In RingoJS there's a function called read which allows you to read an entire stream until the end is reached. This is useful when you're making a command line application. For example you may write a tac program as follows:

#!/usr/bin/env ringo



var string = system.stdin.read(); // read the entire input stream

var lines = string.split(n);   // split the lines



lines.reverse();                  // reverse the lines



var reversed = lines.join(n);  // join the reversed lines

system.stdout.write(reversed);    // write the reversed lines

This allows you to fire up a shell and run the tac command. Then you type in as many lines as you wish to and after you're done you can press Ctrl+D (or Ctrl+Z on Windows) to signal the end of transmission.

I want to do the same thing in node.js but I can't find any function which would do so. I thought of using the readSync function from the fs library to simulate as follows, but to no avail:

fs.readSync(0, buffer, 0, buffer.length, null);

The file descriptor for stdin (the first argument) is 0. So it should read the data from the keyboard. Instead it gives me the following error:

Error: ESPIPE, invalid seek

    at Object.fs.readSync (fs.js:381:19)

    at repl:1:4

    at REPLServer.self.eval (repl.js:109:21)

    at rli.on.self.bufferedCmd (repl.js:258:20)

    at REPLServer.self.eval (repl.js:116:5)

    at Interface.<anonymous> (repl.js:248:12)

    at Interface.EventEmitter.emit (events.js:96:17)

    at Interface._onLine (readline.js:200:10)

    at Interface._line (readline.js:518:8)

    at Interface._ttyWrite (readline.js:736:14)

How would you synchronously collect all the data in an input text stream and return it as a string in node.js? A code example would be very helpful.