cross-expand

Expand glob patterns consistently across multiple platforms when executing command-line programs.

Problem

Windows CMD which is still the default in majority of cases doesn't support wildcard pattern expansion out of the box. Unlike in bash and similar unix shells, the patterns are provided to the program as they are.

Solution

This simple package unifies glob pattern expansion across platforms by delegating the resolution to glob. Expanded arguments are then passed to cross-env to ensure further cross-platform compatibility.

Installation

As usual:

npm install cross-expand --save-dev

or

yarn add cross-expand --dev

Usage

cross-expand <argument-offsets> <command> [arguments]

Example

Compile all packages from a mono-repo using typescript compiler.

cross-expand 2 tsc -b "packages/**/tsconfig.json"

Note that 2 defines that the second argument passed to tsc command should be expanded. This makes the -b forwarded directly to the command.

Important: Make sure you wrap the pattern in quotes to prevent it from being expanded by the shell itself.

<argument-offsets>

Unfortunately with cross-expand we don't have the luxury of using quotes to decide which arguments should be expanded and which not as we have with Unix shells. That's why we have a dedicated leading argument tha defines this.

Value provided through this argument is one or more offsets of arguments that should be expanded. The offset is 1-based and applies to the [arguments] passed to the actual command.

We currently support:

• specific offsets: e.g. 1, 2, 1,2, , 1,2,6
• offset ranges: e.g. 1-5, 1-3,5-7
• unterminated ranges: e.g. 5+ (applies to fifth and any further argument)
• any combination of the above

<command>

The command that is to receive the expanded arguments. cross-expand will call it internally and pipe any output.

[arguments]

Arguments to pass to the <command>. Depending on <argument-offets> some of the arguments will be expanded prior passing them to <command>.

Licence

MIT