CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cshellforkexecvp
Axl
Axl

Reputation: 273

How to use execvp()

The user will read a line and i will retain the first word as a command for execvp.

Lets say he will type "cat file.txt" ... command will be cat . But i am not sure how to use this execvp(), i read some tutorials but still didn't get it.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
    char *buf;
    char command[32];
    char name[32];
    char *pointer;
    char line[80];
    printf(">");

    while((buf = readline(""))!=NULL){   
        if (strcmp(buf,"exit")==0)
        break;

        if(buf[0]!=NULL)
        add_history(buf);

        pointer = strtok(buf, " ");
        if(pointer != NULL){
            strcpy(command, pointer);
        }

        pid_t pid;

        int  status;

        if ((pid = fork()) < 0) {     
            printf("*** ERROR: forking child process failed\n");
            exit(1);
        }
        else if (pid == 0) {          
            if (execvp(command, buf) < 0) {     
                printf("*** ERROR: exec failed\n");
                exit(1);
            }
        }
        else                                  
        while (wait(&status) != pid)       
            ;
        free(buf);
        printf(">");
    }///end While
    return 0;
}

Upvotes: 26

Views: 202034

Answers (2)

AlienKevin
AlienKevin

Reputation: 3361

In cpp, you need to pay special attention to string types when using execvp:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstring>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
using namespace std;

const size_t MAX_ARGC = 15; // 1 command + # of arguments
char* argv[MAX_ARGC + 1]; // Needs +1 because of the null terminator at the end
// c_str() converts string to const char*, strdup converts const char* to char*
argv[0] = strdup(command.c_str());

// start filling up the arguments after the first command
size_t arg_i = 1;
while (cin && arg_i < MAX_ARGC) {
    string arg;
    cin >> arg;
    if (arg.empty()) {
        argv[arg_i] = nullptr;
        break;
    } else {
        argv[arg_i] = strdup(arg.c_str());
    }
    ++arg_i;
}

// Run the command with arguments
if (execvp(command.c_str(), argv) == -1) {
    // Print error if command not found
    cerr << "command '" << command << "' not found\n";
}

Reference: execlp、execvp用法與範例

Upvotes: 0

Ricky Mutschlechner
Ricky Mutschlechner

Reputation: 4409

The first argument is the file you wish to execute, and the second argument is an array of null-terminated strings that represent the appropriate arguments to the file as specified in the man page.

For example:

char *cmd = "ls";
char *argv[3];
argv[0] = "ls";
argv[1] = "-la";
argv[2] = NULL;

execvp(cmd, argv); //This will run "ls -la" as if it were a command

Upvotes: 62

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