# How to execute a shell command using Node.js

> Learn how to run a shell command from a Node.js script by importing the child_process module and calling child.exec() with the command you want to run.

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2023-01-17 | Topics: [Node.js](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/node/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/how-to-execute-a-shell-command-using-nodejs/

Here’s how I ran a shell command from a [Node.js](https://flaviocopes.com/nodejs/) script.

First I imported `child` from `child_process`:

```javascript
import * as child from 'node:child_process'

//or 

const child = require('node:child_process')
```

Then you can call `child.exec()` like this:

```javascript
child.exec(`mkdir test`)
```