https://github.com/akash-akya/ex_cmd

ExCmd is an Elixir library to run external programs and to communicate with back pressure
https://github.com/akash-akya/ex_cmd

elixir erlang port stream

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ExCmd is an Elixir library to run external programs and to communicate with back pressure

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/akash-akya/ex_cmd
• Owner: akash-akya
• License: mit
• Created: 2020-03-19T18:19:56.000Z (almost 5 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2023-11-24T18:06:27.000Z (about 1 year ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-04-26T21:20:41.739Z (8 months ago)
• Topics: elixir, erlang, port, stream
• Language: Elixir
• Homepage:
• Size: 14 MB
• Stars: 52
• Watchers: 4
• Forks: 3
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

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README

        
# ExCmd

[![CI](https://github.com/akash-akya/ex_cmd/actions/workflows/elixir.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/akash-akya/ex_cmd/actions/workflows/elixir.yml)

[![Hex.pm](https://img.shields.io/hexpm/v/ex_cmd.svg)](https://hex.pm/packages/ex_cmd)

[![docs](https://img.shields.io/badge/docs-hexpm-blue.svg)](https://hexdocs.pm/ex_cmd/)

ExCmd is an Elixir library to run and communicate with external

programs with back-pressure mechanism. It makes use os backed stdio

buffer for this.

Communication with external program using

[Port](https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Port.html) is not demand driven. So

it is easy to run into memory issues when the size of the data we are

writing or reading from the external program is large. ExCmd tries to

solve this problem by making better use of os backed stdio buffers

and providing demand-driven interface to write and read from external

program. It can be used to stream data through an external

program. For example, streaming a video through `ffmpeg` to serve a

web request.

Getting audio out of a video stream is as simple as

``` elixir

ExCmd.stream!(~w(ffmpeg -i pipe:0 -f mp3 pipe:1), input: File.stream!("music_video.mkv", [], 65336))

|> Stream.into(File.stream!("music.mp3"))

|> Stream.run()

```

### Major Features

* Unlike beam ports, ExCmd puts back pressure on the external program

* Stream abstraction

* No separate shim installation required

* Ships pre-built binaries for MacOS, Windows, Linux

* Proper program termination. No more zombie process

* Ability to close stdin and wait for output (with ports one can not selectively close stdin)

## Examples

```elixir

ExCmd.stream!(~w(curl ifconfig.co))

|> Enum.into("")

```

Binary as input

  ```elixir

  ExCmd.stream!(~w(cat), input: "Hello World")

  |> Enum.into("")

  # => "Hello World"

  ```

  ```elixir

  ExCmd.stream!(~w(base64), input: <<1, 2, 3, 4, 5>>)

  |> Enum.into("")

  # => "AQIDBAU=\n"

  ```

List of binary as input

  ```elixir

  ExCmd.stream!(~w(cat), input: ["Hello ", "World"])

  |> Enum.into("")

  # => "Hello World"

  ```

iodata as input

  ```elixir

  ExCmd.stream!(~w(base64), input: [<<1, 2,>>, [3], [<<4, 5>>]])

  |> Enum.into("")

  # => "AQIDBAU=\n"

  ```

If you want pipes and globs, you can spawn shell process and pass your

pipeline as argument

```elixir

cmd = "echo 'foo bar' | base64"

ExCmd.stream!(["sh", "-c", cmd])

|> Enum.into("")

# => "Zm9vIGJhcgo=\n"

```

Read [stream documentation](file:///Users/akash/repo/elixir/ex_cmd/doc/ExCmd.html#stream!/2) for information

about parameters.

**Check out [Exile](https://github.com/akash-akya/exile) which is an

alternative solution based on NIF without middleware overhead**

## Installation

```elixir

def deps do

  [

    {:ex_cmd, "~> x.x.x"}

  ]

end

```