How to run TypeScript files from command line?

Question

I\'m having a surprisingly hard time finding an answer to this. With plain Node.JS, you can run any js file with node path/to/file.js, with CoffeeScript it\'s <

Answer 1

Just in case anyone is insane like me and wants to just run typescript script as though it was a .js script, you can try this. I've written a hacky script that appears to execute the .ts script using node.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

NODEPATH="$HOME/.nvm/versions/node/v8.11.3/bin" # set path to your node/tsc

export TSC="$NODEPATH/tsc"
export NODE="$NODEPATH/node"

TSCFILE=$1 # only parameter is the name of the ts file you created.

function show_usage() {
    echo "ts2node [ts file]"
    exit 0
}

if [ "$TSCFILE" == "" ]
then
    show_usage;
fi

JSFILE="$(echo $TSCFILE|cut -d"." -f 1).js"

$TSC $TSCFILE && $NODE $JSFILE

You can do this or write your own but essentially, it creates the .js file and then uses node to run it like so:

# tsrun myscript.ts

Simple. Just make sure your script only has one "." else you'll need to change your JSFILE in a different way than what I've shown.

Answer 2

None of the other answers discuss how to run a TypeScript script that uses modules, and especially modern ES Modules.

First off, ts-node doesn't work in that scenario, as of March 2020. So we'll settle for tsc followed by node.

Second, TypeScript still can't output .mjs files. So we'll settle for .js files and "type": "module" in package.json.

Third, you want clean import lines, without specifying the .js extension (which would be confusing in .ts files):

import { Lib } from './Lib';

Well, that's non-trivial. Node requires specifying extensions on imports, unless you use the experimental-specifier-resolution=node flag. In this case, it would enable Node to look for Lib.js or Lib/index.js when you only specify ./Lib on the import line.

Fourth, there's still a snag: if you have a different main filename than index.js in your package, Node won't find it.

Transpiling makes things a lot messier than running vanilla Node.

Here's a sample repo with a modern TypeScript project structure, generating ES Module code.

Answer 3

How do I do the same with Typescript

You can leave tsc running in watch mode using tsc -w -p . and it will generate .js files for you in a live fashion, so you can run node foo.js like normal

TS Node

There is ts-node : https://github.com/TypeStrong/ts-node that will compile the code on the fly and run it through node

Answer 4

We have following steps:

1. First you need to install typescript

   npm install -g typescript
   

2. Create one file helloworld.ts

   function hello(person){
      return "Hello, " + person;
   }
   let user = "Aamod Tiwari";
   const result = hello(user);
   console.log("Result", result)
   

3. Open command prompt and type the following command

   tsc helloworld.ts
   

4. Again run the command

   node helloworld.js
   

5. Result will display on console

Answer 5

Run the below commands and install the required packages globally:

npm install -g ts-node
npm install -g typescript

Now run the following command to execute a typescript file:

ts-node typescript-file.ts

Answer 6

Write yourself a simple bash wrapper may helps.

#!/bin/bash
npx tsc $1 && node ${1%%.ts}