How to write multiple lines of code in Node REPL

Node v6.4 has an editor mode. At the repl prompt type .editor and you can input multiple lines.

example

$ node                                                                                                   > .editor// Entering editor mode (^D to finish, ^C to cancel)const fn = there => `why hello ${there}`;fn('multiline');// hit ^D 'why hello multiline'> // 'block' gets evaluated and back in single line mode.

Here are the docs on all the special repl commandshttps://nodejs.org/api/repl.html#repl_commands_and_special_keys

You can use if(1){ to start a block that will not finish until you enter }. It will print the value of the last line of the block.

> {... var foo = "foo";... console.log(foo);... }fooundefined

In multiline mode you miss out on a lot of REPL niceties such as autocompletion and immediate notification of syntax errors. If you get stuck in multiline mode due to some syntax error within the block, use ^C to return to the normal prompt.

jhnstn's solution is perfect, but in case you are looking for other alternatives, you can put the code inside a multiline string and then eval it like so:

> let myLongCode = `... let a = 1;... let b = 2;... console.log(a + b);... `;> eval(myLongCode)> 3

Of course this is a hack ;)