Cross-platform Linux commands in pure ES6

Cash is a cross-platform implementation of Unix shell commands written in pure ES6.

Huh? Okay - think Cygwin, except:

• No native compiling
• No ugly DLLs
• Works in any terminal
• 1/15th of the size
• Just:

> npm install cash -g
> cash
$

Woah.

Yeah. But it gets better.

Let's mix some Windows & Unix commands together:

$ ipconfig | grep IPv4 | sort
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.10.40.50
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.11
$

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But I don't want to type "cash"

No problem. Let's make all commands global on your system:

> npm install cash-global -g
> ls -lah

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Nice, but I only want certain commands

You're covered!

> npm install cash-ls -g
> npm install cash-grep -g

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Wow. But I want this programmatically!

Again, you're in business:

const $ = require('cash');
const out = $.ls('.', {l: true});

Not terse enough? How about this:

const out = $('ls -lah');

Not 😎 enough? Try this:

require('cash') `
  cp -R ./src ./dest
  ls | grep *-spec.js | cat
  rm ./specResults.html 
`;

For even better programmatic Unix commands, check out Shell.JS.

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Isn't this impossible to do in Node?

It was, before Vorpal.

Made with ❤ by dthree.

Love it? Cash is brand new! Give it a ⭐️ or a tweet to help spread the word!

Contents

• Introduction
• Supported commands
• Contributing
• FAQ
• License
• Wiki

Introduction

Cash is a project working on a cross-platform implementation of the most used Unix-based commands in pure JavaScript and with no external dependencies.

The goal of Cash is to open up these commands to the massive JavaScript community for the first time, and to provide a cleaner, simpler and flexible alternative to applications like Cygwin for those wanting the Linux feel on Windows.

Cash was built with strict attention to nearly exact implementations and excellent test coverage of over 200 unit tests.

Supported commands

The following commands are currently implemented:

• alias
• cat
• clear
• cd
• cp
• echo
• export
• false
• grep
• head
• kill
• less
• ls
• mkdir
• mv
• pwd
• rm
• sort
• source
• tail
• touch
• true
• unalias

Want more commands?

• Vote on the next commands
• Help spread the word: More knowledge of Cash equals more contributors
• Contribute

Contributing

• Editing commands
• Adding new commands

I am currently looking for someone with experience in building Windows installers (.msi) to bundle Cash and its individual components into a self-contained wrapper. If you would like to help with this, send me a ping.

Awesome contributors

• @nfischer: Added source, export, true and false commands, among several other contributions.
• @safinn: Added clear and tail commands.
• @legien: Added head command.
• @cspotcode: Implemented template literal execution.

FAQ

Why Cash?

In its very essence, Cash replaces the Windows CLI prompt (>) with the Unix one ($), the dollar symbol.

Cash was most fitting in this sense:

Ask and ye shall receive

> cash
$

Cash is also a play on the word bash, and is actually[1] a recursive acronym for Cash Shell.

Shout out to @aseemk for donating the name.

Doesn't Shell.js do this?

No.

For those who don't know, Shell.JS is an awesome Node package that implements UNIX shell commands programatically in JavaScript. Check it out - really. While Shell.JS was tremendously helpful in figuring out how to accomplish Cash, the two do not really conflict.

Shell.JS gives the feel of UNIX commands in a code environment, but aims to implement the commands in a way that makes sense for a JavaScript library. This means that many commands return JavaScript objects, and some of the rougher and more dangerous edges of bash have been softened a bit.

For example, with cash:

$('ls'); // 'node_modules\n'
 
$('echo foo > foo.txt');

With Shell.JS:

ls(); // ['node_modules'];
 
echo('foo').to('foo.txt');

License

MIT © David Caccavella