Positional Arguments

Positional arguments let you pass values to recipes without named parameters.

Basic Usage

Access arguments with {{$1}}, {{$2}}, etc.:

task greet:
    echo "Hello, {{$1}}!"

$ jake greet World
Hello, World!

Multiple Arguments

Access each argument by position:

task deploy:
    echo "Deploying {{$1}} to {{$2}}"

$ jake deploy v1.0.0 production
Deploying v1.0.0 to production

All Arguments

Use {{$@}} to access all arguments at once:

task echo-all:
    echo "Arguments: {{$@}}"

$ jake echo-all a b c d
Arguments: a b c d

With Named Parameters

Positional arguments work alongside named parameters:

task deploy env="staging":
    echo "Deploying to {{env}} with args: {{$@}}"

$ jake deploy env=production extra-flag
Deploying to production with args: extra-flag

Forwarding to Commands

Pass all arguments to another command:

task npm:
    npm {{$@}}

$ jake npm install lodash
# Runs: npm install lodash

Conditional Handling

Check if arguments were provided:

task greet:
    @if eq("{{$1}}", "")
        echo "Hello, stranger!"
    @else
        echo "Hello, {{$1}}!"
    @end

Syntax Notes

• Use {{$1}}, {{$2}}, etc. for specific positions (1-indexed)
• Use {{$@}} for all arguments as a single string
• Do not add spaces inside braces - {{$1}} works, {{ $1 }} does not
• Arguments are whitespace-separated on the command line

See Also

• Variables - Named variable expansion
• Tasks - Recipe parameters with defaults