How do I execute a command and get the output of the command within C++ using POSIX?

I am looking for a way to get the output of a command when it is run from within a C++ program. I have looked at using the system() function, but that will just execute a command. Here's an example of what I'm looking for:

std::string result = system("./some_command");

I need to run an arbitrary command and get its output. I've looked at boost.org, but I have not found anything that will give me what I need.

#include <cstdio>
#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <string>
#include <array>

std::string exec(const char* cmd) {
    std::array<char, 128> buffer;
    std::string result;
    std::unique_ptr<FILE, decltype(&pclose)> pipe(popen(cmd, "r"), pclose);
    if (!pipe) {
        throw std::runtime_error("popen() failed!");
    }
    while (fgets(buffer.data(), buffer.size(), pipe.get()) != nullptr) {
        result += buffer.data();
    }
    return result;
}

Pre-C++11 version:

#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string>

std::string exec(const char* cmd) {
    char buffer[128];
    std::string result = "";
    FILE* pipe = popen(cmd, "r");
    if (!pipe) throw std::runtime_error("popen() failed!");
    try {
        while (fgets(buffer, sizeof buffer, pipe) != NULL) {
            result += buffer;
        }
    } catch (...) {
        pclose(pipe);
        throw;
    }
    pclose(pipe);
    return result;
}

Replace popen and pclose with _popen and _pclose for Windows.

Getting both stdout and stderr (and also writing to stdin, not shown here) is easy peasy with my pstreams header, which defines iostream classes that work like popen:

#include <pstream.h>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
  // run a process and create a streambuf that reads its stdout and stderr
  redi::ipstream proc("./some_command", redi::pstreams::pstdout | redi::pstreams::pstderr);
  std::string line;
  // read child's stdout
  while (std::getline(proc.out(), line))
    std::cout << "stdout: " << line << '\n';
  # if reading stdout stopped at EOF then reset the state:
  if (proc.eof() && proc.fail())
    proc.clear();
  // read child's stderr
  while (std::getline(proc.err(), line))
    std::cout << "stderr: " << line << '\n';
} 

For Windows, popen also works, but it opens up a console window - which quickly flashes over your UI application. If you want to be a professional, it's better to disable this "flashing" (especially if the end-user can cancel it).

So here is my own version for Windows:

(This code is partially recombined from ideas written in The Code Project and MSDN samples.)

#include <windows.h>
#include <atlstr.h>
//
// Execute a command and get the results. (Only standard output)
//
CStringA ExecCmd(
    const wchar_t* cmd              // [in] command to execute
)
{
    CStringA strResult;
    HANDLE hPipeRead, hPipeWrite;

    SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES saAttr = {sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES)};
    saAttr.bInheritHandle = TRUE; // Pipe handles are inherited by child process.
    saAttr.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;

    // Create a pipe to get results from child's stdout.
    if (!CreatePipe(&hPipeRead, &hPipeWrite, &saAttr, 0))
        return strResult;

    STARTUPINFOW si = {sizeof(STARTUPINFOW)};
    si.dwFlags     = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW | STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
    si.hStdOutput  = hPipeWrite;
    si.hStdError   = hPipeWrite;
    si.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE; // Prevents cmd window from flashing.
                              // Requires STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW in dwFlags.

    PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = { 0 };

    BOOL fSuccess = CreateProcessW(NULL, (LPWSTR)cmd, NULL, NULL, TRUE, CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi);
    if (! fSuccess)
    {
        CloseHandle(hPipeWrite);
        CloseHandle(hPipeRead);
        return strResult;
    }

    bool bProcessEnded = false;
    for (; !bProcessEnded ;)
    {
        // Give some timeslice (50 ms), so we won't waste 100% CPU.
        bProcessEnded = WaitForSingleObject( pi.hProcess, 50) == WAIT_OBJECT_0;

