The minimist package is a command-line argument parser that helps to convert argument strings into a structured format. It is designed to be minimalist and simple to use, focusing on parsing the options passed to a Node.js script.
Parse command-line arguments
This feature allows you to parse command-line arguments. The process.argv array is sliced to remove the first two elements (node and script path), and the remaining elements are parsed by minimist to create an object with the arguments.
const minimist = require('minimist');
const args = minimist(process.argv.slice(2));
console.log(args);Custom argument parsing
This feature allows for custom parsing options such as specifying which arguments should be treated as strings or booleans, and setting aliases for argument names.
const minimist = require('minimist');
const args = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), {
string: ['lang'],
boolean: ['version'],
alias: { v: 'version' }
});
console.log(args);Default argument values
This feature allows you to provide default values for arguments that are not supplied on the command line.
const minimist = require('minimist');
const args = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), {
default: { lang: 'en', debug: false }
});
console.log(args);Yargs is a more feature-rich command-line argument parser. It provides a fluent interface for building complex argument parsing logic and includes features like command handling, help text generation, and more.
Commander is another popular npm package for parsing command-line arguments. It is more oriented towards building command-line applications with sub-commands and action handlers.
Arg is a simple argument parser with a focus on performance and small package size. It is similar to minimist but offers a different API and type-based parsing.
Meow is a wrapper around minimist that provides a higher-level interface for creating CLIs. It includes features like help text generation and input validation.
parse argument options
This module is the guts of optimist's argument parser without all the fanciful decoration.
var argv = require('minimist')(process.argv.slice(2));
console.log(argv);
$ node example/parse.js -a beep -b boop
{ _: [], a: 'beep', b: 'boop' }
$ node example/parse.js -x 3 -y 4 -n5 -abc --beep=boop foo bar baz
{
_: ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
x: 3,
y: 4,
n: 5,
a: true,
b: true,
c: true,
beep: 'boop'
}
Previous versions had a prototype pollution bug that could cause privilege escalation in some circumstances when handling untrusted user input.
Please use version 1.2.6 or later:
var parseArgs = require('minimist')
Return an argument object argv populated with the array arguments from args.
argv._ contains all the arguments that didn't have an option associated with
them.
Numeric-looking arguments will be returned as numbers unless opts.string or
opts.boolean is set for that argument name.
Any arguments after '--' will not be parsed and will end up in argv._.
options can be:
opts.string - a string or array of strings argument names to always treat as
strings
opts.boolean - a boolean, string or array of strings to always treat as
booleans. if true will treat all double hyphenated arguments without equal signs
as boolean (e.g. affects --foo, not -f or --foo=bar)
opts.alias - an object mapping string names to strings or arrays of string
argument names to use as aliases
opts.default - an object mapping string argument names to default values
opts.stopEarly - when true, populate argv._ with everything after the
first non-option
opts['--'] - when true, populate argv._ with everything before the --
and argv['--'] with everything after the --. Here's an example:
> require('./')('one two three -- four five --six'.split(' '), { '--': true })
{
_: ['one', 'two', 'three'],
'--': ['four', 'five', '--six']
}
Note that with opts['--'] set, parsing for arguments still stops after the
--.
opts.unknown - a function which is invoked with a command line parameter not
defined in the opts configuration object. If the function returns false, the
unknown option is not added to argv.
With npm do:
npm install minimist
MIT
v1.2.8 - 2023-02-09
#17#12#10#15#8#15#9#5#8#9a0267945368ca4e5f506762fde7d36ac5d0auto-changelog 73923d2d80727d48bc06a34b0f1c5df0fe4covert to nyc a48b128covert, tape; remove unnecessary tap f0fb958funding in package.json 3639e0cnpmignore to autogenerate an npmignore file be2e038282b570ef9153f@ljharb/eslint-config, aud 098873c@ljharb/eslint-config, aud 3124ed3safe-publish-latest 4b927deaud in posttest b32d9bdf9fdfc0ba92fe6tape 950eaa7npmignore dev dep 3226afa980d7acFAQs
parse argument options
The npm package minimist receives a total of 69,046,834 weekly downloads. As such, minimist popularity was classified as popular.
We found that minimist demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 3 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
Did you know?
Socket for GitHub automatically highlights issues in each pull request and monitors the health of all your open source dependencies. Discover the contents of your packages and block harmful activity before you install or update your dependencies.
Security News
Research
Socket researchers have discovered malicious npm packages targeting crypto developers, stealing credentials and wallet data using spyware delivered through typosquats of popular cryptographic libraries.
Security News
Socket's package search now displays weekly downloads for npm packages, helping developers quickly assess popularity and make more informed decisions.
Security News
A Stanford study reveals 9.5% of engineers contribute almost nothing, costing tech $90B annually, with remote work fueling the rise of "ghost engineers."