Node(18) child_process

child_process has stdin and stdout for input and output

child_process.exec(command, [options], callback)

execute a command

default options:

var options = { encoding: 'utf8',
                timeout: 0,
                maxBuffer: 200 * 1024,
                killSignal: 'SIGTERM',
                setsid: false,
                cwd: null,
                env: null };

var cp = require( 'child_process');
cp.exec( 'ls -l', function( e, stdout, stderr ){
	if( !e ){
		console.log( stdout );
	}
});

spawn is more general purpose, it require you to do stdin stdout callback yourself.

simple example to use stdin and stdout to list files and foulders:

//create child process for terminal
var terminal = require('child_process').spawn('bash');

//when terminal receive data, print it to console
terminal.stdout.on('data', function (data) {
    console.log('stdout: ' + data);
});

//when terminal exit, print code to notify user
terminal.on('exit', function (code) {
        console.log('child process exited with code ' + code);
});

//write data to terminal through stdin
setTimeout(function() {
    console.log('Sending stdin to terminal');
    terminal.stdin.write('ls -lah');
    terminal.stdin.end();
}, 1000);