nodeJS exec does not work for "cd " shell cmd

Question

var sys = require('sys'),
    exec = require('child_process').exec;

exec("cd /home/ubuntu/distro", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
        console.log("cd: " + err + " : "  + stdout);
        exec("pwd", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
            console.log("pwd: " + err + " : " + stdout);
            exec("git status", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
                console.log("git status returned " ); console.log(err);
            })
        })
    })

---

cd: null :

pwd: null : /

git status returned 
{ [Error: Command failed: fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git ] killed: false, code: 128, signal: null }

---

nodeJS exec does not work for "cd " shell cmd. as you see below, pwd works, git status is trying to work but fails because it is not executed in a git directory, but cd cmd fails stopping further successful execution of other cmds. Tried in nodeJS shell as well as nodeJS+ExpressJS webserver.

Answer 1

Each command is executed in a separate shell, so the first cd only affects that shell process which then terminates. If you want to run git in a particular directory, just have Node set the path for you:

exec('git status', {cwd: '/home/ubuntu/distro'}, /* ... */);

cwd (current working directory) is one of many options available for exec.