Grunt how to run task with different arguments - gruntjs

Question

The source config example below processes files from src dir. There is src2 dir which also should be processed with the same tasks and putted to build2. What changes required in config.
module.exports = function (grunt) {
var saveLicense = require('uglify-save-license');
grunt.initConfig({
clean : {
build : {
src : ['build']
},
},
copy : {
files : {
cwd : 'src',
src : '**/*',
dest : 'build',
expand : true
}
},
...

Answer 1

Both grunt-contrib-copy and grunt-contrib-clean, like many other grunt plugins, allow multiple Targets to be specified in each Task.
For your scenario you can simply configure two Targets in the copy task (one Target to copy the src folder and another Target to copy the src2 folder).
You can also configure two Targets in the clean task (one Target to clean the build folder and another Target to clean the build2 folder).
Gruntfile.js
Your Gruntfile.js can be configured as ass follows:
module.exports = function(grunt) {
var saveLicense = require('uglify-save-license');
grunt.initConfig({
// The 'clean' task now includes two targets.
// named 'build1' and 'build2'
clean: {
build1: {
src: ['build']
},
build2: {
src: ['build2']
}
},
// The 'copy' task now includes two targets.
// named 'src1' and 'src2'
copy: {
src1: {
cwd: 'src',
src: '**/*',
dest: 'build',
expand: true
},
src2: {
cwd: 'src2',
src: '**/*',
dest: 'build2',
expand: true
}
}
// ...
});
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-copy');
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-clean');
// Registering the Targets in the Tasks....
grunt.registerTask('copySrc1', ['copy:src1']);
grunt.registerTask('cleanBuild1', ['clean:build1']);
grunt.registerTask('copySrc2', ['copy:src2']);
grunt.registerTask('cleanBuild2', ['clean:build2']);
grunt.registerTask('copyBoth', ['copy']);
grunt.registerTask('cleanBoth', ['clean']);
};
Running the Grunt Tasks
You'll notice that there are six calls to the .registerTask(...) function at the end of the snippet. Namely; copySrc1, cleanBuild1, copySrc2, cleanBuild2, copyBoth, and cleanBoth.
They allow you to run the following commands via your command line:
$ grunt copySrc1
(This will copy the src folder to the build folder)
$ grunt cleanBuild1
(This will clean the build folder)
$ grunt copySrc1
(This will copy the src2 folder to the build2 folder)
$ grunt cleanBuild2
(This will clean the build2 folder)
$ grunt copyBoth
(This will copy the src folder to the build folder and copy the src2 folder to the build2 folder)
$ grunt cleanBoth
(This will clean both the build and build2 folders)
Notes
You probably only need to keep the two .registerTask(...) functions as follows:
grunt.registerTask('copyBoth', ['copy']);
grunt.registerTask('cleanBoth', ['clean']);
However, I included the other four .registerTask(...) functions as they demonstrate how you can call a single Target inside a Task using the semicolon notation (:). For example:
grunt.registerTask('copySrc1', ['copy:src1']);
In the above snippet the ['copy:src1'] part simply runs only the Target named src1 inside the copy Task.
Whereas:
grunt.registerTask('copyBoth', ['copy']);
... does not reference any Targets in the copy task, (i.e. no semicolon notation is used), therefore all Targets will be run.
To further understand Tasks, Targets, you can read my answer to this post.
Hope that helps!