@actions/exec

@actions/exec

Usage

Basic

You can use this package to execute tools in a cross platform way:

const exec = require('@actions/exec');

await exec.exec('node index.js');

Args

You can also pass in arg arrays:

const exec = require('@actions/exec');

await exec.exec('node', ['index.js', 'foo=bar']);

Output/options

Capture output or specify other options:

const exec = require('@actions/exec');

let myOutput = '';
let myError = '';

const options = {};
options.listeners = {
  stdout: (data: Buffer) => {
    myOutput += data.toString();
  },
  stderr: (data: Buffer) => {
    myError += data.toString();
  }
};
options.cwd = './lib';

await exec.exec('node', ['index.js', 'foo=bar'], options);

Exec tools not in the PATH

You can specify the full path for tools not in the PATH:

const exec = require('@actions/exec');

await exec.exec('"/path/to/my-tool"', ['arg1']);

Similar packages

Other packages similar to @actions/exec

child_process

The 'child_process' module is a built-in Node.js module that provides the ability to spawn child processes. It offers similar functionalities to @actions/exec, such as executing shell commands and capturing their output. However, it is more low-level and requires more boilerplate code to achieve the same tasks.

shelljs

ShellJS is a popular npm package that provides portable Unix shell commands for Node.js. It offers a higher-level API compared to 'child_process' and includes additional utilities for file system operations. While it is not specifically designed for GitHub Actions, it can be used to achieve similar command execution functionalities.

execa

Execa is a modern npm package for executing shell commands in Node.js. It provides a promise-based API, better error handling, and more features compared to 'child_process'. Execa is a good alternative to @actions/exec for general-purpose command execution in Node.js applications.