.toString())
// Logs:
// a serialized object
console.log(block.cid.toString())
// Logs:
// the CID of the object

// With custom format and hashtype through CID
const CID = require('cids')
const buf = new Buffer('another serialized object')
const cid = new CID(1, 'dag-pb', multihash)

const block = await ipfs.block.put(blob, cid)

console.log(block.data.toString())
// Logs:
// a serialized object
console.log(block.cid.toString())
// Logs:
// the CID of the object

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

block.rm

Remove one or more IPFS block(s).

ipfs.block.rm(cid, [options])

cid is a cid which can be passed as:

• Buffer, the raw Buffer of the cid
• CID, a CID instance
• String, the base58 encoded version of the multihash
• Array, list of CIDs in any of the above three formats

options is an Object that can contain the following properties:

• force (boolean): Ignores nonexistent blocks.
• quiet (boolean): write minimal output

Returns

Type	Description
AsyncIterable<Object>	An async iterable that yields objects containing hash and (potentially) error strings

Each object yielded is of the form:

{
  hash: string,
  error: string
}

Note: If an error string is present for a given object, the block with that hash was not removed and the string will contain the reason why, for example if the block was pinned.

Example:

for await (const result of ipfs.block.rm(cid)) {
  console.log(result.hash)
}

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

block.stat

Print information of a raw IPFS block.

ipfs.block.stat(cid)

cid is a cid which can be passed as:

• Buffer, the raw Buffer of the multihash (or of and encoded version)
• String, the toString version of the multihash (or of an encoded version)
• CID, a CID instance

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Object>	An object containing the block's info

the returned object has the following keys:

{
  key: 'QmPTkMuuL6PD8L2SwTwbcs1NPg14U8mRzerB1ZrrBrkSDD',
  size: 10
}

Example:

const multihashStr = 'QmQULBtTjNcMwMr4VMNknnVv3RpytrLSdgpvMcTnfNhrBJ'
const cid = new CID(multihashStr)

const stats = await ipfs.block.stat(cid)
console.log(stats)
// Logs:
// {
//   key: QmQULBtTjNcMwMr4VMNknnVv3RpytrLSdgpvMcTnfNhrBJ,
//    size: 3739
// }

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.