tsc don't create a bunch of .js files in my project. Put them in dist

Question

I want tsc to compile all the .ts files to .js files, then put them somewhere else.

My tsconfig has the option "outDir": "./dist",.

I ran a command targeted at my core file tsc ./src/server.ts.

How do I make tsc not create a bunch of js files all over the place and put them in the dist instead?

EDIT: I figured out what I was doing wrong. Is there any way to tell typescript (perhaps on a global scale) to never, ever, ever make a bunch of in place js files? It's a real hassle to accidentally do that then have to clean it up.

Answer 1

Don't direct tsc to any file.

Just run tsc without the ./src/server.ts

As far as I can tell, there is no way to globally disable tsc from shooting out .js files everywhere if you happen to mess up the command. The safest bet is to create a script in package.json and only ever call that.

If you need to quickly delete a bunch of js files, you can do so like this (https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/116390/132794):

MAKE SURE TO HAVE THE RIGHT DIRECTORY

find /path/to/directory -type f -name '*.js' -exec rm {} +

If you keep your src in root level directory next to node_modules, you'll have to do some extra to not delete your modules. Or just delete the whole node_modules folder, then run npm i again. If anything breaks, you were going to have to fix that anyways.