In this article, I want to show how to pass command-line arguments in your Node.js application.

No Libraries needed!

The process.argv property returns an array containing the command-line arguments passed when the Node.js process was launched. The first element will be process.execPath.

See process.argv0 if access to the original value of argv[0] is needed.

The second element will be the path to the JavaScript file being executed. The remaining elements will be any additional command-line arguments.

Let’s start with an example!

First, you need to create a new file called index.js in whatever directory. After you’ve created the file, add the content below.

So what we basically do is, iterate through a list of strings which are basically all arguments.

• Element of index 0 will always be taken by the location of your current Node bin on your machine.
• Element of index 1 will be always the location of your executed file, the so-called entry point.

Now you can run the following command in your terminal. Keep in mind, you need to be at the same directory where your index.js file is placed.

$ node index.js foo=bar hello world

The output in your console should be look something like this:

0 /usr/local/Cellar/node@14/14.18.3/bin/node
1 /Users/kevin/Workspace/index.js
2 foo=bar
3 hello
4 world

Very simple, right? Thanks for reading my short article on how to pass command-line arguments in Node.js. I hope, I could refresh your knowledge, or even better, you did learn something new.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments.

Cheers!