        // Even if process exited - we continue reading, if
        // there is some data available over pipe.
        for (;;)
        {
            char buf[1024];
            DWORD dwRead = 0;
            DWORD dwAvail = 0;

            if (!::PeekNamedPipe(hPipeRead, NULL, 0, NULL, &dwAvail, NULL))
                break;

            if (!dwAvail) // No data available, return
                break;

            if (!::ReadFile(hPipeRead, buf, min(sizeof(buf) - 1, dwAvail), &dwRead, NULL) || !dwRead)
                // Error, the child process might ended
                break;

            buf[dwRead] = 0;
            strResult += buf;
        }
    } //for

    CloseHandle(hPipeWrite);
    CloseHandle(hPipeRead);
    CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
    CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
    return strResult;
} //ExecCmd

I'd use popen() (++waqas).

But sometimes you need reading and writing...

It seems like nobody does things the hard way any more.

(Assuming a Unix/Linux/Mac environment, or perhaps Windows with a POSIX compatibility layer...)

enum PIPE_FILE_DESCRIPTERS
{
  READ_FD  = 0,
  WRITE_FD = 1
};

enum CONSTANTS
{
  BUFFER_SIZE = 100
};

int
main()
{
  int       parentToChild[2];
  int       childToParent[2];
  pid_t     pid;
  string    dataReadFromChild;
  char      buffer[BUFFER_SIZE + 1];
  ssize_t   readResult;
  int       status;

  ASSERT_IS(0, pipe(parentToChild));
  ASSERT_IS(0, pipe(childToParent));

  switch (pid = fork())
  {
    case -1:
      FAIL("Fork failed");
      exit(-1);

    case 0: /* Child */
      ASSERT_NOT(-1, dup2(parentToChild[READ_FD], STDIN_FILENO));
      ASSERT_NOT(-1, dup2(childToParent[WRITE_FD], STDOUT_FILENO));
      ASSERT_NOT(-1, dup2(childToParent[WRITE_FD], STDERR_FILENO));
      ASSERT_IS(0, close(parentToChild [WRITE_FD]));
      ASSERT_IS(0, close(childToParent [READ_FD]));

      /*     file, arg0, arg1,  arg2 */
      execlp("ls", "ls", "-al", "--color");

      FAIL("This line should never be reached!!!");
      exit(-1);

    default: /* Parent */
      cout << "Child " << pid << " process running..." << endl;

      ASSERT_IS(0, close(parentToChild [READ_FD]));
      ASSERT_IS(0, close(childToParent [WRITE_FD]));

      while (true)
      {
        switch (readResult = read(childToParent[READ_FD],
                                  buffer, BUFFER_SIZE))
        {
          case 0: /* End-of-File, or non-blocking read. */
            cout << "End of file reached..."         << endl
                 << "Data received was ("
                 << dataReadFromChild.size() << "): " << endl
                 << dataReadFromChild                << endl;

            ASSERT_IS(pid, waitpid(pid, & status, 0));

            cout << endl
                 << "Child exit staus is:  " << WEXITSTATUS(status) << endl
                 << endl;

            exit(0);


          case -1:
            if ((errno == EINTR) || (errno == EAGAIN))
            {
              errno = 0;
              break;
            }
            else
            {
              FAIL("read() failed");
              exit(-1);
            }

          default:
            dataReadFromChild . append(buffer, readResult);
            break;
        }
      } /* while (true) */
  } /* switch (pid = fork())*/
}

---

You also might want to play around with select() and non-blocking reads.

fd_set          readfds;
struct timeval  timeout;

timeout.tv_sec  = 0;    /* Seconds */
timeout.tv_usec = 1000; /* Microseconds */

FD_ZERO(&readfds);
FD_SET(childToParent[READ_FD], &readfds);

switch (select (1 + childToParent[READ_FD], &readfds, (fd_set*)NULL, (fd_set*)NULL, & timeout))
{
  case 0: /* Timeout expired */
    break;

  case -1:
    if ((errno == EINTR) || (errno == EAGAIN))
    {
      errno = 0;
      break;
    }
    else
    {
      FAIL("Select() Failed");
      exit(-1);
    }

  case 1:  /* We have input */
    readResult = read(childToParent[READ_FD], buffer, BUFFER_SIZE);
    // However you want to handle it...
    break;

  default:
    FAIL("How did we see input on more than one file descriptor?");
    exit(-1);
}

