Execute a command line binary with Node.js

Question

I am in the process of porting a CLI library from Ruby over to Node.js. In my code I execute several third party binaries when necessary. I am not sure how best to accomplis

Answer 1

I just wrote a Cli helper to deal with Unix/windows easily.

Javascript:

define(["require", "exports"], function (require, exports) {
    /**
     * Helper to use the Command Line Interface (CLI) easily with both Windows and Unix environments.
     * Requires underscore or lodash as global through "_".
     */
    var Cli = (function () {
        function Cli() {}
            /**
             * Execute a CLI command.
             * Manage Windows and Unix environment and try to execute the command on both env if fails.
             * Order: Windows -> Unix.
             *
             * @param command                   Command to execute. ('grunt')
             * @param args                      Args of the command. ('watch')
             * @param callback                  Success.
             * @param callbackErrorWindows      Failure on Windows env.
             * @param callbackErrorUnix         Failure on Unix env.
             */
        Cli.execute = function (command, args, callback, callbackErrorWindows, callbackErrorUnix) {
            if (typeof args === "undefined") {
                args = [];
            }
            Cli.windows(command, args, callback, function () {
                callbackErrorWindows();

                try {
                    Cli.unix(command, args, callback, callbackErrorUnix);
                } catch (e) {
                    console.log('------------- Failed to perform the command: "' + command + '" on all environments. -------------');
                }
            });
        };

        /**
         * Execute a command on Windows environment.
         *
         * @param command       Command to execute. ('grunt')
         * @param args          Args of the command. ('watch')
         * @param callback      Success callback.
         * @param callbackError Failure callback.
         */
        Cli.windows = function (command, args, callback, callbackError) {
            if (typeof args === "undefined") {
                args = [];
            }
            try {
                Cli._execute(process.env.comspec, _.union(['/c', command], args));
                callback(command, args, 'Windows');
            } catch (e) {
                callbackError(command, args, 'Windows');
            }
        };

        /**
         * Execute a command on Unix environment.
         *
         * @param command       Command to execute. ('grunt')
         * @param args          Args of the command. ('watch')
         * @param callback      Success callback.
         * @param callbackError Failure callback.
         */
        Cli.unix = function (command, args, callback, callbackError) {
            if (typeof args === "undefined") {
                args = [];
            }
            try {
                Cli._execute(command, args);
                callback(command, args, 'Unix');
            } catch (e) {
                callbackError(command, args, 'Unix');
            }
        };

        /**
         * Execute a command no matters what's the environment.
         *
         * @param command   Command to execute. ('grunt')
         * @param args      Args of the command. ('watch')
         * @private
         */
        Cli._execute = function (command, args) {
            var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
            var childProcess = spawn(command, args);

            childProcess.stdout.on("data", function (data) {
                console.log(data.toString());
            });

            childProcess.stderr.on("data", function (data) {
                console.error(data.toString());
            });
        };
        return Cli;
    })();
    exports.Cli = Cli;
});

Typescript original source file:

 /**
 * Helper to use the Command Line Interface (CLI) easily with both Windows and Unix environments.
 * Requires underscore or lodash as global through "_".
 */
export class Cli {

    /**
     * Execute a CLI command.
     * Manage Windows and Unix environment and try to execute the command on both env if fails.
     * Order: Windows -> Unix.
     *
     * @param command                   Command to execute. ('grunt')
     * @param args                      Args of the command. ('watch')
     * @param callback                  Success.
     * @param callbackErrorWindows      Failure on Windows env.
     * @param callbackErrorUnix         Failure on Unix env.
     */
    public static execute(command: string, args: string[] = [], callback ? : any, callbackErrorWindows ? : any, callbackErrorUnix ? : any) {
        Cli.windows(command, args, callback, function () {
            callbackErrorWindows();

            try {
                Cli.unix(command, args, callback, callbackErrorUnix);
            } catch (e) {
                console.log('------------- Failed to perform the command: "' + command + '" on all environments. -------------');
            }
        });
    }

    /**
     * Execute a command on Windows environment.
     *
     * @param command       Command to execute. ('grunt')
     * @param args          Args of the command. ('watch')
     * @param callback      Success callback.
     * @param callbackError Failure callback.
     */
    public static windows(command: string, args: string[] = [], callback ? : any, callbackError ? : any) {
        try {
            Cli._execute(process.env.comspec, _.union(['/c', command], args));
            callback(command, args, 'Windows');
        } catch (e) {
            callbackError(command, args, 'Windows');
        }
    }

