Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning. (Format adopted after v3.0.0.)

4.1.1

Fixed

• TypeScript definition for .action() should include Promise for async (#1157)

4.1.0

Added

• two routines to change how option values are handled, and eliminate name clashes with command properties (#933)
  • see storeOptionsAsProperties and passCommandToAction in README
• .parseAsync to use instead of .parse if supply async action handlers (#806)

Fixed

• Remove trailing blanks from wrapped help text (#1096)

Changed

• update dependencies
• extend security coverage for Commander 2.x to 2020-02-03
• improvements to README
• improvements to TypeScript definition documentation
• move old versions out of main CHANGELOG
• removed explicit use of ts-node in tests

4.0.1

Fixed

• display help when requested, even if there are missing required options (#1091)

4.0.0

Added

• automatically wrap and indent help descriptions for options and commands (#1051)
• .exitOverride() allows override of calls to process.exit for additional error handling and to keep program running (#1040)
• support for declaring required options with .requiredOptions() (#1071)
• GitHub Actions support (#1027)
• translation links in README

Changed

• dev: switch tests from Sinon+Should to Jest with major rewrite of tests (#1035)
• call default subcommand even when there are unknown options (#1047)
• Breaking Commander is only officially supported on Node 8 and above, and requires Node 6 (#1053)

Fixed

• Breaking keep command object out of program.args when action handler called (#1048)
  • also, action handler now passed array of unknown arguments
• complain about unknown options when program argument supplied and action handler (#1049)
  • this changes parameters to command:* event to include unknown arguments
• removed deprecated customFds option from call to child_process.spawn (#1052)
• rework TypeScript declarations to bring all types into imported namespace (#1081)

Migration Tips

Testing for no arguments

If you were previously using code like:

if (!program.args.length) ...

a partial replacement is:

if (program.rawArgs.length < 3) ...

4.0.0-1 Prerelease (2019-10-08)

(Released in 4.0.0)

4.0.0-0 Prerelease (2019-10-01)

(Released in 4.0.0)

2.20.1

Fixed

• Improve tracking of executable subcommands.

Changed

• update development dependencies

3.0.2

Fixed

• Improve tracking of executable subcommands.

Changed

• update development dependencies

3.0.1

Added

• .name and .usage to README (#1010)
• Table of Contents to README (#1010)
• TypeScript definition for executableFile in CommandOptions (#1028)

Changed

• consistently use const rather than var in README (#1026)

Fixed

• help for sub commands with custom executableFile (#1018)

3.0.0 / 2019-08-08

• Add option to specify executable file name (#999)
  • e.g. .command('clone', 'clone description', { executableFile: 'myClone' })
• Change docs for .command to contrast action handler vs git-style executable. (#938)
• Breaking Change TypeScript to use overloaded function for .command. (#938)
• Change to use straight quotes around strings in error messages (like 'this' instead of `this') (#915)
• Add TypeScript "reference types" for node (#974)
• Add support for hyphen as an option argument in subcommands (#697)
• Add support for a short option flag and its value to be concatenated for action handler subcommands (#599)
  • e.g. -p 80 can also be supplied as -p80
• Add executable arguments to spawn in win32, for git-style executables (#611)
  • e.g. node --harmony myCommand.js clone
• Add parent command as prefix of subcommand in help (#980)
• Add optional custom description to .version (#963)
  • e.g. program.version('0.0.1', '-v, --vers', 'output the current version')
• Add .helpOption(flags, description) routine to customise help flags and description (#963)
  • e.g. .helpOption('-e, --HELP', 'read more information')
• Fix behavior of --no-* options (#795)
  • can now define both --foo and --no-foo
  • Breaking custom event listeners: --no-foo on cli now emits option:no-foo (previously option:foo)
  • Breaking default value: defining --no-foo after defining --foo leaves the default value unchanged (previously set it to false)
  • allow boolean default value, such as from environment (#987)
• Increment inspector port for spawned subcommands (#991)
  • e.g. node --inspect myCommand.js clone

Migration Tips

The custom event for a negated option like --no-foo is option:no-foo (previously option:foo).

program
  .option('--no-foo')
  .on('option:no-foo', () => {
    console.log('removing foo');
  });

When using TypeScript, adding a command does not allow an explicit undefined for an unwanted executable description (e.g for a command with an action handler).

program
  .command('action1', undefined, { noHelp: true }) // No longer valid
  .command('action2', { noHelp: true }) // Correct

3.0.0-0 Prerelease / 2019-07-28

(Released as 3.0.0)

2.20.0 / 2019-04-02

• fix: resolve symbolic links completely when hunting for subcommands (#935)
• Update index.d.ts (#930)
• Update Readme.md (#924)
• Remove --save option as it isn't required anymore (#918)
• Add link to the license file (#900)
• Added example of receiving args from options (#858)
• Added missing semicolon (#882)
• Add extension to .eslintrc (#876)

2.19.0 / 2018-10-02

• Removed newline after Options and Commands headers (#864)
• Bugfix - Error output (#862)
• Fix to change default value to string (#856)

2.18.0 / 2018-09-07

• Standardize help output (#853)
• chmod 644 travis.yml (#851)
• add support for execute typescript subcommand via ts-node (#849)

2.17.1 / 2018-08-07

• Fix bug in command emit (#844)

2.17.0 / 2018-08-03

• fixed newline output after help information (#833)
• Fix to emit the action even without command (#778)
• npm update (#823)

