CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cshellvim
Zac
Zac

Reputation: 2081

open vim from C system command

I am noobie with C.

I've seen system() and fork() and execv() stuff, but I do not think they are what I need ( or they just do not work )

I just want to my C program to open vim immediately of a file path to edit, then i can quit vim and the program continues, in my case it will just exit.

Think like git commit, it opens vim for me then when I save+exit it sends the commit.

Any ideas?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 302

Answers (2)

Luis Colorado
Luis Colorado

Reputation: 12708

System(3) will do the work, but beware that if you call your program with the input/output redirected not to a terminal, this will propagate to the execution of vim and it will not work.

vim(3) requires that the input and output are directed to a terminal line, it cannot work on redirected input, so the best way to call it should be (with system()):

system("/usr/bin/vim file </dev/tty >/dev/tty");

The redirection clauses specify that the input and the output be redirected to the session controlling terminal, so you'll get it working even if you have redirected standard input/output in the main program.

Upvotes: 2

Zac
Zac

Reputation: 2081

system() is what I was looking for, I was using it incorrectly, but it's simple just use:

system("vim path/to/file.txt");

will open vim of current directy and work like expected ( like git commit )

Upvotes: 2

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