ReadableStream: cancel() method
The cancel()
method of the ReadableStream
interface returns a Promise
that resolves when the stream is canceled.
Cancel is used when you've completely finished with the stream and don't need any more data from it, even if there are chunks enqueued waiting to be read. That data is lost after cancel is called, and the stream is not readable any more. To read those chunks still and not completely get rid of the stream, you'd use ReadableStreamDefaultController.close()
.
Syntax
Parameters
reason
Optional
-
A human-readable reason for the cancellation. The underlying source may or may not use it.
Return value
A Promise
, which fulfills with the value given in the reason
parameter.
Exceptions
-
TypeError
-
The stream you are trying to cancel is not a ReadableStream
, or it is locked.
Examples
In Jake Archibald's cancelling a fetch example, a stream is used to fetch the WHATWG HTML spec chunk by chunk; each chunk is searched for the string "service workers". When the search terms is found, cancel()
is used to cancel the stream — the job is finished so it is no longer needed.
const searchTerm = "service workers";
const contextBefore = 30;
const contextAfter = 30;
const caseInsensitive = true;
const url = "https://html.spec.whatwg.org/";
console.log(`Searching '${url}' for '${searchTerm}'`);
fetch(url)
.then((response) => {
console.log("Received headers");
const decoder = new TextDecoder();
const reader = response.body.getReader();
const toMatch = caseInsensitive ? searchTerm.toLowerCase() : searchTerm;
const bufferSize = Math.max(toMatch.length - 1, contextBefore);
let bytesReceived = 0;
let buffer = "";
let matchFoundAt = -1;
return reader.read().then(function process(result) {
if (result.done) {
console.log("Failed to find match");
return;
}
bytesReceived += result.value.length;
console.log(`Received ${bytesReceived} bytes of data so far`);
buffer += decoder.decode(result.value, { stream: true });
if (matchFoundAt === -1) {
matchFoundAt = (
caseInsensitive ? buffer.toLowerCase() : buffer
).indexOf(toMatch);
}
if (matchFoundAt === -1) {
buffer = buffer.slice(-bufferSize);
} else if (
buffer.slice(matchFoundAt + toMatch.length).length >= contextAfter
) {
console.log("Here's the match:");
console.log(
buffer.slice(
Math.max(0, matchFoundAt - contextBefore),
matchFoundAt + toMatch.length + contextAfter,
),
);
console.log("Cancelling fetch");
reader.cancel();
return;
} else {
console.log("Found match, but need more context…");
}
return reader.read().then(process);
});
})
.catch((err) => {
console.error(
"Something went wrong. See devtools for details. Does the response lack CORS headers?",
);
throw err;
});
Specifications
Browser compatibility
|
Desktop |
Mobile |
|
Chrome |
Edge |
Firefox |
Internet Explorer |
Opera |
Safari |
WebView Android |
Chrome Android |
Firefox for Android |
Opera Android |
Safari on IOS |
Samsung Internet |
cancel |
43 |
14 |
65 |
No |
30 |
10.1 |
43 |
43 |
65 |
30 |
10.3 |
4.0 |
See also