get-shell-vars

Code that sources correct profiles, so that you can use all Environment variables declared in them.

Usage

Using the default settings for current OS

In case you want to use the default settings for current OS, just call getEnvironmentVariables method without arguments.

1. First install the package:

npm install --save get-shell-vars

2. Now use it in your code:

const shellVars = require("get-shell-vars");
shellVars.getEnvironmentVariables();

The result is an object with all environment variables.

Using custom shell and terminal settings

In many cases, you may need to use specific SHELL or custom terminal settings, you may pass an object to getEnvironmentVariables method and the module will respect them instead of the default ones. The object has the following definition:

/**
 * Defines the user specific configuration of the shell and terminal.
 */
interface IUserConfiguration {
    /**
     * Path to the shell that should be used.
     * @example "/bin/sh"
     * By default this value is taken from SHELL environment variable and in case it is not set, "/bin/bash" is used.
     */
    shell: string;

    /**
     * Describes the configuration of the terminal that the user would like to have.
     * These settings modify the behavior, i.e. which profile files of the respective shell will be loaded.
     */
    terminalConfiguration: {
        /**
         * Defines if the terminal is interactive or no.
         * `true` by default.
         */
        isInteractive: boolean;

        /**
         * Defines if login session will be started.
         * `false` by default on Linux.
         * `true` on all other OSes.
         */
        isLogin: boolean;
    }
}

You can pass only the properties that you want to modify. For example:

const shellVars = require("get-shell-vars");
const userConfiguration = {
    terminalConfiguration: {
        isLogin: true
    }
};

shellVars.getEnvironmentVariables(userConfiguration);

OS specific information

The module will use different shell settings on each OS.

Windows

The module will always return the value of process.env.

Linux

The module will spawn a new interactive, non-login shell. The shell is taken from SHELL environment variable.

macOS

The module will spawn a new interactive, login shell. The shell is taken from SHELL environment variable.

System requirements

The package requires Node.js 6.0.0 or later.