Determine command line working directory when running node bin script

Question

I am creating a node command line interface  It is installed globally and uses a bin file to execute   I plan to have a command window open at the root directory of the files I am working on and then just run the command however I have been unable to determine the current working directory as process cwd   is returning the directory of the node package  I initially assumed that since the code is being executed using a batch file as a wrapper  that is how bin files can execute without node at the beginning  then it is impossible but coffee-script manages to do it  I took a look at the coffee-script source but couldn t follow it  not experienced enough    To test it for yourself create a package with this package json file        name    test-package      version    1 0 0      bin          test-package       bin test-package          main     lib test      this test-package file in bin      usr bin env node  var path   require  path    var fs     require  fs    var lib    path join path dirname fs realpathSync   filename        lib     require lib     test      Could anyone shed some light onto this   and then try and get the command line directory inside lib test

User · Answer

Current Working Directory

To get the current working directory, you can use:

process.cwd()

However, be aware that some scripts, notably gulp, will change the current working directory with process.chdir().

Node Module Path

You can get the path of the current module with:

__filename
__dirname

Original Directory (where the command was initiated)

If you are running a script from the command line, and you want the original directory from which the script was run, regardless of what directory the script is currently operating in, you can use:

process.env.INIT_CWD

Original directory, when working with NPM scripts

It's sometimes desirable to run an NPM script in the current directory, rather than the root of the project.

This variable is available inside npm package scripts as:

$INIT_CWD.

You must be running a recent version of NPM. If this variable is not available, make sure NPM is up to date.

This will allow you access the current path in your package.json, e.g.:

scripts: {
  "customScript": "gulp customScript --path $INIT_CWD"
}

User · Answer

path resolve      is also a reliable and clean option  because we almost always require  path    It will give you absolute path of the directory from where it is called

User · Answer

Alternatively  if you want to solely obtain the current directory of the current NodeJS script  you could try something simple like this  Note that this will not work in the Node CLI itself   var fs   require  fs        path   require  path     var dirString   path dirname fs realpathSync   filename        output example    Users jb workspace abtest  console log  directory to start walking      dirString

User · Answer

process cwd   returns directory where command has been executed  not directory of the node package  if it s has not been changed by  process chdir  inside of application    filename returns absolute path to file where it is placed    dirname returns absolute path to directory of   filename    If you need to load files from your module directory you need to use relative paths   require     lib test      instead of   var lib    path join path dirname fs realpathSync   filename        lib     require lib     test      It s always relative to file where it called from and don t depend on current work dir

User · Answer

Here s what worked for me  console log process mainModule filename

[node.js] Determine command line working directory when running node bin script

Current Working Directory

Node Module Path

Original Directory (where the command was initiated)

Original directory, when working with NPM scripts

Examples related to node.js

Examples related to command-line

Examples related to npm