spawn-args

What is spawn-args?

The spawn-args npm package is used to parse command-line arguments into an array that can be passed to child_process.spawn in Node.js. This is particularly useful for executing shell commands programmatically.

What are spawn-args's main functionalities?

Basic Argument Parsing

This feature allows you to parse a command-line string into an array of arguments. This array can then be used with child_process.spawn to execute the command.

const spawnArgs = require('spawn-args');
const args = spawnArgs('ls -la /usr/local');
console.log(args); // Output: ['ls', '-la', '/usr/local']

Handling Quoted Strings

This feature handles quoted strings correctly, ensuring that arguments containing spaces are treated as a single argument.

const spawnArgs = require('spawn-args');
const args = spawnArgs('echo "Hello World"');
console.log(args); // Output: ['echo', 'Hello World']

Custom Delimiters

This feature allows you to specify a custom delimiter for separating arguments, which can be useful for parsing non-standard command-line formats.

const spawnArgs = require('spawn-args');
const args = spawnArgs('command arg1,arg2,arg3', { delimiter: ',' });
console.log(args); // Output: ['command', 'arg1', 'arg2', 'arg3']

Other packages similar to spawn-args

yargs-parser

yargs-parser is a powerful library for parsing command-line arguments. It offers more advanced features like argument type coercion, default values, and aliases. Compared to spawn-args, yargs-parser is more feature-rich but also more complex.

minimist

minimist is a lightweight library for parsing command-line arguments. It is simpler and more lightweight compared to yargs-parser and spawn-args, making it suitable for basic use cases where advanced features are not required.

commander

commander is a comprehensive solution for building command-line interfaces. It includes argument parsing as well as features for defining commands, options, and subcommands. It is more feature-rich than spawn-args but also more complex to set up.

README

spawn-args

Turn a string of command line options into an array for child_process.spawn

install

$ npm install spawn-args

usage

var spawnargs = require('spawn-args');
//spawnargs(argString:string[, options:object]);

var args = spawnargs('-port 80 --title "this is a title"');

/*

	[
		'-port',
		'80',
		'--title',
		'"this is a title"'
	]
	
*/

The removequotes option will remove quotes from values if they do not have spaces

var args2 = spawnargs('-port 80 --color "red" --title "this is a title"', { removequotes: true });

/*

	[
		'-port',
		'80',
		'--title',
		'"this is a title"'
	]
	
*/

If removequotes is always then quotes will be removed even if the value contains spaces

var args3 = spawnargs('-port 80 --color "red" --title "this is a title"', { removequotes: 'always' });

/*

	[
		'-port',
		'80',
		'--title',
		'this is a title'
	]
	
*/

license

MIT