ShellJS - Unix shell commands for Node.js
- This project is young and experimental. Use at your own risk.
- Major API change as of v0.0.4:
ls()
and find()
now return arrays.
ShellJS is a portable (Windows included) implementation of Unix shell commands on top of the Node.js API. You can use it to eliminate your shell script's dependency on Unix while still keeping its familiar and powerful commands.
The project is unit-tested and is being used at Mozilla's PDF.js, Butter.js and others.
Examples
JavaScript
require('shelljs/global');
if (!which('git')) {
echo('Sorry, this script requires git');
exit(1);
}
mkdir('-p', 'out/Release');
cp('-R', 'stuff/*', 'out/Release');
cd('lib');
ls('*.js').forEach(function(file) {
sed('-i', 'BUILD_VERSION', 'v0.1.2', file);
sed('-i', /.*REMOVE_THIS_LINE.*\n/, '', file);
sed('-i', /.*REPLACE_LINE_WITH_MACRO.*\n/, cat('macro.js'), file);
});
cd('..');
if (exec('git commit -am "Auto-commit"').code !== 0) {
echo('Error: Git commit failed');
exit(1);
}
CoffeeScript
require 'shelljs/global'
if not which 'git'
echo 'Sorry, this script requires git'
exit 1
# Copy files to release dir
mkdir '-p', 'out/Release'
cp '-R', 'stuff/*', 'out/Release'
# Replace macros in each .js file
cd 'lib'
for file in ls '*.js'
sed '-i', 'BUILD_VERSION', 'v0.1.2', file
sed '-i', /.*REMOVE_THIS_LINE.*\n/, '', file
sed '-i', /.*REPLACE_LINE_WITH_MACRO.*\n/, cat 'macro.js', file
cd '..'
# Run external tool synchronously
if (exec 'git commit -am "Auto-commit"').code != 0
echo 'Error: Git commit failed'
exit 1
Global vs. Local
The example above uses the convenience script shelljs/global
to reduce verbosity. If polluting your global namespace is not desirable, simply require shelljs
.
Example:
var shell = require('shelljs');
shell.echo('hello world');
Make tool
A convenience script shelljs/make
is also provided to mimic the behavior of a Unix Makefile. In this case all shell objects are global, and command line arguments will cause the script to execute only the corresponding function in the global target
object. To avoid redundant calls, target functions are executed only once per script.
Example (CoffeeScript):
require 'shelljs/make'
target.all = ->
target.bundle()
target.docs()
target.bundle = ->
cd __dirname
mkdir 'build'
cd 'lib'
(cat '*.js').to '../build/output.js'
target.docs = ->
cd __dirname
mkdir 'docs'
cd 'lib'
for file in ls '*.js'
text = grep '//@', file # extract special comments
text.replace '//@', '' # remove comment tags
text.to 'docs/my_docs.md'
To run the target all
, call the above script without arguments: $ node make
. To run the target docs
: $ node make docs
, and so on.
Installing
Via npm:
$ npm install [-g] shelljs
If the global option -g
is specified, the binary sjs
will be installed. This makes it possible to
run ShellJS scripts much like any shell script from the command line, i.e. without requiring a node_modules
folder:
$ sjs my_script
You can also just copy shell.js
into your project's directory, and require()
accordingly.
Command reference
All commands run synchronously, unless otherwise stated.
cd('dir')
Changes to directory dir
for the duration of the script
pwd()
Returns the current directory.
ls([options ,] path [,path ...])
ls([options ,] path_array)
Available options:
-R
: recursive-a
: all files (include files beginning with .
)
Examples:
ls('projs/*.js');
ls('-R', '/users/me', '/tmp');
ls('-R', ['/users/me', '/tmp']);
Returns array of files in the given path, or in current directory if no path provided.
find(path [,path ...])
find(path_array)
Examples:
find('src', 'lib');
find(['src', 'lib']);
find('.').filter(function(file) { return file.match(/\.js$/); });
Returns array of all files (however deep) in the given paths.
