node is a interactive cli.
When executed without arguments, it will start in a REPL mode
node [options] [ -e script | script.js ] [arguments]
node debug script.js [arguments]
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
| -v, –version | print Node.js version |
| -e, –eval script | evaluate script |
| -p, –print | evaluate script and print result |
| -c, –check | syntax check script without executing |
| -i, –interactive | always enter the REPL even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal |
| -r, –require | module to preload (option can be repeated) |
| –no-deprecation | silence deprecation warnings |
| –trace-deprecation | show stack traces on deprecations |
| –throw-deprecation | throw an exception anytime a deprecated function is used |
| –no-warnings | silence all process warnings |
| –trace-warnings | show stack traces on process warnings |
| –trace-sync-io | show stack trace when use of sync IO is detected after the first tick |
| –track-heap-objects | track heap object allocations for heap snapshots |
| –prof-process | process v8 profiler output generated using –prof |
| –zero-fill-buffers | automatically zero-fill all newly allocated Buffer and SlowBuffer instances |
| –v8-options | print v8 command line options |
| –v8-pool-size=num | set v8's thread pool size |
| –tls-cipher-list=val | use an alternative default TLS cipher list |
| –openssl-config=path | load OpenSSL configuration file from the specified path |
| –icu-data-dir=dir | set ICU data load path to dir (overrides NODE_ICU_DATA) |
| –preserve-symlinks | preserve symbolic links when resolving and caching modules. |
| –harmony | harmony is a shortcut on old node to enable all the harmony features |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| NODE_PATH | ';'-separated list of directories prefixed to the module search path. |
| NODE_DISABLE_COLORS | set to 1 to disable colors in the REPL |
| NODE_ICU_DATA | data path for ICU (Intl object) data |
| NODE_NO_WARNINGS | set to 1 to silence process warnings |
| NODE_PATH | ';'-separated list of directories prefixed to the module search path |
| NODE_REPL_HISTORY | path to the persistent REPL history file |
When a file is run directly from Node.js, require.main is set to its module. That means that it is possible to determine whether a file has been run directly by testing require.main === module.
For a file foo.js, this will be: