How to get back to the command line after launching a Node.js script?

Question

I'm on a Mac OS X 10.6.7.

I started a node.js script, which starts an HTTP server.

The problem is that I lost the command line, it looks like this:

$me cd directory
$me node test.js
Message from test.js: Server is running on localhost
..|

| = indicates the caret

It's possible to write but I'm unable to run any code, it's like writing a plain string, how can I get back to the commmand line?

Sorry I'm really noob in terminal :)

Solution 1

Press Ctrl+C to terminate the program and get back to the shell prompt.

If you want a program to run in the background and return you to a shell prompt, append an ampersand (&) to the end of the command. For example:

node test.js &

Solution 2

Just open a new tab by pressing Cmd-T, or a new window (using Cmd-N). You want to get warning/error messages that program sends to your terminal.

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You can also use screen to get multiple... er... terminals in a single tab/window.

Press Ctrl-A Ctrl-C to create a new terminal, Ctrl-A Ctrl-N or Ctrl-A Ctrl-P (repeatedly) to go to the next and previous terminals. Type exit in all screen terminals to leave.

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Regarding node: Check the documentation -- it should be possible to start it as a background server.

Comments

[Chris Nava]

If you want to keep it running press [ctrl] + [z] then type bg

[Dan Rosenstark]

Thanks @ChrisNava I never knew that you could do bg and fg without using %1 (or %something). Great point!