Grunt task to run shell commands.

E.g. compile Compass (compass compile) or get the current git branch (git branch).

Install this grunt plugin next to your project's grunt.js gruntfile with: npm install grunt-shell

Then add this line to your project's grunt.js gruntfile:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-shell');

This grunt task is a multi task, which means you can specify multiple subtasks and grunt will iterate over them. The dist below is a subtask, you could e.g. create a dev subtask to handle stuff while developing. You can also add a special subtask named _options that can contain options for all your subtasks.

Create a folder named test.

shell: {
	make_directory: {
		command: 'mkdir test'
	}
}

Output a directory listing to your Terminal.

shell: {
	directory_listing: {
		command: 'ls',
		stdout: true
	}
}

Do whatever you want with the stdout.

function log() {
	console.log( this );
}

...

shell: {
	directory_listing: {
		command: 'ls',
		stdout: log
	}
}

Run a command in another directory. In this example we run it in a subfolder using the cwd option.

shell: {
	subfolder_ls: {
		command: 'ls',
		stdout: true,
		execOptions: {
			cwd: './tasks'
		}
	}
}

Define custom callback method to handle everything yourself. Check out shell.js to see how it's handled by default.

function customHandler() {
	console.log( this, this.data.stdout );
}

...

shell: {
	ls: {
		command: 'ls',
		callback: customHandler
	}
}

This task is a multi task, which means you can specify multiple subtasks and grunt will iterate over them.

shell: {
	directory_listing: {
		command: 'ls',
		stdout: true
	},
	compile_coffescript: {
		command: 'coffee main.coffee',
		failOnError: true
	}
}

You can define global options in a subtask called _options. Your subtasks will then inherit those options with the ability to override them.

shell: {
	directory_listing: {
		command: 'ls',
		stdout: true
	},
	create_folder: {
		command: 'mkdir test',
		failOnError: false
	},
	_options: {
		failOnError: true
	}
}

Required
Accepts: String

Your command is my wish.

Default: false
Accepts: Boolean / Function

Show stdout in the Terminal. You can supply a function to handle the output.

Default: false
Accepts: Boolean / Function

Show stderr in the Terminal. You can supply a function to handle the output.

Default: false
Accepts: Boolean

Fail task if it encounters an error.

Default: undefined
Accepts: Object

Specify some options to be passed to the .exec() method:

• cwd String Current working directory of the child process
• env Object Environment key-value pairs
• setsid Boolean
• encoding String (Default: 'utf8')
• timeout Number (Default: 0)
• maxBuffer Number (Default: 200*1024)
• killSignal String (Default: 'SIGTERM')

Default: undefined
Accepts: Function

Lets you override the default callback with your own. Everything you need is available on this.

Grunt currently doesn't have a way to test tasks directly. You can test this task by running grunt and manually verify that it works.

In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style.

MIT License (c) Sindre Sorhus