Feature to comment out a command

README.md

@@ -64,15 +64,7 @@ Example **package.json** scripts:
    },
 ```
 
-### 2. Debug a command
-To manually run a single command, use `npx` from the terminal plus the `--only` flag.
-
-For example, to run the third command in the `compile` group by itself:
-```shell
-$ npx run-scripts compile --only=3
-```
-
-### 3. CLI flags
+### 2. CLI flags
 Command-line flags:
 | Flag         | Description                                            | Value      |
 | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------ | ---------- |
@@ -82,7 +74,7 @@ Command-line flags:
 | `--quiet`    | Suppress informational messages.                       | N/A        |
 | `--verbose`  | Add script group name to informational messages.       | N/A        |
 
-### 4. Example CLI usage
+### 3. Example CLI usage
 Examples:
    - `run-scripts clean compile`<br>
    Execute the `clean` group of commands and then execute the `compile` group fo commands.
@@ -97,6 +89,28 @@ Examples:
    Execute all the `lint` commands in parallel and after all the commands are finished execute
    the `watch` commands in parallel.
 
+### 5. Skip a command
+To _comment out_ a command prepend a dash (`-`) to the command.
+
+In the example below, the first `tsc` command will be skipped while the `tsc --force --verbose` command will be executed:
+ ```json
+"runScriptsConfig": {
+   "compile": [
+      "- tsc",
+      "tsc --force --verbose",
+      "lessc src/web-app/style.less build/web-app/style.css"
+   ]
+}
+```
+
+### 5. Debug a command
+To manually run a single command, use `npx` from the terminal plus the `--only` flag.
+
+For example, to run the third command in the `compile` group by itself:
+```shell
+$ npx run-scripts compile --only=3
+```
+
 ## C) Application Code
 Even though **run-scripts-util** is primarily intended for build scripts, the package can easily be used programmatically in ESM and TypeScript projects.
 

package.json

@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
    "runScriptsConfig": {
       "spec-a": [
          "copy-folder bin spec/fixtures/target/a",
+         "- echo 'This command will be skipped.'",
          "copy-file spec/fixtures/target/a/cli.js spec/fixtures/target/a/cli2.js",
          "copy-folder .github/workflows spec/fixtures/target/a"
       ],
@@ -111,13 +112,13 @@
    "devDependencies": {
       "@types/fancy-log": "~2.0",
       "@types/node": "~20.4",
-      "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "~6.0",
-      "@typescript-eslint/parser": "~6.0",
+      "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "~6.1",
+      "@typescript-eslint/parser": "~6.1",
       "add-dist-header": "~1.1",
       "assert-deep-strict-equal": "~1.1",
       "copy-file-util": "~1.1",
       "copy-folder-util": "~1.1",
-      "eslint": "~8.44",
+      "eslint": "~8.45",
       "jshint": "~2.13",
       "mocha": "~10.2",
       "npm-run-all2": "~6.0",

run-scripts.ts

@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ const runScripts = {
       const logger =   createLogger(settings);
       if (!Array.isArray(commands) || commands.some(command => typeof command !== 'string'))
          throw Error('[run-scripts-util] Cannot find commands: ' + group);
-      const execCommand = (command: string, step: number) => {
+      const execCommand = (step: number, command: string) => {
          const startTime = Date.now();
          if (!settings.quiet)
             console.log();
@@ -70,9 +70,15 @@ const runScripts = {
             throw Error(errorMessage() + '\nCommand: ' + command);
          logger(...logItems, chalk.green('done'), chalk.white(`(${Date.now() - startTime}ms)`));
          };
-      const active = (step: number) => settings.only === null || step === settings.only;
+      const skip = (step: number, command: string) => {
+         const inactive =     step === settings.only;
+         const commentedOut = command.startsWith('-');
+         if (commentedOut)
+            logger(chalk.yellow('skipping'), arrow, command);
+         return inactive || commentedOut;
+         };
       commands.forEach((command: string, index: number) =>
-         active(index + 1) && execCommand(command, index + 1));
+         !skip(index + 1, command) && execCommand(index + 1, command));
       },
 
    execParallel(group: string, options?: Options) {