Execute different commands based on operating system using NPM conditional script for Windows and Mac

Question

Execute different commands based on operating system using NPM conditional script for Windows and Mac

Scenario:

I am currently configuring a prepublishOnly hook in NPM. This hook is designed to remove the "lib" folder, transpile the typescript source files into a new lib folder, and then execute the tests.

The issue at hand:

There are two individuals responsible for publishing the NPM packages, each using a different operating system (Windows / Mac). Due to this difference, the commands used to delete folders vary between the two OSs.


  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "clean": "rm -rf lib",
    "clean:windows": "if exist lib rmdir /s /q lib",
    "lint": "tslint --project tsconfig.json --format stylish src/**/*.ts",
    "format": "prettier --write \"**/*.ts\""
  },
  "husky": {
    "hooks": {
      "pre-push": "npm run clean:windows && npm run build && npm run test"
    }
  },

The query being posed:

Is there a method to conditionally execute NPM scripts based on the operating system being used? Alternatively, is there a command that can be utilized to remove folders across both Windows and Mac?

typescript npm npm-scripts

Answer 1

Answer №1

If you're looking to efficiently delete a folder(s) via an npm script in a cross-platform manner, incorporating gulp into your toolkit might be unnecessary. Consider the following two lightweight alternatives:

Innovative Approach 1

Check out rimraf, which functions as:

The node equivalent of the UNIX command rm -rf.

Implementation Steps

Navigate to your project directory and execute this command:
```
npm install rimraf --save-dev
```
Modify your clean script in package.json as shown below:
```
"scripts": {
  "clean": "rimraf lib",
  ...
},
```
Remove the clean:windows script from your package.json since it's now obsolete.

Note While I haven't had much luck with local installation, solution two provides a viable alternative worth exploring.

Creative Solution 2

This approach leverages the shelljs rm command akin to Unix's rm -rf for seamless cross-platform capability.

Here are the steps to implement this:

Head to your project directory and install shelljs using the command below:
```
npm install shelljs --save-dev
```

Create a custom node script named clean.js:

const shell = require('shelljs');

process.argv.slice(2).forEach(function(_path) {
  shell.rm('-rf', _path);
});

Save this script in a hidden directory called .scripts within your project's root directory e.g.:

.
├── .scripts
│   └── clean.js
├── lib
│   └── ...
├── node_modules
│   └── ...
├── package.json
├── src
│   └── ...
└── ...

Update your clean script in package.json as follows:
```
"scripts": {
  "clean": "node .scripts/clean lib",
  ...
},
```
You can also pass multiple path arguments to clean.js or even filepaths.
Delete the clean:windows script from your package.json as it's no longer needed.

Key Points

clean.js uses process.argv to retrieve command line arguments passed to Node when invoked.
We extract relevant folder/file path arguments by slicing the argument array starting at index 2.
We iterate over each path in the array and delete the assets using shell.rm('-rf', _path);.

Edit / Update:

An additional cross-platform possibility involves utilizing the shx package, a wrapper around ShellJS Unix commands tailored for simple, cross-platform scripts in npm packages:

shx simplifies Unix-like actions within npm package scripts.

To incorporate shx, run this command:
```
npm i -D shx
```
Redefine your clean script in package.json like so:
```
"scripts": {
  "clean": "shx rm -rf lib"
}
```

Answer 2

If you're looking to efficiently delete a folder(s) via an npm script in a cross-platform manner, incorporating gulp into your toolkit might be unnecessary. Consider the following two lightweight alternatives:

Innovative Approach 1

Check out rimraf, which functions as:

The node equivalent of the UNIX command rm -rf.

Implementation Steps

Navigate to your project directory and execute this command:
```
npm install rimraf --save-dev
```
Modify your clean script in package.json as shown below:
```
"scripts": {
  "clean": "rimraf lib",
  ...
},
```
Remove the clean:windows script from your package.json since it's now obsolete.

Note While I haven't had much luck with local installation, solution two provides a viable alternative worth exploring.

Creative Solution 2

This approach leverages the shelljs rm command akin to Unix's rm -rf for seamless cross-platform capability.

Here are the steps to implement this:

Head to your project directory and install shelljs using the command below:
```
npm install shelljs --save-dev
```

Create a custom node script named clean.js:

const shell = require('shelljs');

process.argv.slice(2).forEach(function(_path) {
  shell.rm('-rf', _path);
});

Save this script in a hidden directory called .scripts within your project's root directory e.g.:

.
├── .scripts
│   └── clean.js
├── lib
│   └── ...
├── node_modules
│   └── ...
├── package.json
├── src
│   └── ...
└── ...

Update your clean script in package.json as follows:
```
"scripts": {
  "clean": "node .scripts/clean lib",
  ...
},
```
You can also pass multiple path arguments to clean.js or even filepaths.
Delete the clean:windows script from your package.json as it's no longer needed.

Key Points

clean.js uses process.argv to retrieve command line arguments passed to Node when invoked.
We extract relevant folder/file path arguments by slicing the argument array starting at index 2.
We iterate over each path in the array and delete the assets using shell.rm('-rf', _path);.

Edit / Update:

An additional cross-platform possibility involves utilizing the shx package, a wrapper around ShellJS Unix commands tailored for simple, cross-platform scripts in npm packages:

shx simplifies Unix-like actions within npm package scripts.

To incorporate shx, run this command:
```
npm i -D shx
```
Redefine your clean script in package.json like so:
```
"scripts": {
  "clean": "shx rm -rf lib"
}
```

Answer 3

Answer №2

My approach to resolving issues like this involves utilizing gulp to define a series of tasks that are specific to different operating systems, as the code written in these tasks is not tied to any particular OS.

To implement this solution, you will first need to install gulp as a dependency and then create a gulpfile.js in the root directory. Within this file, you can define a task for deleting a folder as follows:

var gulp = require('gulp'),
    path = require('path'),
    fs = require('fs-extra');

const rootFolder = path.join(__dirname);
const libFolder = path.join(rootFolder, 'lib');

gulp.task('clean:lib', function () {
  return deleteFolder(libFolder);
});

function deleteFolder(folder) {
  return fs.removeSync(folder);
}

gulp.task('deleteLib', ['clean:lib']);

Next, update your package.json script to include && gulp deleteLib. (Ensure that the packages used in your gulpfile are installed as dev-dependencies in your package.json!)

Please note that the provided code is untested and was composed off the top of my head, but it serves as a basic guideline.

Answer 4

My approach to resolving issues like this involves utilizing gulp to define a series of tasks that are specific to different operating systems, as the code written in these tasks is not tied to any particular OS.

To implement this solution, you will first need to install gulp as a dependency and then create a gulpfile.js in the root directory. Within this file, you can define a task for deleting a folder as follows:

var gulp = require('gulp'),
    path = require('path'),
    fs = require('fs-extra');

const rootFolder = path.join(__dirname);
const libFolder = path.join(rootFolder, 'lib');

gulp.task('clean:lib', function () {
  return deleteFolder(libFolder);
});

function deleteFolder(folder) {
  return fs.removeSync(folder);
}

gulp.task('deleteLib', ['clean:lib']);

Next, update your package.json script to include && gulp deleteLib. (Ensure that the packages used in your gulpfile are installed as dev-dependencies in your package.json!)

Please note that the provided code is untested and was composed off the top of my head, but it serves as a basic guideline.

Execute different commands based on operating system using NPM conditional script for Windows and Mac

Answer №1

Innovative Approach 1

Creative Solution 2

Edit / Update:

Answer №2

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