2.16.0 / 2018-06-29

• Remove Makefile and test/run (#821)
• Make 'npm test' run on Windows (#820)
• Add badge to display install size (#807)
• chore: cache node_modules (#814)
• chore: remove Node.js 4 (EOL), add Node.js 10 (#813)
• fixed typo in readme (#812)
• Fix types (#804)
• Update eslint to resolve vulnerabilities in lodash (#799)
• updated readme with custom event listeners. (#791)
• fix tests (#794)

2.15.0 / 2018-03-07

• Update downloads badge to point to graph of downloads over time instead of duplicating link to npm
• Arguments description

2.14.1 / 2018-02-07

• Fix typing of help function

2.14.0 / 2018-02-05

• only register the option:version event once
• Fixes issue #727: Passing empty string for option on command is set to undefined
• enable eqeqeq rule
• resolves #754 add linter configuration to project
• resolves #560 respect custom name for version option
• document how to override the version flag
• document using options per command

2.13.0 / 2018-01-09

• Do not print default for --no-
• remove trailing spaces in command help
• Update CI's Node.js to LTS and latest version
• typedefs: Command and Option types added to commander namespace

2.12.2 / 2017-11-28

• fix: typings are not shipped

2.12.1 / 2017-11-23

• Move @types/node to dev dependency

2.12.0 / 2017-11-22

• add attributeName() method to Option objects
• Documentation updated for options with --no prefix
• typings: outputHelp takes a string as the first parameter
• typings: use overloads
• feat(typings): update to match js api
• Print default value in option help
• Fix translation error
• Fail when using same command and alias (#491)
• feat(typings): add help callback
• fix bug when description is add after command with options (#662)
• Format js code
• Rename History.md to CHANGELOG.md (#668)
• feat(typings): add typings to support TypeScript (#646)
• use current node

2.11.0 / 2017-07-03

• Fix help section order and padding (#652)
• feature: support for signals to subcommands (#632)
• Fixed #37, --help should not display first (#447)
• Fix translation errors. (#570)
• Add package-lock.json
• Remove engines
• Upgrade package version
• Prefix events to prevent conflicts between commands and options (#494)
• Removing dependency on graceful-readlink
• Support setting name in #name function and make it chainable
• Add .vscode directory to .gitignore (Visual Studio Code metadata)
• Updated link to ruby commander in readme files

2.10.0 / 2017-06-19

• Update .travis.yml. drop support for older node.js versions.
• Fix require arguments in README.md
• On SemVer you do not start from 0.0.1
• Add missing semi colon in readme
• Add save param to npm install
• node v6 travis test
• Update Readme_zh-CN.md
• Allow literal '--' to be passed-through as an argument
• Test subcommand alias help
• link build badge to master branch
• Support the alias of Git style sub-command
• added keyword commander for better search result on npm
• Fix Sub-Subcommands
• test node.js stable
• Fixes TypeError when a command has an option called --description
• Update README.md to make it beginner friendly and elaborate on the difference between angled and square brackets.
• Add chinese Readme file

2.9.0 / 2015-10-13

• Add option isDefault to set default subcommand #415 @Qix-
• Add callback to allow filtering or post-processing of help text #434 @djulien
• Fix undefined text in help information close #414 #416 @zhiyelee

2.8.1 / 2015-04-22

• Back out support multiline description Close #396 #397

2.8.0 / 2015-04-07

• Add process.execArg support, execution args like --harmony will be passed to sub-commands #387 @DigitalIO @zhiyelee
• Fix bug in Git-style sub-commands #372 @zhiyelee
• Allow commands to be hidden from help #383 @tonylukasavage
• When git-style sub-commands are in use, yet none are called, display help #382 @claylo
• Add ability to specify arguments syntax for top-level command #258 @rrthomas
• Support multiline descriptions #208 @zxqfox

2.7.1 / 2015-03-11

• Revert #347 (fix collisions when option and first arg have same name) which causes a bug in #367.

2.7.0 / 2015-03-09

• Fix git-style bug when installed globally. Close #335 #349 @zhiyelee
• Fix collisions when option and first arg have same name. Close #346 #347 @tonylukasavage
• Add support for camelCase on opts(). Close #353 @nkzawa
• Add node.js 0.12 and io.js to travis.yml
• Allow RegEx options. #337 @palanik
• Fixes exit code when sub-command failing. Close #260 #332 @pirelenito
• git-style bin files in $PATH make sense. Close #196 #327 @zhiyelee

2.6.0 / 2014-12-30

• added Command#allowUnknownOption method. Close #138 #318 @doozr @zhiyelee
• Add application description to the help msg. Close #112 @dalssoft

2.5.1 / 2014-12-15

• fixed two bugs incurred by variadic arguments. Close #291 @Quentin01 #302 @zhiyelee

2.5.0 / 2014-10-24

• add support for variadic arguments. Closes #277 @whitlockjc

2.4.0 / 2014-10-17

• fixed a bug on executing the coercion function of subcommands option. Closes #270
• added Command.prototype.name to retrieve command name. Closes #264 #266 @tonylukasavage
• added Command.prototype.opts to retrieve all the options as a simple object of key-value pairs. Closes #262 @tonylukasavage
• fixed a bug on subcommand name. Closes #248 @jonathandelgado
• fixed function normalize doesn’t honor option terminator. Closes #216 @abbr

2.3.0 / 2014-07-16

• add command alias'. Closes PR #210
• fix: Typos. Closes #99
• fix: Unused fs module. Closes #217

2.2.0 / 2014-03-29

• add passing of previous option value
• fix: support subcommands on windows. Closes #142
• Now the defaultValue passed as the second argument of the coercion function.

2.1.0 / 2013-11-21

• add: allow cflag style option params, unit test, fixes #174

2.0.0 / 2013-07-18

• remove input methods (.prompt, .confirm, etc)

Older versions

• 1.x
• 0.x