Options are always empty

[PsotnyPerun]

Hi,
I've been trying both my own code and code from the samples, and whatever I do options are always empty.
But let's stick with the examples - I've been trying using this one: https://github.com/tj/commander.js/blob/master/examples/pizza. I've been trying to pass a custom string to --cheese option but whatever I do, options in program.opts() are always empty. They only get populated if there is a default value specified in option() function.

On a Win machine, I've been running the script with npm run start --cheese=my_value or npm run start -c my_value and nothing would work. Even if the options are bools, adding --peppers still wouldn't work.

I've been trying both the latest version (9.3.0) and some old ones from a year ago.

Am I missing something obvious here?
Thanks!

[shadowspawn]

Lots of people encounter this problem! The issue is invoking your script through npm. It is silently eating the options and they do not reach your script. I'll run through some general tips and the way to solve it.

A useful debugging step is to check what arguments are reaching your script: console.log(process.argv)

Try running your script directly with node to check it is working as expected:

node script.js --cheese=my_value

For calling through npm run, you can use -- to tell npm to stop looking for options. The -- is a commonly supported way to tell something looking for options to stop looking. (Commander supports this too.) You can put the -- anywhere after the options intended for npm and before the options intended for your script.

npm run -- start --cheese=my_value
npm run start -- --cheese=my_value

The npm documentation page shows the -- in the synopsis:

npm run-script <command> [-- <args>]

https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v8/commands/npm-run-script

[PsotnyPerun]

Oh, I see what you mean - it does make sense now.
Adding -- when calling npm run did solve the issue.

Thank you for your help and for getting back to me so quick.

[shadowspawn]

An answer was provided, and no further activity in a month. Closing this as resolved.

Feel free to open a new issue if it comes up again, with new information and renewed interest.

[kunanyi]

Oh thank God I found this lol

Maybe consider adding the npm/-- trick to the docs? I almost gave up :)