The faker.js tutorial

last modified July 7, 2020

The faker.js tutorial shows how to generate fake data in JavaScript with faker.js library.

faker.js

faker.js is a JavaScript library for generating fake data. Fake data is useful when building and testing our application. The faker.js can generate fake data for various areas, including address, commerce, company, date, finance, image, random, or name.

In this tutorial we work with faker.js in a Node application.

Setting up faker.js

First, we install faker.js.

$ node -v
v11.5.0

We use Node version 11.5.0.

$ npm init -y

We initiate a new Node application.

$ npm i faker

We install faker.js module with nmp i faker.

Faking names

In the first example, we fake data related to user names.

const faker = require('faker');

let firstName = faker.name.firstName();
let lastName = faker.name.lastName();

let jobTitle = faker.name.jobTitle();
let prefix = faker.name.prefix(); 
let suffix = faker.name.suffix();
let jobArea = faker.name.jobArea();

let phone = faker.phone.phoneNumber();

console.log(`Employee: ${prefix} ${firstName} ${lastName} ${suffix}`);
console.log(`Job title: ${jobTitle}`);
console.log(`Job area: ${jobArea}`);
console.log(`Phone: ${phone}`);

The example creates a random first name, last name, job title, name prefix and suffix, job area, and phone number.

const faker = require('faker');

We require the faker module.

let firstName = faker.name.firstName();

We generate a fake first name with the firstName() function. The function is located in the name object.

$ node names.js
Employee: Mrs. Vernice Abernathy III
Job title: Customer Data Associate
Job area: Program
Phone: 1-516-716-9832

This is a sample output.

Faking dates

In the second example, we generate fake dates.

const faker = require('faker');

let futureDate = faker.date.future();
let recentDate = faker.date.recent();
let weekday = faker.date.weekday();

console.log(futureDate);
console.log(recentDate);
console.log(weekday);

The example picks up a future and recent date and some weekday.

$ node dates.js
2019-04-13T19:09:43.672Z
2019-01-06T12:28:29.089Z
Saturday

This is a sample output.

Faking random values

The faker allows to generate random values, such as integers, uuids, or words.

const faker = require('faker');

let number = faker.random.number();
console.log(number);

let uuid = faker.random.uuid();
console.log(uuid);

let word = faker.random.word();
console.log(word);

let words = faker.random.words(6);
console.log(words);

The example generates random number, uuid, word, and a group of six words.

$ node random_values.js
630
1470356a-1197-4955-b3c1-30302fd1db10
Facilitator
dot-com connect Practical Checking Account Mandatory real-time

This is a sample output.

Faking locale data

The faker supports localized data to some extent. Note that the locales are finished to various levels.

const faker = require('faker/locale/ru');

let firstName = faker.name.firstName();
let lastName = faker.name.lastName();

console.log(`Pаботник: ${firstName} ${lastName}`);

let month = faker.date.month();
let recentDate = faker.date.recent();
let rectentDate = faker.date.weekday();

console.log(month);
console.log(recentDate);
console.log(rectentDate);

The example generates fake data in Russian language.

$ node locale_faker.js
Pаботник: Антон Васильева
май
2019-01-06T19:24:01.283Z
Пятница

This is a sample output.

Serving fake data with JSON Server

In the next example, we generate JSON data and write it to file. The file is served by JSON Server.

$ npm i g json-server

We install json-server module.

const faker = require('faker');
const fs = require('fs')

function generateUsers() {

  let users = []

  for (let id=1; id <= 100; id++) {

    let firstName = faker.name.firstName();
    let lastName = faker.name.lastName();
    let email = faker.internet.email();

    users.push({
        "id": id,
        "first_name": firstName,
        "last_name": lastName,
        "email": email
    });
  }

  return { "data": users }
}

let dataObj = generateUsers();

fs.writeFileSync('data.json', JSON.stringify(dataObj, null, '\t'));

The example generates one-hundred users and writes them to a data.json file.

$ json-server --watch data.json --port 3004

We start the JSON Server. The server serves data from the generated JSON file.

$ curl localhost:3004/data/3/
{
  "id": 3,
  "first_name": "Sheila",
  "last_name": "Bayer",
  "email": "Moshe.Walsh32@yahoo.com"
}

We retrieve the user with Id 3 with the curl tool.

We show how to generate a HTTP GET request in JavaScript with the Node request module.

$ npm i request

We install the module.

const request = require('request');

request('http://localhost:3004/data?_start=4&_end=8', (err, resp, body) => {

    if (err) {
        console.error('request failed');
        console.error(err);
    } else {
        console.log(body);
    }
});

The program fetches data from the JSON Server, beginning with index 4 (exclusive) and ending with index 8 (inclusive).

$ node get_data.js
[
  {
    "id": 5,
    "first_name": "Cheyanne",
    "last_name": "Ernser",
    "email": "Amber.Spinka62@yahoo.com"
  },
  {
    "id": 6,
    "first_name": "Jeff",
    "last_name": "Bogisich",
    "email": "Bettie.Ritchie60@hotmail.com"
  },
  {
    "id": 7,
    "first_name": "Simone",
    "last_name": "Zemlak",
    "email": "Dorris49@gmail.com"
  },
  {
    "id": 8,
    "first_name": "Demond",
    "last_name": "Barrows",
    "email": "Nestor81@yahoo.com"
  }
]

This is a sample output.

Faker CLI

The faker-cli is a Node module, which is a wrapper over the faker.js. It allows to generate fake data from a command line tool.

$ npm install -g faker-cli

We install the faker-cli module.

$ faker-cli -d future
"2019-07-22T06:37:19.032Z"
$ faker-cli -d recent
"2019-01-06T21:46:50.788Z"
$ faker-cli -n firstName
"Tevin"
$ faker-cli -n lastName
"Sawayn"

We generate some fake data with the faker-cli program.

In this tutorial, we have used faker.js to generate fake data in JavaScript.

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