Skill: Node v24 Windows Escape

Purpose

On Windows with Node.js v24 and bash-like shells (Git Bash, WSL, MSYS2), using node -e with expressions containing !== or != causes silent failures. The ! character triggers bash history expansion, which either silently corrupts the command or causes an obscure error unrelated to the actual code.

Triggers

• Platform is Windows
• A node -e command is about to be executed
• The expression contains !==, !=, or any ! character

Actions

1. Option A (preferred): Write the code to a temporary .js file and execute it with node temp.js instead of node -e
2. Option B: Escape the ! character: use \!== instead of !==
3. Option C: Use single quotes instead of double quotes around the expression (works in Git Bash, not in CMD)

# FAILS silently:
node -e "if (x !== 'y') console.log('different')"

# WORKS - temporary file:
echo "if (x !== 'y') console.log('different')" > /tmp/check.js && node /tmp/check.js

# WORKS - escaped:
node -e "if (x \!== 'y') console.log('different')"

Errors Prevented

• Silent script failure: The command exits with code 0 but produces no output or wrong output. The ! is interpreted by bash as history expansion before Node.js sees it, so the actual code executed is different from what was written. No error message is shown — the command just doesn't do what you expect.
• Obscure bash error: In some configurations, you get bash: !==: event not found which is confusing when you're writing JavaScript, not bash.

Restrictions

• This applies specifically to bash-like shells on Windows (Git Bash, MSYS2, WSL bash). CMD and PowerShell handle ! differently.
• In PowerShell, ! is not a special character, so node -e works normally.
• For complex expressions, always prefer temporary files over -e — it's more readable and debuggable regardless of platform.