## Usage Once installed, you should have access to the `coffee` command, which can execute scripts, compile `.coffee` files into `.js`, and provide an interactive REPL. The `coffee` command takes the following options: | Option | Description | | --- | --- | | `-c, --compile` | Compile a `.coffee` script into a `.js` JavaScript file of the same name. | | `-m, --map` | Generate source maps alongside the compiled JavaScript files. Adds `sourceMappingURL` directives to the JavaScript as well. | | `-M, --inline-map` | Just like `--map`, but include the source map directly in the compiled JavaScript files, rather than in a separate file. | | `-i, --interactive` | Launch an interactive CoffeeScript session to try short snippets. Identical to calling `coffee` with no arguments. | | `-o, --output [DIR]` | Write out all compiled JavaScript files into the specified directory. Use in conjunction with `--compile` or `--watch`. | | `-w, --watch` | Watch files for changes, rerunning the specified command when any file is updated. | | `-p, --print` | Instead of writing out the JavaScript as a file, print it directly to **stdout**. | | `-s, --stdio` | Pipe in CoffeeScript to STDIN and get back JavaScript over STDOUT. Good for use with processes written in other languages. An example:
`cat src/cake.coffee | coffee -sc` | | `-l, --literate` | Parses the code as Literate CoffeeScript. You only need to specify this when passing in code directly over **stdio**, or using some sort of extension-less file name. | | `-e, --eval` | Compile and print a little snippet of CoffeeScript directly from the command line. For example:
`coffee -e "console.log num for num in [10..1]"` | | `-r, --require [MODULE]`  | `require()` the given module before starting the REPL or evaluating the code given with the `--eval` flag. | | `-b, --bare` | Compile the JavaScript without the [top-level function safety wrapper](#lexical-scope). | | `-t, --tokens` | Instead of parsing the CoffeeScript, just lex it, and print out the token stream. Used for debugging the compiler. | | `-n, --nodes` | Instead of compiling the CoffeeScript, just lex and parse it, and print out the parse tree. Used for debugging the compiler. | | `--nodejs` | The `node` executable has some useful options you can set, such as `--debug`, `--debug-brk`, `--max-stack-size`, and `--expose-gc`. Use this flag to forward options directly to Node.js. To pass multiple flags, use `--nodejs` multiple times. | | `--no-header` | Suppress the “Generated by CoffeeScript” header. | ### Examples: * Compile a directory tree of `.coffee` files in `src` into a parallel tree of `.js` files in `lib`:
`coffee --compile --output lib/ src/` * Watch a file for changes, and recompile it every time the file is saved:
`coffee --watch --compile experimental.coffee` * Concatenate a list of files into a single script:
`coffee --join project.js --compile src/*.coffee` * Print out the compiled JS from a one-liner:
`coffee -bpe "alert i for i in [0..10]"` * All together now, watch and recompile an entire project as you work on it:
`coffee -o lib/ -cw src/` * Start the CoffeeScript REPL (`Ctrl-D` to exit, `Ctrl-V`for multi-line):
`coffee` ### ES2015+ Output CoffeeScript 2 outputs the latest ES2015+ syntax. If you’re looking for a single tool that takes CoffeeScript input and generates JavaScript output that runs in any JavaScript runtime, assuming you opt out of certain newer features, stick to [CoffeeScript 1.x](/v1/). CoffeeScript 2 [breaks compatibility](#breaking-changes) with certain CoffeeScript 1.x features in order to conform with the ES2015+ specifications, and generate more idiomatic output (a CoffeeScript `=>` becomes an ES `=>`; a CoffeeScript `class` becomes an ES `class`; and so on). Since the CoffeeScript 2 compiler outputs ES2015+ syntax, it is your responsibility to either ensure that your target JavaScript runtime(s) support all these features, or that you pass the output through another transpiler like [Babel](http://babeljs.io/), [Rollup](https://github.com/rollup/rollup) or [Traceur Compiler](https://github.com/google/traceur-compiler). In general, [CoffeeScript 2’s output is supported as is by Node.js 7.6+](http://node.green/), except for modules which require transpilation. There are many great task runners for setting up JavaScript build chains, such as [Gulp](http://gulpjs.com/), [Webpack](https://webpack.github.io/), [Grunt](https://gruntjs.com/) and [Broccoli](http://broccolijs.com/). If you’re looking for a very minimal solution to get started, you can use [babel-preset-env](https://babeljs.io/docs/plugins/preset-env/) and the command line: ```bash npm install --global coffeescript@next npm install --save-dev coffeescript@next babel-cli babel-preset-env coffee -p *.coffee | babel --presets env > app.js ``` ### Node.js If you’d like to use Node.js’ CommonJS to `require` CoffeeScript files, e.g. `require './app.coffee'`, you must first “register” CoffeeScript as an extension: ```coffee require 'coffeescript/register' App = require './app' # The .coffee extension is optional ``` If you want to use the compiler’s API, for example to make an app that compiles strings of CoffeeScript on the fly, you can `require` the full module: ```coffee CoffeeScript = require 'coffeescript' eval CoffeeScript.compile 'console.log "Mmmmm, I could really go for some #{Math.pi}"' ``` The `compile` method has the signature `compile(code, options)` where `code` is a string of CoffeeScript code, and the optional `options` is an object with some or all of the following properties: * `options.sourceMap`, boolean: if true, a source map will be generated; and instead of returning a string, `compile` will return an object of the form `{js, v3SourceMap, sourceMap}`. * `options.inlineMap`, boolean: if true, output the source map as a base64-encoded string in a comment at the bottom. * `options.filename`, string: the filename to use for the source map. * `options.bare`, boolean: if true, output without the [top-level function safety wrapper](#lexical-scope). * `options.header`, boolean: if true, output the `Generated by CoffeeScript` header.