The quotation in cmd of Deno.run

[septbr]

---

    await Deno.run({ cmd: ['TortoiseProc', '/command:commit', '/path:"D:\\xx\\yy"', '/logmsg:"update yy"']).status();

Expect

    TortoiseProc /command:commit /path:"D:\\xx\\yy" /logmsg:"update yy"

Result

    TortoiseProc /command:commit /path:\"D:\\xx\\yy\" /logmsg:\"update yy\"

---

    await Deno.run({ cmd: ['cmd', '/c', 'echo', '"x\\y"'], stdout: 'inherit', stderr: 'inherit'}).status();

Expect

    echo "x\y"

Result

    echo \"x\y\"

---

    await Deno.run({ cmd: ['cmd', '/c', 'echo', '""x\"'], stdout: 'inherit', stderr: 'inherit'}).status();

Expect

    echo ""x"

Result

    echo \"\"x\"\"

" in the result has been replaced by \"
"" or \" in the result has been replaced by \"\"

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed in 7 days if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[rivy]

Not stale.
This is still a problem for windows applications.

[nayeemrmn]

This seems expected, and rather a limitation of the CLIs of the applications being run. Does Node have different behaviour?

[rivy]

It's not a CLI limitation.
It's an ongoing problem with Rust's process::Command. Rust has the escape hatch of using the Win32 CreateProcess but Deno doesn't (and likely won't). The windows CreateProcess can take an arbitrary string, but Deno isn't set up to directly call the Win32 CreateProcess function.

And, yes, it's up to the target executable to interpret it, but any arbitrary command line string should be generable by the runtime.

This is definitely a problem when spawning child processes with arbitrary command lines on Windows. It is subtle and occurs as random command lines which panic with weird quoting errors (as the examples noted above). It's very problematic when trying to work around the windows cmd shell quoting quirks (which is needed for task runners; denox, devo, drake).

It's, unfortunately, a complicated issue. (Here's an issue that references some 'light' reading on the subject.)

Given the architecture and goals of Deno, I'm not sure of the best course forward. But I do think that some way to execute arbitrary command lines in Windows should be part of the Deno runtime, even if it's more complicated.

[rivy]

@nayeemrmn , here's a simple, specific example of why this is a problem...

• from Propose changes to the Deno.run() API discussion

...

Currently, it's impossible to execute certain valid Windows command lines in Deno. For example, cmd /d/c "deno eval -T "console.log('a string')"" is a valid executable command line ...

C:>cmd /d/c "deno eval -T "console.log('a string')""
Check file:///C:/Users/Roy/OneDrive/Projects/deno/$deno$eval.ts
a string

when implemented via Deno.run(...) ...

await Deno.run({cmd: ['cmd', '/d/c', '"deno eval -T "console.log(\'a string\')""']}).status();
// => `The system cannot find the path specified.`

or ...

await Deno.run({cmd: ['cmd', '/d/c', 'deno eval -T "console.log(\'a string\')"']}).status();
// => `error: Unterminated string constant at file:///C:/Users/Roy/OneDrive/Projects/deno/$deno$eval.ts:1:0`

It's not possible to construct this command line because the inner double quotes are escaped, which, in turn, breaks the interpretation by cmd.

...

Notably, node can execute this command line using exec('cmd /d/c "deno eval -T "console.log(\'a string\')""', ...).

[rivy]

@nayeemrmn , can you re-open this?

[nayeemrmn]

I'm not a maintainer (cc @lucacasonato).

The issue seems valid, if exec('cmd /d/c "deno eval -T "console.log(\'a string\')""', ...) in Node doesn't have a working equivalent in Deno.

[lucacasonato]

cc @piscisaureus

[max-pub]

any progress on this?

[piscisaureus]

Rust actually has raw_arg. We could use that.

[FKPSC]

I am running into many issues with Deno.run as well. Running commands like start "app\\Cool app.exe" seems to be literally impossible. If there is a way to do it, please let me know and document it somewhere.

This command is also seemingly impossible to run:
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" -v ReleaseID

A viable workaround would be to echo the command into a .cmd file and then run it.

[kt3k]

In Node.js, child_process.spawn has windowsVerbatimArguments option for controlling arg escaping enabled/disabled. https://nodejs.org/api/child_process.html#child_processspawncommand-args-options

And that option is used by cross-spawn npm module. ref: https://github.com/moxystudio/node-cross-spawn/blob/5d843849e1ed434b7030e0aa49281c2bf4ad2e71/lib/parse.js#L59

This issue causes the usage of cross-spawn (via compat feat) always failing on windows.