How to use the command 'hexo' (with examples)

Hexo is a fast, simple, and powerful blog framework that allows users to generate static websites with ease. This command-line tool offers various use cases for creating and managing a Hexo website. In this article, we will explore each of these use cases and provide examples along the way.

Use case 1: Initializing a website

Code:

hexo init path/to/directory

Motivation: Initializing a website is the first step in starting a Hexo project. By using the ‘hexo init’ command, we can create the necessary file structure and configuration files for our website.

Explanation:

• hexo init: This command initializes a new Hexo website.
• path/to/directory: This argument specifies the directory where the website will be created. Replace ‘path/to/directory’ with the actual path to your desired directory.

Example output:

INFO  Start scaffolding
INFO  Copying files...
INFO  Finish scaffolding

Use case 2: Creating a new article

Code:

hexo new layout title

Motivation: Creating new articles allows us to add content to our Hexo website. By using the ‘hexo new’ command, we can generate a new Markdown file for our article, along with the necessary front-matter.

Explanation:

• hexo new: This command generates a new article.
• layout: This argument specifies the layout template for the article. Hexo provides various built-in layouts like ‘post’, ‘page’, etc.
• title: This argument specifies the title of the article.

Example output:

INFO  Created: path/to/article.md

Use case 3: Generating static files

Code:

hexo generate

Motivation: Generating static files is essential to preview and publish our website. By using the ‘hexo generate’ command, Hexo will compile our articles, layouts, and other assets, and generate a static version of our website.

Explanation:

• hexo generate: This command compiles and generates static files for the Hexo website.

Example output:

INFO  Start generating
INFO  Generated: path/to/article/index.html
INFO  Generated: path/to/another-article/index.html
INFO  Generated: ... (other generated files)
INFO  Generated: index.html
INFO  Finish generating

Use case 4: Starting a local server

Code:

hexo server

Motivation: Starting a local server allows us to view our website in a browser during development. By using the ‘hexo server’ command, Hexo starts a local server that serves our generated static files and updates the content automatically as we make changes.

Explanation:

• hexo server: This command starts a local server for the Hexo website.

Example output:

INFO  Hexo is running at http://localhost:4000/. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Use case 5: Deploying the website

Code:

hexo deploy

Motivation: Deploying the website makes it available for public access. By using the ‘hexo deploy’ command, Hexo pushes the generated static files to the configured deployment destination (e.g., GitHub Pages, GitLab Pages, etc.).

Explanation:

• hexo deploy: This command deploys the Hexo website to the configured deployment destination.

Example output:

INFO  Deploying: Git
INFO  Clearing .deploy_git folder...
INFO  Copying files from public folder...
INFO  Successfully deployed to Git

Use case 6: Cleaning the cache and generated files

Code:

hexo clean

Motivation: Cleaning the cache and generated files is useful when we want to remove all the temporary files and start fresh. By using the ‘hexo clean’ command, Hexo deletes the cache file (‘db.json’) and the generated static files (‘public/’).

Explanation:

• hexo clean: This command cleans the cache file and generated files.

Example output:

INFO  Deleted database.
INFO  Deleted public folder.

Conclusion:

The ‘Hexo’ command-line tool provides various use cases for creating, managing, and deploying a Hexo website. By familiarizing ourselves with these use cases, we can efficiently build and maintain our own blogs or websites using Hexo.