get Error: Command failed with exit code 2: while also getting back the expected stdout

[ctf0]

am trying to use execa with ripgrep, however for some reason am getting both the error & data as an error

const filesNamesRg = 'Kernel|Handler'
const rgExcludeDirs = 'vendor,stubs'

const { stdout } = await execa('rg', [
    `'((\\\\*\\w+\\\\+)+(${filesNamesRg}))'`,
    '--mmap',
    '--follow',
    '--no-messages',
    '--smart-case',
    '--only-matching',
    "--glob='!*blade.php'",
    `--glob='!{${rgExcludeDirs}}'`,
    "--glob='**/*.php'",
    "./", // https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/2056#issuecomment-966306579
], {
    cwd   : '/some/path',
    shell : true, // without shell no results are returned, only error
});

console.log(stdout);

-error

Error: Command failed with exit code 2: rg '((\\*\w+\\+)+(Kernel|Handler))' --mmap --follow --no-messages --smart-case --only-matching --glob='!*blade.php' --glob='!{vendor,stubs}' --glob='**/*.php' ./
./routes/web/profile.php:App\Http\Controllers\Auth\UserProfileController
./tests/Feature/Auth/PasswordConfirmationTest.php:Tests\TestCase
./tests/Feature/Auth/PasswordConfirmationTest.php:App\Models\User
// ...

any help how to fix this is appreciated.

[ehmicky]

Hi @ctf0,

What happens if you replace the execa() call with child_process.execFile() instead?

import { execFile } from 'node:child_process'
import { promisify } from 'node:util'

const pExecFile = promisify(execFile);

const filesNamesRg = 'Kernel|Handler'
const rgExcludeDirs = 'vendor,stubs'

const { stdout } = await pExecFile('rg', [
    `'((\\\\*\\w+\\\\+)+(${filesNamesRg}))'`,
    '--mmap',
    '--follow',
    '--no-messages',
    '--smart-case',
    '--only-matching',
    "--glob='!*blade.php'",
    `--glob='!{${rgExcludeDirs}}'`,
    "--glob='**/*.php'",
    "./", // https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/2056#issuecomment-966306579
], {
    cwd   : '/some/path',
    shell : true, // without shell no results are returned, only error
});

console.log(stdout);

[ctf0]

Error: Command failed: rg '((\\*\w+\\+)+(...
at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:408:12)
at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:526:28)
at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1092:16)
at Socket.<anonymous> (node:internal/child_process:451:11)
at Socket.emit (node:events:526:28)
at Pipe.<anonymous> (node:net:687:12)
at Pipe.callbackTrampoline (node:internal/async_hooks:130:17

same error with/without shell

[ehmicky]

Is this the same error as when using Execa?

[ctf0]

no, different

[ehmicky]

@ctf0 Could you please elaborate and give additional details so we can better help you?

In particular, the error message looks the same to me (or more precisely have non-significant small differences) whether Execa is used or not.

I am unable to reproduce your setup since it seems to rely on specific files being present locally when the command is executed.

More importantly, I am not clear about whether your problem is that:

1. The command fails (with exit code 2)? If so, this behavior does not seem to be different with/without Execa.
2. The command fails but also has some stdout? That, in itself, is not a problem: commands can fail and still print on stdout.
3. The command's behavior changes depending on whether shell is used or not? This is also rather expected for many commands.

[ctf0]

I am unable to reproduce your setup since it seems to rely on specific files being present locally when the command is executed.

np, the steps are

1. install ripgrep
2. prepare some files that might have some of the words we will be looking for
3. use the same command setup as in the main comment & try directly through trmnl to confirm that the command is actually working, then try again with execa

The command fails (with exit code 2)? If so, this behavior does not seem to be different with/without Execa.

not exactly, because with execa i have this error + output, without execa i have a different error, true that both doesnt give much of meaning to debug but thier differences prove something.

The command fails but also has some stdout? That, in itself, is not a problem: commands can fail and still print on stdout.

great, how can we only get the output without the error ?, if we can view them then thier must be a way to extract them

The command's behavior changes depending on whether shell is used or not? This is also rather expected for many commands.

but cant we understand the exact reason why with the options it works & without it it doesnt, at least in the main example with execa.

if there is a way i can debug this on my part, plz tell me how.

aside from that, does the size of the arg change the behavior ? for example lets say the const filesNamesRg is a group of 20 words joined with a pipe, does the node spawn args have a character limit ? and if so, is there away to get around that ?
i've searched but sadly couldnt find an answer.

[ehmicky]

Thanks for the information @ctf0.

I am sorry but, based on this, I am afraid those questions do not seem to be specifically related to Execa, but with child process execution in general.
I will close this issue. However I am tagging @sindresorhus in case he feels differently about it.

Sorry again for not being able to help you for this matter @ctf0.

[ctf0]

i focken found iiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

first check https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/blob/master/doc/api/process.markdown#exit-codes for codes description "i think this should be part of the reject error instead of just a number" Duck u node

anyway error code 2 is

2 - Unused (reserved by Bash for builtin misuse)

so as the error says, it seems that the command have something that shell/bash thinks is a builtin option & after doing some reading it seems that --follow was the issue 😡 , once removed all was good.

so the final usage should be

const filesNamesRg = 'Kernel|Handler'
const rgExcludeDirs = 'vendor,stubs'

const { stdout } = await execa('rg', [
    `'((\\\\*\\w+\\\\+)+(${filesNamesRg}))'`,
    '--mmap',
    '--no-messages',
    '--smart-case',
    '--only-matching',
    "--glob='!*blade.php'",
    `--glob='!{${rgExcludeDirs}}'`,
    "--glob='**/*.php'",
    "./", // removing this wont resolve anything
], {
    cwd   : '/some/path',
    shell : true, // removing this will give error code 1 instead
});

console.log(stdout);

[ehmicky]

Thanks @ctf0 for confirming the problem was with ripgrep's usage. I had a hunch this was the problem too, but I was unable to confirm this without digging too deep into it.

[ctf0]

not exactly, because if we ran the command in a trmnl it will work, also the argument comes after the command in the spawn items order,
surely u r more experienced in this than me but i believe this is more of an issue with node than ripgrep & might happen again with any other pkgs with similar options.