NAME

system − issue a shell command

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

int system (string)
char ∗string;

DESCRIPTION

system causes the string to be given to sh(1) as input, as if the string had been typed as a command at a terminal. The current process waits until the shell has completed, then returns the exit status of the shell.

FILES

/bin/sh

SEE ALSO

exec(2), sh(1)

DIAGNOSTICS

system forks to create a child process that in turn exec’s /bin/sh in order to execute string. If the fork or exec fails, system returns a negative value and sets errno.

September 02, 1992