# run-scripts-util
_Organize npm package.json scripts into groups of easy to manage commands (CLI tool designed for use in npm package.json scripts)_
[](https://github.com/center-key/run-scripts-util/blob/main/LICENSE.txt)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/run-scripts-util)
[](https://github.com/center-key/run-scripts-util/actions/workflows/run-spec-on-push.yaml)
**run-scripts-util** reads the `runScriptsConfig` settings in your **package.son** to get
groups (arrays) of commands to execute.
**Turn the traditional hard-to-follow commands:**
```json
"scripts": {
"clean": "rimraf build dist",
"compile-ts": "tsc",
"compile-less": "lessc src/web-app/style.less build/web-app/style.css",
"compile-html": "replacer src/web-app --ext=.html build/web-app",
"graphics": "copy-folder src/graphics build/web-app/graphics",
"pretest": "npm run clean && npm run compile-ts && npm run compile-less && npm run compile-html && npm run graphics",
"test": "mocha spec"
},
```
**into easy-to-read named groups (arrays) of commands:**
```json
"runScriptsConfig": {
"clean": [
"rimraf build dist"
],
"compile": [
"tsc",
"lessc src/web-app/style.less build/web-app/style.css",
"replacer src/web-app --ext=.html build/web-app",
"copy-folder src/graphics build/web-app/graphics"
]
},
"scripts": {
"pretest": "run-scripts clean compile",
"test": "mocha spec"
},
```
Each group of commands is executed in order, and the commands within each group are by default
executed in serial (synchronously) but can optionally be executed in parallel (asynchronously).
## A) Setup
Install package for node:
```shell
$ npm install --save-dev run-scripts-util
```
## B) Usage
### 1. npm package.json scripts
Use `run-scripts` in the `"scripts"` section of your **package.json** file and add a
parameter naming the key in `runScriptsConfig` holding the group (array) of commands to
execute.
Example **package.json** scripts:
```json
"scripts": {
"build": "run-scripts clean compile",
},
```
### 2. CLI flags
Command-line flags:
| Flag | Description | Value |
| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------| ---------- |
| `--continue-on-error` | Do not throw an exception if a task exits with an error status. | N/A |
| `--note` | Place to add a comment only for humans. | **string** |
| `--only` | Execute just one command in the group (starts with 1). | **number** |
| `--parallel` | Execute all commands within each group asynchronously. | N/A |
| `--quiet` | Suppress informational messages. | N/A |
| `--verbose` | Add script group name to informational messages. | N/A |
### 3. Example CLI usage
Examples:
- `run-scripts clean compile`
Executes the `clean` group of commands and then execute the `compile` group fo commands.
- `run-scripts clean compile --quiet`
Does not display information messages.
- `run-scripts clean compile --quiet '--note=Listen to silence'`
Notes are handy for adding a short comment.
- `run-scripts compile --verbose --only=2`
Executes just the second command in the `compile` group.
- `run-scripts lint watch --parallel`
Executes all the `lint` commands in parallel and then after all the commands are finished executes
the `watch` commands in parallel.
_**Note:** Single quotes in commands are normalized so they work cross-platform and avoid the errors often encountered on Microsoft Windows._
### 4. Skip a command
To _comment out_ a command prepend two slashes (`//`) to the command.
In the example below, the first `tsc` command will be skipped while the `tsc --verbose` command will be executed:
```json
"runScriptsConfig": {
"compile": [
"//tsc",
"tsc --verbose",
"lessc src/web-app/style.less build/web-app/style.css"
]
}
```
### 5. Debug a command
To manually run a single command, use `npx` from the terminal plus the `--only` flag.
For example, to run the third command in the `compile` group by itself:
```shell
$ npx run-scripts compile --only=3
```
## C) Application Code
Even though **run-scripts-util** is primarily intended for build scripts, the package can be used programmatically in ESM and TypeScript projects.
Example:
``` typescript
import { runScripts } from 'run-scripts-util';
const options = { quiet: false };
runScripts.exec('compile', options);
runScripts.execParallel('watch', options);
```
See the **TypeScript Declarations** at the top of [run-scripts.ts](run-scripts.ts) for documentation.
---
**CLI Build Tools for package.json**
- 🎋 [add-dist-header](https://github.com/center-key/add-dist-header): _Prepend a one-line banner comment (with license notice) to distribution files_
- 📄 [copy-file-util](https://github.com/center-key/copy-file-util): _Copy or rename a file with optional package version number_
- 📂 [copy-folder-util](https://github.com/center-key/copy-folder-util): _Recursively copy files from one folder to another folder_
- 🪺 [recursive-exec](https://github.com/center-key/recursive-exec): _Run a command on each file in a folder and its subfolders_
- 🔍 [replacer-util](https://github.com/center-key/replacer-util): _Find and replace strings or template outputs in text files_
- 🔢 [rev-web-assets](https://github.com/center-key/rev-web-assets): _Revision web asset filenames with cache busting content hash fingerprints_
- 🚆 [run-scripts-util](https://github.com/center-key/run-scripts-util): _Organize npm package.json scripts into groups of easy to manage commands_
- 🚦 [w3c-html-validator](https://github.com/center-key/w3c-html-validator): _Check the markup validity of HTML files using the W3C validator_
Feel free to submit questions at:
[github.com/center-key/run-scripts-util/issues](https://github.com/center-key/run-scripts-util/issues)
[MIT License](LICENSE.txt)