Two possible approaches:

1. I don't think popen() is part of the C++ standard (it's part of POSIX from memory), but it's available on every UNIX I've worked with (and you seem to be targeting UNIX since your command is ./some_command).

2. On the off-chance that there is no popen(), you can use system("./some_command >/tmp/some_command.out");, then use the normal I/O functions to process the output file.

The following might be a portable solution. It follows standards.

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <sstream>

std::string ssystem (const char *command) {
    char tmpname [L_tmpnam];
    std::tmpnam ( tmpname );
    std::string scommand = command;
    std::string cmd = scommand + " >> " + tmpname;
    std::system(cmd.c_str());
    std::ifstream file(tmpname, std::ios::in | std::ios::binary );
    std::string result;
    if (file) {
        while (!file.eof()) result.push_back(file.get())
            ;
        file.close();
    }
    remove(tmpname);
    return result;
}

// For Cygwin

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    std::string bash = "FILETWO=/cygdrive/c/*\nfor f in $FILETWO\ndo\necho \"$f\"\ndone ";
    std::string in;
    std::string s = ssystem(bash.c_str());
    std::istringstream iss(s);
    std::string line;
    while (std::getline(iss, line))
    {
        std::cout << "LINE-> " + line + "  length: " << line.length() << std::endl;
    }
    std::cin >> in;
    return 0;
}

I couldn't figure out why popen/pclose is missing from Code::Blocks/MinGW. So I worked around the problem by using CreateProcess() and CreatePipe() instead.

Here's the solution that worked for me:

//C++11
#include <cstdio>
#include <iostream>
#include <windows.h>
#include <cstdint>
#include <deque>
#include <string>
#include <thread>

using namespace std;

int SystemCapture(
    string         CmdLine,    //Command Line
    string         CmdRunDir,  //set to '.' for current directory
	string&        ListStdOut, //Return List of StdOut
	string&        ListStdErr, //Return List of StdErr
	uint32_t&      RetCode)    //Return Exit Code
{
	int                  Success;
    SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES  security_attributes;
    HANDLE               stdout_rd = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
    HANDLE               stdout_wr = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
    HANDLE               stderr_rd = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
    HANDLE               stderr_wr = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
    PROCESS_INFORMATION  process_info;
    STARTUPINFO          startup_info;
    thread               stdout_thread;
    thread               stderr_thread;

    security_attributes.nLength              = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
    security_attributes.bInheritHandle       = TRUE;
    security_attributes.lpSecurityDescriptor = nullptr;

    if (!CreatePipe(&stdout_rd, &stdout_wr, &security_attributes, 0) ||
            !SetHandleInformation(stdout_rd, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0)) {
        return -1;
    }

    if (!CreatePipe(&stderr_rd, &stderr_wr, &security_attributes, 0) ||
            !SetHandleInformation(stderr_rd, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0)) {
		if (stdout_rd != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) CloseHandle(stdout_rd);
		if (stdout_wr != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) CloseHandle(stdout_wr);
        return -2;
    }

    ZeroMemory(&process_info, sizeof(PROCESS_INFORMATION));
    ZeroMemory(&startup_info, sizeof(STARTUPINFO));

    startup_info.cb         = sizeof(STARTUPINFO);
    startup_info.hStdInput  = 0;
    startup_info.hStdOutput = stdout_wr;
    startup_info.hStdError  = stderr_wr;

    if(stdout_rd || stderr_rd)
        startup_info.dwFlags |= STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;

