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# mdbook-cmdrun

This is a preprocessor for the [rust-lang mdbook](https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook) project. This allows to run arbitrary (shell) commands and include the output of these commands within the markdown file.

## Getting started

```sh
cargo install mdbook-cmdrun
```

You also have to activate the preprocessor, put this in your `book.toml` file:
```toml
[preprocessor.cmdrun]
```

> :warning: This preprocessor presents a security risk, as arbitrary commands can be run. Be careful with the commands you run.
> To list all the commands that will be run within an mdbook, you can run the following command:
> ```sh
> grep -r '<!-- cmdrun' . | sed 's/.*<!-- cmdrun \(.*\) -->.*/\1/'
> ``````


## How to

Let's say we have these two files:

Markdown file: file.md
```markdown
# Title

<!-- cmdrun seq 1 10 -->

<!-- cmdrun python3 script.py -->

```

Python file: script.py
```python
def main():
    print("## Generated subtitle")
    print("  This comes from the script.py file")
    print("  Since I'm in a scripting language,")
    print("  I can compute whatever I want")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

```

The preprocessor will call seq then python3, and will produce the resulting file:

```markdown
# Title

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

## Generated subtitle
  This comes from the script.py file
  Since I'm in a scripting language,
  I can compute whatever I want


```

## Details

When the pattern `<!-- cmdrun $1 -->\n` or `<!-- cmdrun $1 -->` is encountered, the command `$1` will be run using the shell `sh` like this: `sh -c $1`.
Also the working directory is the directory where the pattern was found (not root).
The command invoked must take no inputs (stdin is not used), but a list of command lines arguments and must produce output in stdout, stderr is ignored.

As of July 2023, mdbook-cmdrun runs on Windows platforms using the `cmd` shell!

## Examples

The following is valid:

````markdown

<!-- cmdrun python3 generate_table.py -->

```rust
<!-- cmdrun cat program.rs -->
```

```diff
<!-- cmdrun diff a.rs b.rs -->
```

```console
<!-- cmdrun ls -l . -->
```

## Example of inline use inside a table
````markdown
Item | Price | # In stock
---|---|---
Juicy Apples | <!-- cmdrun node price.mjs apples --> | *<!-- cmdrun node quantity.mjs apples  -->*
Bananas | *<!-- cmdrun node price.mjs bananas -->* | <!-- cmdrun node quantity.mjs bananas -->
````

Which gets rendered as:
````markdown
Item | Price | # In stock
---|---|---
Juicy Apples | 1.99 | *7*
Bananas | *1.89* | 5234
````

Some more examples are implemented, and are used as regression tests. You can find them [here](https://github.com/FauconFan/mdbook-cmdrun/tree/master/tests/regression/).
At the moment of writing, there are examples using:
- Shell
- Bash script
- Batch script
- Python3
- Node
- Rust


## Contributors

I would like to thank [@exsjabe](https://github.com/exsjabe) for his valuable help with integrating Windows support and inline cmdrun calls.

Current version: 0.7.1  
License: MIT