Child Process in Node.js
From the Node.js Core Modules cheat sheet · Process & OS · verified Jul 2026
Child Process
Execute system commands and spawn new processes
javascript
const { spawn, exec, execSync } = require('child_process')
// Execute simple command (callback-based)
exec('ls -la', (error, stdout, stderr) => {
if (error) console.error(\`Error: \${error}\`)
console.log(stdout)
})
// Synchronous execution (blocks)
const result = execSync('npm list', { encoding: 'utf-8' })
console.log(result)
// Spawn for streaming/long-running
const ls = spawn('ls', ['-la', '/usr'])
ls.stdout.on('data', (data) => {
console.log(\`Output: \${data}\`)
})💡 exec for simple commands, spawn for complex/streaming
⚠️ Sanitize user input to prevent command injection
📌 fork() is specifically for Node.js scripts
⚡ Use worker_threads for CPU-intensive tasks instead
🔗 Related: execa for better child process handling
processsystem
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