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process.argv

  • using this variable, we can grab the all vars and flags passed to the current process.
  • in this example, we will create a function to grab a specific flag when passed to a process.
  • when passed to a process means that you specify the flag when calling node filename -flag flagValue
// grab content of a specific flag
const grab = (flag) => {
  let indexAfterFlag = process.argv.indexOf(flag) + 1; // calculate the indexAfterFlag
  return process.argv[indexAfterFlag];
};

// in our file
const myFlagContent1 = grab("-flag1"); // grab content of `-flag1`
const myFlagContent2 = grab("--flag2");
console.log(myFlagContent1, myFlagContent2);

grab content of flags passed from terminal

  • this function will grab the particular flag, no matter the order of the flags is.


  // grab content of a specific flag
  const grab = flag => {
    let indexAfterFlag = process.argv.indexOf(flag) +1;
    return process.argv[indexAfterFlag];
  }

  // in our file
  const myFlagContent1 = grab('-flag1');
  const myFlagContent2 = grab('--flag2');
  console.log(myFlagContent1, myFlagContent2);

  // in terminal
  >> node file.js -flag1 test --flag2 "test with spaces"
  /* logs */ test test with space