    // Make a copy because CreateProcess needs to modify string buffer
    char      CmdLineStr[MAX_PATH];
    strncpy(CmdLineStr, CmdLine.c_str(), MAX_PATH);
    CmdLineStr[MAX_PATH-1] = 0;

    Success = CreateProcess(
        nullptr,
        CmdLineStr,
        nullptr,
        nullptr,
        TRUE,
        0,
        nullptr,
        CmdRunDir.c_str(),
        &startup_info,
        &process_info
	);
	CloseHandle(stdout_wr);
	CloseHandle(stderr_wr);

    if(!Success) {
        CloseHandle(process_info.hProcess);
        CloseHandle(process_info.hThread);
		CloseHandle(stdout_rd);
		CloseHandle(stderr_rd);
        return -4;
    }
	else {
        CloseHandle(process_info.hThread);
    }

    if(stdout_rd) {
        stdout_thread=thread([&]() {
            DWORD  n;
			const size_t bufsize = 1000;
			char         buffer [bufsize];
            for(;;) {
                n = 0;
                int Success = ReadFile(
				    stdout_rd,
					buffer,
					(DWORD)bufsize,
					&n,
					nullptr
				);
                printf("STDERR: Success:%d n:%d\n", Success, (int)n);
                if(!Success || n == 0)
                    break;
                string s(buffer, n);
                printf("STDOUT:(%s)\n", s.c_str());
                ListStdOut += s;
            }
            printf("STDOUT:BREAK!\n");
        });
    }

    if(stderr_rd) {
        stderr_thread=thread([&]() {
            DWORD        n;
			const size_t bufsize = 1000;
			char         buffer [bufsize];
            for(;;) {
                n = 0;
                int Success = ReadFile(
				    stderr_rd,
					buffer,
					(DWORD)bufsize,
					&n,
					nullptr
				);
                printf("STDERR: Success:%d n:%d\n", Success, (int)n);
                if(!Success || n == 0)
                    break;
                string s(buffer, n);
                printf("STDERR:(%s)\n", s.c_str());
                ListStdOut += s;
            }
            printf("STDERR:BREAK!\n");
        });
    }

    WaitForSingleObject(process_info.hProcess,    INFINITE);
    if(!GetExitCodeProcess(process_info.hProcess, (DWORD*) &RetCode))
        RetCode = -1;

    CloseHandle(process_info.hProcess);

    if(stdout_thread.joinable())
        stdout_thread.join();

    if(stderr_thread.joinable())
        stderr_thread.join();

	CloseHandle(stdout_rd);
	CloseHandle(stderr_rd);

    return 0;
}

int main()
{
    int            rc;
    uint32_t       RetCode;
	string         ListStdOut;
	string         ListStdErr;

	cout << "STARTING.\n";

    rc = SystemCapture(
        "C:\\Windows\\System32\\ipconfig.exe",    //Command Line
        ".",                                     //CmdRunDir
	    ListStdOut,                              //Return List of StdOut
	    ListStdErr,                              //Return List of StdErr
	    RetCode                                  //Return Exit Code
    );
    if (rc < 0) {
        cout << "ERROR: SystemCapture\n";
    }

    cout << "STDOUT:\n";
    cout << ListStdOut;

    cout << "STDERR:\n";
    cout << ListStdErr;

	cout << "Finished.\n";

    cout << "Press Enter to Continue";
    cin.ignore();

    return 0;
}

Take note that you can get output by redirecting output to the file and then reading it

It was shown in documentation of std::system

You can receive exit code by calling WEXITSTATUS macro.

    int status = std::system("ls -l >test.txt"); // execute the UNIX command "ls -l >test.txt"
    std::cout << std::ifstream("test.txt").rdbuf();
    std::cout << "Exit code: " << WEXITSTATUS(status) << std::endl;

Assuming POSIX, simple code to capture stdout:

