Pretty-print number of bytes

OSCC · JavaScript, String, Math · Oct 22, 2020

Converts a number in bytes to a human-readable string.

  • Use an array dictionary of units to be accessed based on the exponent.
  • Use Number.prototype.toPrecision() to truncate the number to a certain number of digits.
  • Return the prettified string by building it up, taking into account the supplied options and whether it is negative or not.
  • Omit the second argument, precision, to use a default precision of 3 digits.
  • Omit the third argument, addSpace, to add space between the number and unit by default.
const prettyBytes = (num, precision = 3, addSpace = true) => {
  const UNITS = ['B', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB', 'PB', 'EB', 'ZB', 'YB'];
  if (Math.abs(num) < 1) return num + (addSpace ? ' ' : '') + UNITS[0];
  const exponent = Math.min(
    Math.floor(Math.log10(num < 0 ? -num : num) / 3),
    UNITS.length - 1
  );
  const n = Number(
    ((num < 0 ? -num : num) / 1000 ** exponent).toPrecision(precision)
  );
  return (num < 0 ? '-' : '') + n + (addSpace ? ' ' : '') + UNITS[exponent];
};
prettyBytes(1000); // '1 KB'
prettyBytes(-27145424323.5821, 5); // '-27.145 GB'
prettyBytes(123456789, 3, false); // '123MB'

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