If I construct a function or list of commands that are stored in a string variable, is there a way I can execute them in node and retain what is returned in another variable? i.e.
var result = executeMyCoolStringCommands(myStringVariableWithCommands);
option -e will let you run arbitary text as node.js source code:
node -e "console.log(JSON.stringify({}))"
Node has well-suited VM module, which allows you to run code in a dedicated context. See https://nodejs.org/api/vm.html
E.g.
const vm = require('vm');
const x = 1;
const context = { x: 2 };
vm.createContext(context); // Contextify the object.
const code = 'x += 40; var y = 17;';
// `x` and `y` are global variables in the context.
// Initially, x has the value 2 because that is the value of context.x.
vm.runInContext(code, context);
console.log(context.x); // 42
console.log(context.y); // 17
console.log(x); // 1; y is not defined.
Sure, we all know evils of using eval, however the npm module eval avoids its use yet executes a string
var _eval = require('eval')
var res = _eval('var x = 123; exports.x = x')
console.log("here is res ", res);
which outputs :
here is res { x: 123 }
