FAQ

Passing env variables

process.env.FOO = 'bar'
await $`echo $FOO`

Passing array of values

When passing an array of values as an argument to $, items of the array will be escaped individually and concatenated via space.

Example:

const files = [...]
await $`tar cz ${files}`

Importing into other scripts

It is possible to make use of $ and other functions via explicit imports:

#!/usr/bin/env node
import {$} from 'zx'

await $`date`

Attaching a profile

By default child_process does not include aliases and bash functions. But you are still able to do it by hand. Just attach necessary directives to the $.prefix.

$.prefix += 'export NVM_DIR=$HOME/.nvm; source $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh; '
await $`nvm -v`

Using GitHub Actions

The default GitHub Action runner comes with npx installed.

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Build
        env:
          FORCE_COLOR: 3
        run: |
          npx zx <<'EOF'
          await $`...`
          EOF

Verbose and Quiet

zx has internal logger, which captures events if a condition is met:

Event	Verbose	Quiet	Description
stdout	true	false	Spawned process stdout
stderr	any	false	Process stderr data
cmd	true	false	Command execution
fetch	true	false	Fetch resources by http(s)
cd	true	false	Change directory
retry	true	false	Capture exec error
custom	true	false	User-defined event

By default, both $.verbose and $.quiet options are false, so only stderr events are written. Any output goes to the process.stderr stream.

You may control this flow globally or in-place

// Global debug mode on
$.verbose = true
await $`echo hello`

// Suppress the particular command
await $`echo fobar`.quiet()

// Suppress everything
$.quiet = true
await $`echo world`

// Turn on in-place debug
await $`echo foo`.verbose()

You can also override the default logger with your own:

// globally
$.log = (entry) => {
  switch (entry.kind) {
    case 'cmd':
      console.log('Command:', entry.cmd)
      break
    default:
      console.warn(entry)
  }
}
// or in-place
$({log: () => {}})`echo hello`

Canary / Beta / RC builds

Impatient early adopters can try the experimental zx versions. But keep in mind: these builds are ⚠️️__beta__ in every sense.

npm i zx@dev
npx zx@dev --install --quiet <<< 'import _ from "lodash" /* 4.17.15 */; console.log(_.VERSION)'