cli

Node.js comes with a wide variety of CLI options. These options expose built-in debugging, multiple ways to execute scripts, and other helpful runtime options.

To view this documentation as a manual page in your terminal, run man node.

Synopsis

node [options] [v8 options] [script.js | -e "script"] [arguments]

node debug [script.js | -e "script" | <host>:<port>] …

node --v8-options

Execute without arguments to start the REPL.

For more info about node debug, please see the debugger documentation.

Options

-v, --version

Print node's version.

-h, --help

Print node command line options. The output of this option is less detailed than this document.

-e, --eval "script"

Evaluate the following argument as JavaScript.

-p, --print "script"

Identical to -e but prints the result.

-c, --check

Syntax check the script without executing.

-i, --interactive

Opens the REPL even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal.

-r, --require module

Preload the specified module at startup.

Follows require()'s module resolution rules. module may be either a path to a file, or a node module name.

--no-deprecation

Silence deprecation warnings.

--trace-deprecation

Print stack traces for deprecations.

--throw-deprecation

Throw errors for deprecations.

--trace-sync-io

Prints a stack trace whenever synchronous I/O is detected after the first turn of the event loop.

--zero-fill-buffers

Automatically zero-fills all newly allocated Buffer and SlowBuffer instances.

--track-heap-objects

Track heap object allocations for heap snapshots.

--zero-fill-buffers

Automatically zero-fills all newly allocated Buffer and SlowBuffer instances.

--prof-process

Process v8 profiler output generated using the v8 option --prof.

--v8-options

Print v8 command line options.

--tls-cipher-list=list

Specify an alternative default TLS cipher list. (Requires Node.js to be built with crypto support. (Default))

--enable-fips

Enable FIPS-compliant crypto at startup. (Requires Node.js to be built with ./configure --openssl-fips)

--force-fips

Force FIPS-compliant crypto on startup. (Cannot be disabled from script code.) (Same requirements as --enable-fips)

--icu-data-dir=file

Specify ICU data load path. (overrides NODE_ICU_DATA)

Environment Variables

NODE_DEBUG=module[,…]

','-separated list of core modules that should print debug information.

NODE_PATH=path[:…]

':'-separated list of directories prefixed to the module search path.

Note: on Windows, this is a ';'-separated list instead.

NODE_DISABLE_COLORS=1

When set to 1 colors will not be used in the REPL.

NODE_ICU_DATA=file

Data path for ICU (Intl object) data. Will extend linked-in data when compiled with small-icu support.

NODE_REPL_HISTORY=file

Path to the file used to store the persistent REPL history. The default path is ~/.node_repl_history, which is overridden by this variable. Setting the value to an empty string ("" or " ") disables persistent REPL history.