smartsh (alias: sm)

A tiny cross-shell command runner that enables Unix-style commands and connectors (&&, ||) on any OS or shell, with automatic translation of common Unix commands to native PowerShell equivalents.

# ⚡ Smartsh (`sm`) – Universal Cross-Shell Command Translator

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---

### **Write Once. Run Anywhere.**
Run **Unix commands on Windows** and **Windows commands on Unix/macOS** without rewriting scripts.

---

## ✅ Features
- **Full Bidirectional Translation**  
  - Unix → PowerShell/CMD  
  - PowerShell/CMD → Unix  
- **Cross-Shell Connectors**  
  Handles `&&`, `||`, pipes, and redirections  
- **Command Coverage**  
  - 171 Unix → PowerShell  
  - 70 Unix → CMD  
  - 484 Windows → Unix reverse translations  
- **Lightweight**  
  - Built: **~904 KB**  
  - Published: **~190 KB**  
- **Zero runtime dependencies**  
- Tested: **251 tests passing**

---

## 📦 Install
```bash
# Global install
npm install -g smartsh

# Or use without install
npx smartsh "rm -rf dist && npm run build"

🚀 Usage

Unix → Windows

sm "rm -rf dist && npm run build"

# PowerShell output:
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force dist; if ($?) { npm run build }

Windows → Unix

sm --reverse "Remove-Item -Recurse -Force dist; npm run build"
# Output:
rm -rf dist && npm run build

🖥 CLI Options

| Flag | Description | | ------------------ | ---------------------------------- | | --reverse | Translate Windows → Unix | | --target <shell> | Force a target shell | | --translate-only | Show translation without execution | | --debug | Verbose logs |

🔍 Examples

# Unix → Windows (PowerShell)
sm "ls -la | grep .ts && echo Done"
# -> Get-ChildItem -Force | Select-String '.ts'; if ($?) { echo Done }

# Windows → Unix
sm --reverse "Get-ChildItem | Select-String .ts; echo Done"
# -> ls | grep .ts && echo Done

🧪 Tests

pnpm test
# 16 files, 251 tests — all passing

⚡ Why Smartsh?

| Feature | Smartsh | shx | cross-env | | ---------------- | ------- | --- | --------- | | Unix→Windows | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Windows→Unix | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Handles &&, || | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Lightweight | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |

🔥 What’s Cool

• ✅ Bidirectional Translation Added
• ✅ PowerShell → Unix + CMD → Unix support
• ✅ 484 reverse mappings
• ✅ Size optimization: ~190 KB published
• ✅ 251 tests passing, including bidirectional coverage

🛠 Dev Commands

Clean old builds

Windows PowerShell

Remove-Item .\smartsh-*.tgz -Force
Remove-Item .\dist -Recurse -Force

Windows CMD

del smartsh-*.tgz
rmdir /S /Q dist

Unix

rm -rf smartsh-*.tgz dist

Build & Publish

npm version patch
pnpm build
git add -A
git commit -m "update bidirectional support"
git push origin main
npm publish --access public

📜 License

MIT © 2025 cavani21 & Smartsh Contributors

Command Coverage Details
Smartsh doesn’t have equal coverage in every direction. Here’s why:

Why CMD Coverage is Smaller
CMD is a very limited shell compared to PowerShell.

Many Unix utilities (grep, awk, sed, etc.) have no direct CMD equivalent.

CMD lacks advanced flags, pipelines, and scripting capabilities.

Result: Only basic commands (file ops, directory listing) are supported for CMD.

Recommendation: PowerShell is the preferred Windows target.

Why Windows → Unix Has Higher Count
Reverse mapping combines PowerShell + CMD → Unix.

PowerShell commands often have multiple flag combinations that map to shorter Unix equivalents:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force → rm -rf

Get-ChildItem → ls

Each variation counts as a separate mapping.

CMD adds additional mappings (e.g., copy → cp, move → mv).

Result: More total translations when going Windows → Unix.

| Direction | Count | | ----------------- | ----- | | Unix → PowerShell | 171 | | Unix → CMD | 70 | | Windows → Unix | 484 |

Command Coverage
Unix → PowerShell: 171 commands

Unix → CMD: 70 commands

Windows → Unix: 484 translations

Why CMD coverage is smaller?
CMD is very limited compared to PowerShell, so only basic commands (like copy, move, del) are supported.

Why Windows → Unix has more?
Reverse mapping combines PowerShell + CMD and accounts for multiple flag variations, resulting in a higher count.