CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.js
Eddy
Eddy

Reputation: 379

execFile in node.js does not execute Windows commands

My intention is to run a Windows .EXE. To test, first I'm trying some simple Windows commands. But it seems that the execFile is only executing Linux commands. For example, if I say to execute "DIR" it will execute. But if I execute "CD" it won't. Then if I execute "pwd" that works.

I have read the document regarding execFile but that does not address this problem. Here is a snip of my code:

var user_input = req.body.name;
var command_array = user_input.split(/\s+/);
var command = command_array.shift();
var params = command_array;
console.log("Client Command: " + command);
console.log("Client Arguments: " + params);

var execFile = require('child_process').execFile

// this launches the executable and returns immediately
var child = execFile(command, params, 
    function (error, stdout, stderr) {
        . . .
        });

Can someone help me with this?

Here is the output:

W:\Dropbox\DSI (His)\1830_GUI\EddyServer>npm run-script devstart

> [email protected] devstart W:\Dropbox\DSI (His)\1830_GUI\EddyServer
> nodemon ./bin/www

[nodemon] 1.12.1
[nodemon] to restart at any time, enter `rs`
[nodemon] watching: *.*
[nodemon] starting `node ./bin/www`
GET / 200 586.609 ms - 882
GET /stylesheets/style.css 304 2.358 ms - -
GET /run/create 200 51.934 ms - 1135
GET /stylesheets/style.css 304 1.538 ms - -
Client Command: cd
Client Arguments:
Program execution failed.  Error (if any):

POST /run/create 200 78.827 ms - 37
GET /run/create 200 46.997 ms - 1135
Client Command: dir
Client Arguments:
Here is the complete output of the program:
[ 'EddyServer\t\t app.js       node_modules\t public  write.txt\nNew\\ Text\\ Document.txt  bin\t      package-lock.json  routes\nREADME.md\t\t controllers  package.json\t views\n' ]
POST /run/create 200 410.113 ms - 180
GET /run/create 200 40.355 ms - 1135
GET / 304 68.436 ms - -
GET /stylesheets/style.css 304 2.428 ms - -
GET /run/create 304 41.589 ms - -
GET /stylesheets/style.css 304 1.851 ms - -
Client Command: pwd
Client Arguments:
Here is the complete output of the program:
[ '/w/Dropbox/DSI (His)/1830_GUI/EddyServer\n' ]
POST /run/create 200 300.082 ms - 46
GET /run/create 200 40.383 ms - 1135
Client Command: cd
Client Arguments:
Program execution failed.  Error (if any):

POST /run/create 200 11.053 ms - 37
GET /run/create 200 26.313 ms - 1135
Client Command: ls
Client Arguments:
Here is the complete output of the program:
[ 'EddyServer\nNew Text Document.txt\nREADME.md\napp.js\nbin\ncontrollers\nnode_modules\npackage-lock.json\npackage.json\npublic\nroutes\nviews\nwrite.txt\n' ]
POST /run/create 200 62.154 ms - 157
GET /run/create 200 40.479 ms - 1135
Client Command: ls
Client Arguments: -la
Here is the complete output of the program:
[ 'total 213\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:39 .\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 08:45 ..\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:20 .git\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:20 EddyServer\n-rw-r--r-- 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 23 18:42 New Text Document.txt\n-rw-r--r-- 1 eddyq 197121   999 Nov  6 16:47 README.md\n-rw-r--r-- 1 eddyq 197121  1638 Nov  6 16:47 app.js\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:20 bin\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:20 controllers\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 08:48 node_modules\n-rw-r--r-- 1 eddyq 197121 76014 Nov  6 16:50 package-lock.json\n-rw-r--r-- 1 eddyq 197121   499 Nov  6 16:50 package.json\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:39 public\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:39 routes\ndrwxr-xr-x 1 eddyq 197121     0 Nov 24 07:39 views\n-rw-r--r-- 1 eddyq 197121    15 Nov 23 19:25 write.txt\n' ]
POST /run/create 200 223.792 ms - 901
GET /run/create 200 26.539 ms - 1135

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2370

Answers (1)

Michael
Michael

Reputation: 876

This is because execFile intended to execute files, like yours EXE, this is not open a shell. if you want to execute a commands like cd you should use exec function. pwd works for you and cd not probably because there is a pwd file on one of your PATH folders (what enables you to write pwd on cmd, windows not support pwd command by itself)
You can read further here

Upvotes: 4

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