CommandBox : CLI, Package Manager, REPL & More
4.6.0
4.6.0
  • Introduction
  • About This Book
  • Authors
  • Overview
  • Getting Started Guide
  • Setup
    • Requirements
    • Download
    • Installation
    • Non-Oracle JREs
    • Upgrading
    • Common Errors
  • Usage
    • Execution
      • Recipes
      • CFML Files
        • Using a DB in CFML scripts
      • OS Binaries
      • CFML Functions
      • Exit Codes
    • Commands
    • Parameters
      • Escaping Special Characters
      • File Paths
      • Globbing Patterns
      • Piping into Commands
      • Expressions
    • Command Help
    • Environment Variables
    • System Settings
    • Ad-hoc Command Aliases
    • Default Command Parameters
    • REPL
    • Tab Completion
    • Interactive Shell Features
    • forEach Command
    • Auto Update Checks
    • Bullet Train Prompt
    • 256 Color Support
    • A Little Fun
  • IDE Integrations
    • Sublime Text
    • Visual Studio Code
  • Config Settings
    • Module Settings
    • Proxy Settings
    • Endpoint Settings
    • Server Settings
    • Misc Settings
  • Embedded Server
    • Multi-Engine Support
    • Offline Server Starts
    • Debugging Server Starts
    • Server Processes
    • Manage Servers
    • FusionReactor
    • Server Logs
    • Configuring Your Server
      • JVM Args
      • Server Port and Host
      • URL Rewrites
      • Aliases
      • Custom Error Pages
      • Welcome Files
      • Basic Authentication
      • Custom Java Version
      • Adding Custom Libs
      • GZip Compression
      • REST Servlet
    • External Web Server
    • Starting as a Service
    • Server.json
      • Working with server.json
      • Packaging Your Server
      • Using Multiple server.json Files
  • Package Management
    • Installing Packages
      • Installation Path
      • Installation Options
      • Advanced Installation
    • Private Packages
    • System Modules
    • Code Endpoints
      • ForgeBox
      • HTTP(S)
      • File
      • Folder
      • Git
      • Java
      • S3
      • CFLib
      • RIAForge
      • Jar (via HTTP)
      • Gist
    • Package Scripts
    • Dependencies
    • Updating Packages
    • Creating Packages
      • Editing Package Properties
      • Publishing Lucee Extensions to ForgeBox
    • Artifacts
    • Box.json
      • Basic Package Data
      • Extended Package Data
      • Package URLs
      • Installation
      • Embedded Server
      • Dependencies
      • TestBox
    • Managing Version
  • Task Runners
    • Task Anatomy
    • Task Target Dependencies
    • Passing Parameters
    • Using Parameters
    • Task Output
    • Task Interactivity
    • Shell Integration
    • Downloading Files
    • Running Other Commands
    • Error Handling
    • Hitting Your Database
    • Interactive Jobs
    • Watchers
    • Property Files
    • Running other Tasks
    • Loading Ad hoc Jars
    • Loading Ad-hoc Modules
    • Cancel Long Tasks
    • Progress Bar
  • Helpful Commands
    • Token Replacements
    • Checksums
    • Code Quality Tools
  • Deploying CommandBox
    • Docker
    • Heroku
  • TestBox Integration
    • Test Runner
    • Test Watcher
  • Developing For CommandBox
    • Modules
      • Installation and Locations
      • Configuration
        • Public Properties
        • Configure() Method
        • Lifecycle Methods
      • Conventions
      • User Settings
      • Linking Modules
    • Commands
      • Aliases
      • Using Parameters
        • Using File Globs
        • Dynamic Parameters
      • Command Output
      • Tab Completion & Help
      • Interactivity
      • Watchers
      • Shell integration
      • Running Other Commands
      • Error handling
      • Watchers
      • Loading Ad hoc Jars
    • Interceptors
      • Core Interception Points
        • CLI Lifecycle
        • Command Execution Lifecycle
        • Module Lifecycle
        • Server Lifecycle
        • Error Handling
        • Package Lifecycle
      • Custom Interception Points
    • Injection DSL
    • Example Project
  • ForgeBox Enterprise
    • Introduction
    • Storage
    • Commands
      • List
      • Register
      • Login
      • Set Default
      • Remove
    • Usage
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  • Interactive Shell
  • Starting and Stopping
  • One-Off Commands
  • Special Path Expansions

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Usage

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Last updated 7 years ago

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Since CommandBox is a command line tool, it requires no GUI. If you are using an OS with a GUI (like Windows) and you run the box executable, the CommandBox interactive shell will open in a new window. CommandBox looks and behaves like a Bash or DOS window, but the command prompt is not your native OS-- it's CommandBox running INSIDE your native shell and interpreting what you type.

Interactive Shell

Starting and Stopping

If you have launched the CommandBox executable from your OS's GUI, it will run inside of a native shell window. When finished running commands, you can simply close the window, or type exit an the window will close for you. If you have a series of commands to run, this is the recommended approach.

If you manually open your native shell and execute the box executable, it will take over the screen and the prompt will now become a CommandBox prompt. When you type exit the CommandBox program will drop you back at your native OS shell.

One-Off Commands

You can also leverage CommandBox as another operating system binary if you want to execute one-off commands without having the need to go into the interactive shell. This is useful if you are integrating CommandBox with other system binaries, task runners, ANT, or you just want to execute a CFML template or CommandBox recipe.

$ box version
$ box install coldbox-be
$ box upgrade

Info Executing one-off commands might have a delay when executing as the CommandBox environment needs to load first.

Special Path Expansions

On Windows, / or \ will be treated as the current drive root based on the current working directory. This is the same as DOS.

cd /windows/system32

On all OS's, ~ will expand to the current user's home directory.

cd ~
ls ~/.ssh

As such, operating system commands won't execute (unless we've implemented a similar one in CommandBox). However, we also have a command called run () which can be used to run native commands from within CommandBox. Command input parameters and flags won't necessarily match your OS's native shell. CommandBox uses its own parser and commands/parameters will be formatted as documented here.

Selecting and copy/paste may differ based on your operating system and how it treats command windows. CommandBox uses some color and formatting in its output. This uses escape codes and will only work correctly if you're using an ANSI-compatible shell to run CommandBox from.

So let's go a little deeper into

See API Docs
ANSI
CommandBox execution.
commandbox