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Commander.js – Node.js command-line interfaces made easy

53 points by rglover 12y ago

phpnode 12y ago
see also yargs - https://github.com/chevex/yargs https://github.com/chevex/yargs
jdc0589 12y ago
Commander has been around for a good while now, and is a pretty solid library. I really appreciate how easy it makes writing git style subcommands with good isolation of options/flags between the entry-point command vs subcommands. example of a subcommand heavy CLI using commander: [mite-node](https://github.com/jdc0589/mite-node/blob/master/lib/cli/index.js#L37 https://github.com/jdc0589/mite-node/blob/master/lib/cli/ind...)
niftylettuce 12y ago
Also see <https://github.com/sindresorhus/chalk> https://github.com/sindresorhus/chalk>
- jdc0589 12y ago
  chalk is only tangentially related, but it is great. Switching my reporting/output layer from color to chalk took about 5 minutes. Chalk is a much better library.
arthurschreiber 12y ago
I really like docopt (http://docopt.org/ http://docopt.org/) which also comes as a CoffeeScript / JavaScript version.
Killswitch 12y ago
Commander is great. Anything by TJ Holowaychuk is worth using in any Node.js project. Dude is legit.
patrickg 12y ago
Another shameless plug: https://github.com/pgundlach/argumentr https://github.com/pgundlach/argumentr
tjholowaychuk 12y ago
wtf haha this is SUPER old. FWIW I also really like the docopt approach, really cool
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- arrowgunz 12y ago
  oh hackernews! you guys downvote the author of the program that's being discussed. facepalm
Volscio 12y ago
Somewhat related, but I've been looking for a node.js-based module for providing a telnet/MUD CLI but either it's implemented through a web page with an input box, or has only the basic telnet protocol fleshed out with no user interaction. Any ideas?
- cmpb 12y ago
  An old coworker of mine wrote this: https://github.com/doughsay/room.js https://github.com/doughsay/room.js Might that be what you're looking for?
- hath995 12y ago
  https://github.com/shawncplus/ranviermud https://github.com/shawncplus/ranviermud Its a super basic MUD written in Node. It has some telnet libraries you might want to take a look at.
  - Volscio 12y ago
    Ah hah, I'd known about ranviermud but hadn't noticed it had a telnet lib! Will give it a look-see, thank you!!
tlrobinson 12y ago
As far as I'm concerned, docopt (on HN yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7830559 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7830559 ) obsoletes all other command line parsing libraries. Yes, there is a Node.js implementation.
- abritishguy 12y ago
  Armin Ronacher explained why he made click and particular cases where docopt was too limited (although he said for cases where docopt works then it is very good). Also docopt only does command line parsing, that is only a very small part of a command line interface and there are lots of libraries like inquirer (https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js) that a very good at doing the other stuff.
vezzy-fnord 12y ago
I don't think the name is too apt, considering "commander" at this point refers to a heritage of file managers with distinctive UIs.
- secoif 12y ago
  Commander.js is a few years old and adopts the name from a ruby project of the same name (from same author) from 09.
abritishguy 12y ago
inquirer.js (https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js) is very good for asking the user questions and getting input e.g. - checkboxes - lists - confirms - text input etc.
antonapa 12y ago
At the risk of being ridiculed, how would one go about to just take a variable without flag? Ie specialhttpcliutiltool http://yoururl.com http://yoururl.com?
- nielsbjerg 12y ago
  That is done by: process.argv.slice(2)[0] The first two arguments are node, and the name of the file you are running. More here: http://nodejs.org/api/process.html#process_process_argv http://nodejs.org/api/process.html#process_process_argv

53 points by rglover 12y ago

see also yargs - https://github.com/chevex/yargs https://github.com/chevex/yargs

Commander has been around for a good while now, and is a pretty solid library. I really appreciate how easy it makes writing git style subcommands with good isolation of options/flags between the entry-point command vs subcommands. example of a subcommand heavy CLI using commander: [mite-node](https://github.com/jdc0589/mite-node/blob/master/lib/cli/index.js#L37 https://github.com/jdc0589/mite-node/blob/master/lib/cli/ind...)

niftylettuce 12y ago

Also see <https://github.com/sindresorhus/chalk> https://github.com/sindresorhus/chalk>

jdc0589 12y ago
chalk is only tangentially related, but it is great. Switching my reporting/output layer from color to chalk took about 5 minutes. Chalk is a much better library.

arthurschreiber 12y ago

I really like docopt (http://docopt.org/ http://docopt.org/) which also comes as a CoffeeScript / JavaScript version.

Killswitch 12y ago

Commander is great. Anything by TJ Holowaychuk is worth using in any Node.js project. Dude is legit.

patrickg 12y ago

Another shameless plug: https://github.com/pgundlach/argumentr https://github.com/pgundlach/argumentr

tjholowaychuk 12y ago

wtf haha this is SUPER old. FWIW I also really like the docopt approach, really cool

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
arrowgunz 12y ago
oh hackernews! you guys downvote the author of the program that's being discussed. facepalm

Volscio 12y ago

Somewhat related, but I've been looking for a node.js-based module for providing a telnet/MUD CLI but either it's implemented through a web page with an input box, or has only the basic telnet protocol fleshed out with no user interaction. Any ideas?

cmpb 12y ago
An old coworker of mine wrote this: https://github.com/doughsay/room.js https://github.com/doughsay/room.js Might that be what you're looking for?
hath995 12y ago
https://github.com/shawncplus/ranviermud https://github.com/shawncplus/ranviermud Its a super basic MUD written in Node. It has some telnet libraries you might want to take a look at.
- Volscio 12y ago
  Ah hah, I'd known about ranviermud but hadn't noticed it had a telnet lib! Will give it a look-see, thank you!!

tlrobinson 12y ago

As far as I'm concerned, docopt (on HN yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7830559 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7830559 ) obsoletes all other command line parsing libraries. Yes, there is a Node.js implementation.

abritishguy 12y ago
Armin Ronacher explained why he made click and particular cases where docopt was too limited (although he said for cases where docopt works then it is very good). Also docopt only does command line parsing, that is only a very small part of a command line interface and there are lots of libraries like inquirer (https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js) that a very good at doing the other stuff.

vezzy-fnord 12y ago

I don't think the name is too apt, considering "commander" at this point refers to a heritage of file managers with distinctive UIs.

secoif 12y ago
Commander.js is a few years old and adopts the name from a ruby project of the same name (from same author) from 09.

abritishguy 12y ago

inquirer.js (https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js https://github.com/sboudrias/inquirer.js) is very good for asking the user questions and getting input e.g. - checkboxes - lists - confirms - text input etc.

antonapa 12y ago

At the risk of being ridiculed, how would one go about to just take a variable without flag? Ie specialhttpcliutiltool http://yoururl.com http://yoururl.com?

nielsbjerg 12y ago
That is done by: process.argv.slice(2)[0] The first two arguments are node, and the name of the file you are running. More here: http://nodejs.org/api/process.html#process_process_argv http://nodejs.org/api/process.html#process_process_argv