feat: use raw mode for better performance where available

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+## v2.4.0 - 7 March 2026
+- Use `raw` option for write and append operations on Erlang
+- Add `delete_file` function for specifically deleting a file (uses `raw` on Erlang as well)
+
 ## v2.3.2 - 26 December 2025 
 - Fix bug where unknown errors were not properly converted to the Unknown variant in Erlang ffi.
 

gleam.toml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name = "simplifile"
-version = "2.3.2"
+version = "2.4.0"
 description = "Basic file operations that work on all targets"
 
 licences = ["Apache-2.0"]

src/simplifile.gleam

@@ -334,6 +334,13 @@ pub fn write(
 @external(javascript, "./simplifile_js.mjs", "delete_")
 pub fn delete(file_or_dir_at path: String) -> Result(Nil, FileError)
 
+/// Delete a file. 
+/// On Erlang, if you're specifically deleting a single file, this function 
+/// should be more efficient than `delete` because it can pass the raw option.
+@external(erlang, "simplifile_erl", "delete_file")
+@external(javascript, "./simplifile_js.mjs", "deleteFile")
+pub fn delete_file(at path: String) -> Result(Nil, FileError)
+
 /// Delete all files/directories specified in a list of paths.
 /// Recursively deletes provided directories.
 /// Does not return an error if one or more of the provided paths

src/simplifile_erl.erl

@@ -103,20 +103,20 @@ read_bits(Filename) ->
 %% Write bytes to a file
 write_bits(Filename, Contents) ->
     case bit_size(Contents) rem 8 of
-        0 -> posix_result(file:write_file(Filename, Contents));
+        0 -> posix_result(file:write_file(Filename, Contents, [raw]));
         _ -> {error, einval}
     end.
 
 %% Append bytes to a file
 append_bits(Filename, Contents) ->
     case bit_size(Contents) rem 8 of
-        0 -> posix_result(file:write_file(Filename, Contents, [append]));
+        0 -> posix_result(file:write_file(Filename, Contents, [append, raw]));
         _ -> {error, einval}
     end.
 
 %% Delete the file at the given path
 delete_file(Filename) ->
-    posix_result(file:delete(Filename)).
+    posix_result(file:delete(Filename, [raw])).
 
 %% Create a directory at the given path. Missing parent directories are not created.
 create_directory(Dir) ->

src/simplifile_js.mjs

@@ -182,6 +182,18 @@ export function delete_(fileOrDirPath) {
   });
 }
 
+/**
+ * Specifically delete a single file.
+ * 
+ * @param {string} filePath 
+ * @returns {Ok | GError}
+ */
+export function deleteFile(filePath) {
+  return gleamResult(() => {
+    fs.unlinkSync(path.normalize(filePath));
+  })
+}
+
 /**
  * List the contents of a directory.
  *

test/simplifile_test.gleam

@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ import simplifile.{
   Esrch, Estale, Etxtbsy, Exdev, Execute, File, FilePermissions, NotUtf8, Read,
   Unknown, Write, append, append_bits, copy, copy_directory, copy_file,
   create_directory, create_directory_all, create_file, create_link,
-  create_symlink, delete, delete_all, file_info, file_info_permissions,
-  file_info_permissions_octal, file_info_type, file_permissions_to_octal,
-  get_files, is_directory, is_file, is_symlink, link_info, read, read_bits,
-  read_directory, rename, set_permissions, set_permissions_octal, write,
-  write_bits,
+  create_symlink, delete, delete_all, delete_file, file_info,
+  file_info_permissions, file_info_permissions_octal, file_info_type,
+  file_permissions_to_octal, get_files, is_directory, is_file, is_symlink,
+  link_info, read, read_bits, read_directory, rename, set_permissions,
+  set_permissions_octal, write, write_bits,
 }
 
 pub fn main() {
@@ -357,6 +357,31 @@ pub fn delete_test() {
   let assert Ok(False) = is_file("./tmp/" <> the_target)
 }
 
+pub fn delete_file_test() {
+  // Basic delete
+  let assert Ok(_) = write("Hello", to: "./tmp/existing_file_2.txt")
+  let assert Ok(_) = delete_file("./tmp/existing_file_2.txt")
+  let assert Error(Enoent) = read("./tmp/existing_file_2.txt")
+
+  // Deleting a file that doesn't exist throws an error
+  let assert Error(Enoent) = delete_file("./idontexist")
+
+  // Delete a symlink doesn't delete the target
+  let the_target = "target_of_created_symlink_2"
+  let the_symlink = "./tmp/created_symlink_2"
+  let assert Ok(_) =
+    ""
+    |> write(to: "./tmp/" <> the_target)
+  let assert Ok(_) = create_symlink(the_target, the_symlink)
+  let assert Ok(True) = is_file("./tmp/" <> the_target)
+  let assert Ok(True) = is_symlink(the_symlink)
+  let assert Ok(_) = delete_file(the_symlink)
+  let assert Ok(False) = is_symlink(the_symlink)
+  let assert Ok(True) = is_file("./tmp/" <> the_target)
+  let assert Ok(_) = delete_file(at: "./tmp/" <> the_target)
+  let assert Ok(False) = is_file("./tmp/" <> the_target)
+}
+
 pub fn delete_all_test() {
   let files =
     list.map([1, 2, 3, 4, 5], fn(item) {