Node.js Web Development - Third Edition

Running and testing commands

Now that you've installed Node.js, we want to do two things—verify that the installation was successful and familiarize you with the command-line tools.

Node.js's command-line tools

The basic install of Node.js includes two commands, node and npm. We've already seen the node command in action. It's used either for running command-line scripts or server processes. The other, npm, is a package manager for Node.js.

The easiest way to verify that your Node.js installation works is also the best way to get help with Node.js. Type the following command:

$ node --help
Usage: node [options] [ -e script | script.js ] [arguments] 
       node debug script.js [arguments] 

Options:
  -v, --version         print Node.js version
 -e, --eval script ...