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 Logic on Arguments

Positional args ({{$1}}, {{$2}}) do not work inside @if condition expressions. Condition strings are not pre-expanded, so eq("{{$1}}", "") looks up a variable literally named $1 (not found), always resolves to empty string, and makes the condition useless.

Use named parameters instead. Named parameters are stored in the variables map and work correctly with all condition functions:

# Works: named parameter used in condition
task greet name="stranger":
    @if eq(name, stranger)
        echo "No name given, using default"
    @else
        echo "Hello, {{name}}!"
    @end

$ jake greet
No name given, using default

$ jake greet name=Alice
Hello, Alice!

Named parameters also support eq(), neq(), exists(), and any other condition function.

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