Skip to main content
Script - vm - Node documentation
class Script

Usage in Deno

import { Script } from "node:vm";
<div class="alert alert-warning"><div><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="14" height="14" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"> <path stroke="none" d="M0 0h24v24H0z" fill="none" /> <path d="M12 9v4" /> <path d="M10.363 3.591l-8.106 13.534a1.914 1.914 0 0 0 1.636 2.871h16.214a1.914 1.914 0 0 0 1.636 -2.87l-8.106 -13.536a1.914 1.914 0 0 0 -3.274 0z" /> <path d="M12 16h.01" /> </svg> Deno compatibility</div><div><p> The <code>importModuleDynamically</code> parameter is not supported. The <code>runInContext</code> method does not support break on <code>SIGINT</code>.</p> </div></div>

Instances of the vm.Script class contain precompiled scripts that can be executed in specific contexts.

Constructors

new
Script(
code: string,
options?: ScriptOptions | string,
)

Properties

abstract
cachedData: Buffer | undefined
deprecated
abstract
cachedDataProduced: boolean | undefined
abstract
cachedDataRejected: boolean | undefined

When cachedData is supplied to create the vm.Script, this value will be set to either true or false depending on acceptance of the data by V8. Otherwise the value is undefined.

abstract
sourceMapURL: string | undefined

When the script is compiled from a source that contains a source map magic comment, this property will be set to the URL of the source map.

import vm from 'node:vm';

const script = new vm.Script(`
function myFunc() {}
//# sourceMappingURL=sourcemap.json
`);

console.log(script.sourceMapURL);
// Prints: sourcemap.json

Methods

Creates a code cache that can be used with the Script constructor's cachedData option. Returns a Buffer. This method may be called at any time and any number of times.

The code cache of the Script doesn't contain any JavaScript observable states. The code cache is safe to be saved along side the script source and used to construct new Script instances multiple times.

Functions in the Script source can be marked as lazily compiled and they are not compiled at construction of the Script. These functions are going to be compiled when they are invoked the first time. The code cache serializes the metadata that V8 currently knows about the Script that it can use to speed up future compilations.

const script = new vm.Script(`
function add(a, b) {
  return a + b;
}

const x = add(1, 2);
`);

const cacheWithoutAdd = script.createCachedData();
// In `cacheWithoutAdd` the function `add()` is marked for full compilation
// upon invocation.

script.runInThisContext();

const cacheWithAdd = script.createCachedData();
// `cacheWithAdd` contains fully compiled function `add()`.
runInContext(
contextifiedObject: Context,
): any

Runs the compiled code contained by the vm.Script object within the given contextifiedObject and returns the result. Running code does not have access to local scope.

The following example compiles code that increments a global variable, sets the value of another global variable, then execute the code multiple times. The globals are contained in the context object.

import vm from 'node:vm';

const context = {
  animal: 'cat',
  count: 2,
};

const script = new vm.Script('count += 1; name = "kitty";');

vm.createContext(context);
for (let i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
  script.runInContext(context);
}

console.log(context);
// Prints: { animal: 'cat', count: 12, name: 'kitty' }

Using the timeout or breakOnSigint options will result in new event loops and corresponding threads being started, which have a non-zero performance overhead.

First contextifies the given contextObject, runs the compiled code contained by the vm.Script object within the created context, and returns the result. Running code does not have access to local scope.

The following example compiles code that sets a global variable, then executes the code multiple times in different contexts. The globals are set on and contained within each individual context.

import vm from 'node:vm';

const script = new vm.Script('globalVar = "set"');

const contexts = [{}, {}, {}];
contexts.forEach((context) => {
  script.runInNewContext(context);
});

console.log(contexts);
// Prints: [{ globalVar: 'set' }, { globalVar: 'set' }, { globalVar: 'set' }]

Runs the compiled code contained by the vm.Script within the context of the current global object. Running code does not have access to local scope, but does have access to the current global object.

The following example compiles code that increments a global variable then executes that code multiple times:

import vm from 'node:vm';

global.globalVar = 0;

const script = new vm.Script('globalVar += 1', { filename: 'myfile.vm' });

for (let i = 0; i < 1000; ++i) {
  script.runInThisContext();
}

console.log(globalVar);

// 1000