execa

A better child_process

Why

• Promise interface.
• Strips EOF from the output so you don't have to stdout.trim().
• Supports shebang binaries cross-platform.
• Improved Windows support.
• Higher max buffer. 10 MB instead of 200 KB.
• Executes locally installed binaries by name.
• Cleans up spawned processes when the parent process dies.

Install

$ npm install --save execa

Usage

const execa = require('execa');
 
execa('echo', ['unicorns']).then(result => {
    console.log(result.stdout);
    //=> 'unicorns' 
});
 
// pipe the child process stdout to the current stdout 
execa('echo', ['unicorns']).stdout.pipe(process.stdout);
 
execa.shell('echo unicorns').then(result => {
    console.log(result.stdout);
    //=> 'unicorns' 
});
 
// example of catching an error 
execa.shell('exit 3').catch(error => {
    console.log(error);
    /*
    {
        message: 'Command failed: /bin/sh -c exit 3'
        killed: false,
        code: 3,
        signal: null,
        cmd: '/bin/sh -c exit 3',
        stdout: '',
        stderr: '',
        timedOut: false
    }
    */
});

API

execa(file, [arguments], [options])

Execute a file.

Same options as child_process.spawn.

Think of this as a mix of child_process.execFile and child_process.spawn.

Returns a child_process instance, which is enhanced to also be a Promise for a result Object with stdout and stderr properties.

execa.stdout(file, [arguments], [options])

Same as execa(), but returns only stdout.

execa.stderr(file, [arguments], [options])

Same as execa(), but returns only stderr.

execa.shell(command, [options])

Execute a command through the system shell. Prefer execa() whenever possible, as it's both faster and safer.

Same options as child_process.spawn.

Returns a child_process instance.

The child_process instance is enhanced to also be promise for a result object with stdout and stderr properties.

execa.sync(file, [arguments], [options])

Execute a file synchronously.

Same options as child_process.spawnSync, except the default encoding is utf8 instead of buffer.

Returns the same result object as child_process.spawnSync.

This method throws an Error if the command fails.

execa.shellSync(file, [options])

Execute a command synchronously through the system shell.

Same options as child_process.spawnSync, except the default encoding is utf8 instead of buffer.

Returns the same result object as child_process.spawnSync.

options

Additional options:

stripEof

Type: boolean
Default: true

Strip EOF (last newline) from the output.

preferLocal

Type: boolean
Default: true

Prefer locally installed binaries when looking for a binary to execute.
If you $ npm install foo, you can then execa('foo').

input

Type: string Buffer ReadableStream

Write some input to the stdin of your binary.
Streams are not allowed when using the synchronous methods.

reject

Type: boolean
Default: true

Setting this to false resolves the promise with the error instead of rejecting it.

cleanup

Type: boolean
Default: true

Keep track of the spawned process and kill it when the parent process exits.

Tips

Save and pipe output from a child process

Let's say you want to show the output of a child process in real-time while also saving it to a variable.

const execa = require('execa');
const getStream = require('get-stream');
 
const stream = execa('echo', ['foo']).stdout;
 
stream.pipe(process.stdout);
 
getStream(stream).then(value => {
    console.log('child output:', value);
});

License

MIT © Sindre Sorhus