The main difference from ls('-R', path)
is that the resulting file names
include the base directories, e.g. lib/resources/file1
instead of just file1
.
cp('[options ,] source [,source ...], dest')
cp('[options ,] source_array, dest')
Available options:
-f
: force-r, -R
: recursive
Examples:
cp('file1', 'dir1');
cp('-Rf', '/tmp/*', '/usr/local/*', '/home/tmp');
cp('-Rf', ['/tmp/*', '/usr/local/*'], '/home/tmp');
Copies files. The wildcard *
is accepted.
rm([options ,] file [, file ...])
rm([options ,] file_array)
Available options:
-f
: force-r, -R
: recursive
Examples:
rm('-rf', '/tmp/*');
rm('some_file.txt', 'another_file.txt');
rm(['some_file.txt', 'another_file.txt']);
Removes files. The wildcard *
is accepted.
mv(source [, source ...], dest')
mv(source_array, dest')
Available options:
Examples:
mv('-f', 'file', 'dir/');
mv('file1', 'file2', 'dir/');
mv(['file1', 'file2'], 'dir/');
Moves files. The wildcard *
is accepted.
mkdir([options ,] dir [, dir ...])
mkdir([options ,] dir_array)
Available options:
p
: full path (will create intermediate dirs if necessary)
Examples:
mkdir('-p', '/tmp/a/b/c/d', '/tmp/e/f/g');
mkdir('-p', ['/tmp/a/b/c/d', '/tmp/e/f/g']);
Creates directories.
test(expression)
Available expression primaries:
'-d', 'path'
: true if path is a directory'-f', 'path'
: true if path is a regular file
Examples:
if (test('-d', path)) { };
if (!test('-f', path)) continue;
Evaluates expression using the available primaries and returns corresponding value.
cat(file [, file ...])
cat(file_array)
Examples:
var str = cat('file*.txt');
var str = cat('file1', 'file2');
var str = cat(['file1', 'file2']);
Returns a string containing the given file, or a concatenated string
containing the files if more than one file is given (a new line character is
introduced between each file). Wildcard *
accepted.
'string'.to(file)
Examples:
cat('input.txt').to('output.txt');
Analogous to the redirection operator >
in Unix, but works with JavaScript strings (such as
those returned by cat
, grep
, etc). Like Unix redirections, to()
will overwrite any existing file!
sed([options ,] search_regex, replace_str, file)
Available options:
-i
: Replace contents of 'file' in-place. Note that no backups will be created!
Examples:
sed('-i', 'PROGRAM_VERSION', 'v0.1.3', 'source.js');
sed(/.*DELETE_THIS_LINE.*\n/, '', 'source.js');
Reads an input string from file
and performs a JavaScript replace()
on the input
using the given search regex and replacement string. Returns the new string after replacement.
grep([options ,] regex_filter, file [, file ...])
grep([options ,] regex_filter, file_array)
Available options:
-v
: Inverse the sense of the regex and print the lines not matching the criteria.
Examples:
grep('-v', 'GLOBAL_VARIABLE', '*.js');
grep('GLOBAL_VARIABLE', '*.js');
Reads input string from given files and returns a string containing all lines of the
file that match the given regex_filter
. Wildcard *
accepted.
which(command)
Examples:
var nodeExec = which('node');
Searches for command
in the system's PATH. On Windows looks for .exe
, .cmd
, and .bat
extensions.
Returns string containing the absolute path to the command.
echo(string [,string ...])
Examples:
echo('hello world');
var str = echo('hello world');
Prints string to stdout, and returns string with additional utility methods
like .to()
.
exit(code)
Exits the current process with the given exit code.
env['VAR_NAME']
Object containing environment variables (both getter and setter). Shortcut to process.env.
exec(command [, options] [, callback])
Available options (all false
by default):
async
: Asynchronous execution. Needs callback.silent
: Do not echo program output to console.
Examples:
var version = exec('node --version', {silent:true}).output;
var child = exec('some_long_running_process', {async:true});
child.stdout.on('data', function(data) {
});
Executes the given command
synchronously, unless otherwise specified.
When in synchronous mode returns the object { code:..., output:... }
, containing the program's
output
(stdout + stderr) and its exit code
. Otherwise returns the child process object, and
the callback
gets the arguments (code, output)
.
Note: For long-lived processes, it's best to run exec()
asynchronously as
the current synchronous implementation uses a lot of CPU. This should be getting
fixed soon.
Non-Unix commands
tempdir()
Searches and returns string containing a writeable, platform-dependent temporary directory.
Follows Python's tempfile algorithm.
error()
Tests if error occurred in the last command. Returns null
if no error occurred,
otherwise returns string explaining the error
silent([state])
Example:
var silentState = silent();
silent(true);
silent(silentState);
Suppresses all command output if state = true
, except for echo()
calls.
Returns state if no arguments given.
Deprecated
exists(path [, path ...])
exists(path_array)
This function is being deprecated. Use test()
instead.
Returns true if all the given paths exist.
verbose()
This function is being deprecated. Use silent(false) instead.
Enables all output (default)