使用Node.js更改Bash终端的当前工作目录

Question

I want to develop a Node CLI app which clones a git repo and cd's into it.

For eg.

dummyuser:~$ dummy-cli-command dummy-git-repo-url
Cloning repository...
dummyuser:~/Workspace/dummy-git-repo$ 

I was able to clone it but am not able to cd into it. I know that node forks a child process under which it executes my code and there is no way to change directory of the bash terminal through which I first executed my node-cli-command. Can anyone help me with any workaround ?

Answer 1

You will not be able to do that - not with Node and not with any other program. You cannot even do it with a shell script, though you can do it with a shell alias or function but only if it is not run as a subprocess.

What it means is that you may be able to achieve that if your Node program returns the correct directory to a shell alias or shell function that runs it, and it's the alias or function that does the directory changing. That alias or function could know the destination in the first place if it gets it by command line arguments. But then again, if you use a shell function then you don't need Node to clone the repo in the first place.

The bottom line is that you will not be able to change the working directory of your shell from a subprocess so your only options are the ways to do it by running code in the same process like an alias or a function in the shell.