Using sub-command always invokes *

[soichih]

With following program

  
program
  .command('com1', 'for test-com1.js')
  .command('com2', 'for test-com2.js')

program
  .command('*')
  .action(env=>{
      console.log("unknown command");
  })

program.parse(process.argv);

'*' will always be invoked regardless of what command user tries to execute.

hayashis@dev1:~/tmp/test $ node test.js com1
unknown command
here is test-com1.js
hayashis@dev1:~/tmp/test $ node test.js com2
unknown command
here is test-com2.js
hayashis@dev1:~/tmp/test $ node test.js bogus
unknown command

I believe "unknown command" should be displayed only when user enter non-existing command name.

[linfan68]

Hit this issue yesterday...
And I found it is related the help string passed as the second parameter of .command()
Removing the help string fixed it for me

Also I found there are more issues, like if you’re using command with parameter ‘cmd ’, adding help string make it not checking the parameter anymore, and parameter parsing also seems wrong (it pass in the command name string instead)

[shadowspawn]

I agree Soichi, this looks like a shortcoming with handling of mixed git-style commands and commands with actions.

A work-around might be to do the error/help detection in a git-style command too:

program
  .command('com1', 'for test-com1.js')
  .command('com2', 'for test-com2.js')
  .command('unknown-command', 'for test-unknown-command.js', { isDefault:true })

program.parse(process.argv);

[shadowspawn]

FYI @linfan68 when .command() is invoked with a description argument, this tells commander that you're going to use separate executables for sub-commands. See https://github.com/tj/commander.js#git-style-executable-subcommands

[shadowspawn]

command:* is not emitted for executable subcommands in the published pre-release of Commander v5.0.0 (#1163)

On a related note, by default unknown commands will display an error (so you may not need to listen for command:* yourself.)

[shadowspawn]

Commander v5.0.0 has been released.

https://github.com/tj/commander.js/releases/tag/v5.0.0