How to create a "rebuild" task in gulp? - node.js

Question

gulp.task('build', function () {
// Build, generate files...
});
gulp.task('clear', function () {
// Delete generated files.
});
gulp.task('rebuild', function () {
// First: clear
// Then: build
});
In most case, "build" task doesn't need previous generated files to be removed (which slows the build process).
But there is times when I want to run "clear" and "build" task in one command:
Of course "rebuild" task depends on "clear" and "build", but if I use dependency hint like
gulp.task('rebuild', ['clear', 'build']);
the two tasks run asynchronously, which results in unexpected problem!
The easy way to solve this problem is run:
gulp clear
gulp build
but a single command
gulp rebuild
is easier, right? :P
By the way, gulp.series() has been deprecated...

Answer 1

It's not perfect but should work. Extract build task into a function. Then excute in the build and rebuild tasks.
var build = function() {
return gulp.src().concat();
}
gulp.task('build', function () {
return build();
});
gulp.task('clear', function () {
// Delete generated files.
});
gulp.task('rebuild', ['clear'], function () {
return build();
});

Answer 2

My solution isn't via Gulp as you requested, but NPM may be a better choice since you probably have NPM right there handy. All you're trying to do is save a few keystrokes.
Add an NPM script "rg" (rebuild-gulp) which does what you need:
"scripts": {
"rg": "gulp clear && gulp build"
}
Invoke with npm run rg