How to pass git pathspec args using node spawn

Question

I am trying to run the following shell command from within a Node application:

git grep MySearchString -- 'MyPathToSearchFor'

This command runs successfully using's node's child_process.exec:

exec("git grep MySearchString -- 'MyPathToSearchFor'") // succeeds!

However, I cannot get the command working using child_process.spawn, which requires arguments to be provided as an array of strings.

// Spawn works without the pathspec args:
spawn('git', ['grep', 'MySearchString']) // success! exits with code 0

// It fails when the pathspec args are provided:
spawn('git', ['grep', 'MySearchString', '--', "'MyPathToSearchFor'"]) // exits with code 1
spawn('git', ['grep', 'MySearchString', "-- 'MyPathToSearchFor'"]) // exits with code 128

How can I provide spawn the -- MyPathToSearchFor args? How should I translate the dash-dash and pathspec args into spawn parameters?

The problem seems related to quotes in the args, but I'm not sure how to handle those.

strange, spawn('git', ['grep', 'MySearchString', '--', 'MyPathToSearchFor']) should be the correct form — Fravadona
– Fravadona, Commented Dec 14, 2022 at 17:00

hlovdal · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-15 01:53:08Z

2

The problem seems related to quotes in the args, but I'm not sure how to handle those.

Don't include quotes when you use the array argument form, e.g. just

spawn('git', ['grep', 'MySearchString', '--', "MyPathToSearchFor"])

With "'MyPathToSearchFor'" this makes git look for a file/directory whose name contains a single quote at the start and end (which in theory could exist, but rarely is what you have).

answered Dec 15, 2022 at 1:53

hlovdal

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