    /**
     * Execute a command on Unix environment.
     *
     * @param command       Command to execute. ('grunt')
     * @param args          Args of the command. ('watch')
     * @param callback      Success callback.
     * @param callbackError Failure callback.
     */
    public static unix(command: string, args: string[] = [], callback ? : any, callbackError ? : any) {
        try {
            Cli._execute(command, args);
            callback(command, args, 'Unix');
        } catch (e) {
            callbackError(command, args, 'Unix');
        }
    }

    /**
     * Execute a command no matters what's the environment.
     *
     * @param command   Command to execute. ('grunt')
     * @param args      Args of the command. ('watch')
     * @private
     */
    private static _execute(command, args) {
        var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
        var childProcess = spawn(command, args);

        childProcess.stdout.on("data", function (data) {
            console.log(data.toString());
        });

        childProcess.stderr.on("data", function (data) {
            console.error(data.toString());
        });
    }
}

Example of use:

    Cli.execute(Grunt._command, args, function (command, args, env) {
        console.log('Grunt has been automatically executed. (' + env + ')');

    }, function (command, args, env) {
        console.error('------------- Windows "' + command + '" command failed, trying Unix... ---------------');

    }, function (command, args, env) {
        console.error('------------- Unix "' + command + '" command failed too. ---------------');
    });

Answer 2

Now you can use shelljs ( from node v4 ) as follows :

var shell = require('shelljs');

shell.echo('hello world');
shell.exec('node --version')

Answer 3

Since version 4 the closest alternative is child_process.execSync method:

const {execSync} = require('child_process');

let output = execSync('prince -v builds/pdf/book.html -o builds/pdf/book.pdf');

⚠️ Note that execSync call blocks event loop.

Answer 4

const exec = require("child_process").exec
exec("ls", (error, stdout, stderr) => {
 //do whatever here
})

Answer 5

You can use execa.

For example, as a promise:

const execa = require('execa')

execa('cat *.js bad_file').then(
  (childProcessResult) => {
    //onFulfilled
    console.log('Success!', childProcessResult)
  },
  (childProcessResult) => {
    //onRejected
    console.log('Error!', childProcessResult)
  }
)

Execa improves child_process methods with:

• Promise interface.
• Strips the final newline from the output so you don't have to do stdout.trim().
• Supports shebang binaries cross-platform.
• Improved Windows support.
• Higher max buffer. 100 MB instead of 200 KB.
• Executes locally installed binaries by name.
• Cleans up spawned processes when the parent process dies.
• Get interleaved output from stdout and stderr similar to what is printed on the terminal. (Async only)
• Can specify file and arguments as a single string without a shell
• More descriptive errors.

Answer 6

Node JS v13.9.0, LTS v12.16.1, and v10.19.0 --- Mar 2020

Async method (Unix):

'use strict';

const { spawn } = require( 'child_process' );
const ls = spawn( 'ls', [ '-lh', '/usr' ] );

ls.stdout.on( 'data', data => {
    console.log( `stdout: ${data}` );
} );

ls.stderr.on( 'data', data => {
    console.log( `stderr: ${data}` );
} );

ls.on( 'close', code => {
    console.log( `child process exited with code ${code}` );
} );

Async method (Windows):

'use strict';

const { spawn } = require( 'child_process' );
const dir = spawn('cmd', ['/c', 'dir'])

dir.stdout.on( 'data', data => console.log( `stdout: ${data}` ) );
dir.stderr.on( 'data', data => console.log( `stderr: ${data}` ) );
dir.on( 'close', code => console.log( `child process exited with code ${code}` ) );

Sync:

'use strict';

const { spawnSync } = require( 'child_process' );
const ls = spawnSync( 'ls', [ '-lh', '/usr' ] );

console.log( `stderr: ${ls.stderr.toString()}` );
console.log( `stdout: ${ls.stdout.toString()}` );

From Node.js v13.9.0 Documentation

The same goes for Node.js v12.16.1 Documentation and Node.js v10.19.0 Documentation