What is launch-editor?
The launch-editor npm package is designed to open files directly in the user's preferred code editor, at a specific line and column if desired. It's particularly useful for development tools and frameworks that want to provide a way to quickly jump to the source code from an error message or log output.
What are launch-editor's main functionalities?
Open a file in the default editor
This feature allows you to open a specific file in the default code editor.
const launchEditor = require('launch-editor');
launchEditor('path/to/file.js');
Open a file at a specific line and column
This feature allows you to open a file and jump to a specific line and column, which is useful for debugging purposes.
const launchEditor = require('launch-editor');
launchEditor('path/to/file.js', '1:5');
Specify a specific editor to open the file with
This feature allows you to specify which editor to use when opening a file, and provides a callback for error handling.
const launchEditor = require('launch-editor');
launchEditor('path/to/file.js', '1:5', 'code', (fileName, errorMsg) => {
console.log(`Could not open ${fileName} in the editor.`, errorMsg);
});
Other packages similar to launch-editor
open-in-editor
Similar to launch-editor, open-in-editor allows opening files in a code editor from Node.js applications. It supports a range of editors and can be configured to use a specific editor. It differs in its API and configuration options.
react-dev-utils
While not a direct alternative, react-dev-utils includes a function called launchEditorEndpoint which can be used to open files in an editor from a running React application. It serves a similar purpose but is more specific to React development.