double quotes do not work with watchexec

[FuPeiJiang]

running watchexec --restart "cargo run" directly in cmd.exe works

[package.metadata.commands]
dev = 'watchexec --restart "cargo run"'

but when I run (in cmd.exe) cargo cmd dev I get:

> watchexec --restart "cargo run" 
'\"cargo run\"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

my understanding is that " became \" since it gives the exact output if I run \"cargo run\" in cmd.exe or "cargo run" was passed to watchexec instead of cargo run (without quotes)

using this: dev = 'watchexec --restart "cargo --quiet run"' I get:

> watchexec --restart "cargo --quiet run"" 
error: Found argument '--quiet' which wasn't expected, or isn't valid in this context

USAGE:
    watchexec <command>... --restart

For more information try --help

---

why doesn't double quotes work ? which shell is used to execute commands?

---

my current workaround:

[package.metadata.commands]
quietRun = 'cargo --quiet run'
dev = 'watchexec --restart cargo cmd quietRun'

cargo cmd dev works but it prints > cargo --quiet run every time I edit or save files

---

can you provide a way to make specific commands quiet? (not print for example > cargo --quiet run) make anything that starts with quiet_ be quiet, so this be quiet: quiet_quietRun = 'cargo --quiet run' this not be quiet: quietRun = 'cargo --quiet run'

but this will be slower since cargo cmd quietRun will be run every time. instead of directly cargo --quiet run

[voidpumpkin]

I am running into a problem related to this issue also. Im using cargo-watch and having trouble running things.

Examples

Cargo.toml

[package.metadata.commands]
build = "wasm-pack build --target web --out-name wasm --out-dir ./static/build"
start = "miniserve ./static --index index.html"

When adding this command and running it

dev = "cargo watch -s 'cargo cmd build && cargo cmd start'"

output:

> cargo watch -s 'cargo cmd build && cargo cmd start'
error: Found argument 'cmd' which wasn't expected, or isn't valid in this context

USAGE:
    cargo watch [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

For more information try --help

Same thing happens with:

dev = "cargo watch -s 'cargo cmd build'"

output:

> cargo watch -s 'cargo cmd build'
error: Found argument 'cmd' which wasn't expected, or isn't valid in this context

USAGE:
    cargo watch [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

For more information try --help

Or even using -x

dev = "cargo watch -x 'cargo cmd build'"

output:

> cargo watch -x 'cmd build'
> cargo watch -x 'cmd build'
error: Found argument 'build'' which wasn't expected, or isn't valid in this context

USAGE:
    cargo watch [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

For more information try --help

🤔 All mentioned commands work if they are run by hand in command line instead using cargo cmd dev .

Workaround

The only way I can workaround this is to avoid commas completely. In my case i just had to run an arbitrary command:

[package.metadata.commands]
dev = "cargo watch -- cargo cmd build-and-start" # Solution
build-and-start = "cargo cmd build && cargo cmd start " # Simply needed because i cant use && in the command
build = "wasm-pack build --target web --out-name wasm --out-dir ./static/build"
start = "miniserve ./static --index index.html"