[Bug, Discussion] Invalid parsing of the 'exec' parameter in Windows

Info

• node -v: v17.3.0
• nodemon -v: 2.0.15
• Operating system/terminal environment (powershell, gitshell, etc): Windows (shell not important)
• Using Docker? N/A
• Command you ran:

1. Set the exec parameter in the local configuration file (nodemon.json):

{
    "exec": "/C/Program Files/nodejs/node"
}

1. Run any node application, e.g.:

nodemon app.j

Expected behaviour

The exec parameter should be parsed and converted to: \C\Program Files\nodejs\node

Actual behaviour

• The exec parameter is parsed using split(' ') (here) , thus it separates the path and converts it to: \C\Program Files/nodejs/node
• The application crashes because it attempts to access an invalid path:

The system cannot find the path specified.
[nodemon] app crashed - waiting for file changes before starting...

Steps to reproduce

Create a configuration file (nodemon.json) and set the exec paramter to a path containing blank spaces. (just like the example above)

---

Summary

I have a few ideas, but both of them have some sort of a downside-

• Introduce execArr parameter which’ll allow setting an executable with arguments in an array. Downside - will be too similar to the execMap parameter.

• Split exec parameter to execPath and execArgs. Downside - that would break API.

What do you guys think?

[remy]

Just reading this, the arg doesn’t look valid:

"exec": "/C/Program Files/nodejs/node"

Shouldn’t it be:

"exec": "/C/Program\ Files/nodejs/node"

// or

"exec": "'/C/Program Files/nodejs/node'"

[TheDechev]

You are completely right @remy, my bad, thanks!