Electron: run shell commands with arguments

Question

I'm building an electron app,

I can run shell commands pretty easily with the shell api (https://electronjs.org/docs/api/shell)

This command runs perfect for example:

shell.openItem("D:\test.bat");

This one does not

shell.openItem("D:\test.bat argument1");

How to run electron shell command with arguments?

Issa Chanzi · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-22 09:02:35Z

22

shell.openItem isn't designed for that.
Use the spawn function of NodeJS from the child_process core module.

let spawn = require("child_process").spawn;

let bat = spawn("cmd.exe", [
    "/c",          // Argument for cmd.exe to carry out the specified script
    "D:\test.bat", // Path to your file
    "argument1",   // First argument
    "argumentN"    // n-th argument
]);

bat.stdout.on("data", (data) => {
    // Handle data...
});

bat.stderr.on("data", (err) => {
    // Handle error...
});

bat.on("exit", (code) => {
    // Handle exit
});

edited Sep 22 at 9:02

Issa Chanzi

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answered Mar 24, 2019 at 22:07

NullDev

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4 Comments

Slimane Deb Over a year ago

Does it require node installed or just npm dependency?

Slimane Deb Over a year ago

I mean, is "child_process" only part of electron js ie: I don't need nodejs installed in client desktop ?

NullDev Over a year ago

@SlimaneDeb child_process is part of NodeJS, not electron. It's a core module. See here.

Samarth Ramesh Over a year ago

@SlimaneDeb, to clarify NullDev's statement, electron by default bundles nodejs in its binary. So all core modules should be available to you.

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