Get Node.js Command Line Arguments with yargs

By  on  

Using command line arguments within Node.js apps is par for the course, especially when you're like me and you use JavaScript to code tasks (instead of bash scripts).  Node.js provides process.argv but that doesn't provide a key: value object like you'd expect:

/*
	$ node myscript.js --key1=value1 --key2=value2
	[ 'node',
	  '/path/to/myscript.js',
	  '--key1=value1',
	  '--key2=value2' ]
*/

Bleh.  If you want to work with a sane API for command line arguments, use yargs:

// Get the yargs resource
var yargs = require('yargs').argv;

// Check for arguments
if(yargs.someKey === expectedValue) {
	// Do whatever
}

/*
	yargs = {
		key1: value1
		key2: value2
	};
*/

yargs provides a key:value object for arguments instead of the native process.argv mess.  No hassle, no fuss, just access to command line arguments with a logical API.  Happy noding!

Recent Features

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Multiple Background CSS Animations

    CSS background animation has been a hot topic for a long time, mostly because they look pretty sweet and don't require additional elements.  I was recently asked if it was possible to have multiple background animations on a given element and the answer is yes...with...

  • By
    Editable Content Using MooTools 1.2, PHP, and MySQL

    Everybody and their aerobics instructor wants to be able to edit their own website these days. And why wouldn't they? I mean, they have a $500 budget, no HTML/CSS experience, and extraordinary expectations. Enough ranting though. Having a website that allows for...

Discussion

  1. [pirateAccent]Yaaaarrrrrg!![/pirateAccent]

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!