#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string>
#include <vector>

std::string qx(const std::vector<std::string>& args) {
  int stdout_fds[2];
  pipe(stdout_fds);

  int stderr_fds[2];
  pipe(stderr_fds);

  const pid_t pid = fork();
  if (!pid) {
    close(stdout_fds[0]);
    dup2(stdout_fds[1], 1);
    close(stdout_fds[1]);

    close(stderr_fds[0]);
    dup2(stderr_fds[1], 2);
    close(stderr_fds[1]);

    std::vector<char*> vc(args.size() + 1, 0);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < args.size(); ++i) {
      vc[i] = const_cast<char*>(args[i].c_str());
    }

    execvp(vc[0], &vc[0]);
    exit(0);
  }

  close(stdout_fds[1]);

  std::string out;
  const int buf_size = 4096;
  char buffer[buf_size];
  do {
    const ssize_t r = read(stdout_fds[0], buffer, buf_size);
    if (r > 0) {
      out.append(buffer, r);
    }
  } while (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EINTR);

  close(stdout_fds[0]);

  close(stderr_fds[1]);
  close(stderr_fds[0]);

  int r, status;
  do {
    r = waitpid(pid, &status, 0);
  } while (r == -1 && errno == EINTR);

  return out;
}

Code contributions are welcome for more functionality:

https://github.com/ericcurtin/execxx

You can get the output after running a script using a pipe. We use pipes when we want the output of the child process.

int my_func() {
    char ch;
    FILE *fpipe;
    FILE *copy_fp;
    FILE *tmp;
    char *command = (char *)"/usr/bin/my_script my_arg";
    copy_fp = fopen("/tmp/output_file_path", "w");
    fpipe = (FILE *)popen(command, "r");
    if (fpipe) {
        while ((ch = fgetc(fpipe)) != EOF) {
            fputc(ch, copy_fp);
        }
    }
    else {
        if (copy_fp) {
            fprintf(copy_fp, "Sorry there was an error opening the file");
        }
    }
    pclose(fpipe);
    fclose(copy_fp);
    return 0;
}

So here is the script, which you want to run. Put it in a command variable with the arguments your script takes (nothing if no arguments). And the file where you want to capture the output of the script, put it in copy_fp.

So the popen runs your script and puts the output in fpipe and then you can just copy everything from that to your output file.

In this way you can capture the outputs of child processes.

And another process is you can directly put the > operator in the command only. So if we will put everything in a file while we run the command, you won't have to copy anything.

In that case, there isn't any need to use pipes. You can use just system, and it will run the command and put the output in that file.

int my_func(){
    char *command = (char *)"/usr/bin/my_script my_arg > /tmp/my_putput_file";
    system(command);
    printf("everything saved in my_output_file");
    return 0;
}

You can read YoLinux Tutorial: Fork, Exec and Process control for more information.

C++ stream implemention of waqas's answer:

#include <istream>
#include <streambuf>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstring>
#include <memory>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <string>

class execbuf : public std::streambuf {
	protected:
		std::string output;
		int_type underflow(int_type character) {
			if (gptr() < egptr()) return traits_type::to_int_type(*gptr());
			return traits_type::eof();
		}
	public:
		execbuf(const char* command) {
			std::array<char, 128> buffer;
			std::unique_ptr<FILE, decltype(&pclose)> pipe(popen(command, "r"), pclose);
			if (!pipe) {
				throw std::runtime_error("popen() failed!");
			}
			while (fgets(buffer.data(), buffer.size(), pipe.get()) != nullptr) {
				this->output += buffer.data();
			}
			setg((char*)this->output.data(), (char*)this->output.data(), (char*)(this->output.data() + this->output.size()));
		}
};

class exec : public std::istream {
	protected:
		execbuf buffer;
	public:
		exec(char* command) : std::istream(nullptr), buffer(command, fd) {
			this->rdbuf(&buffer);
		}
};

This code catches all output through stdout . If you want to catch only stderr then pass your command like this:

sh -c '<your-command>' 2>&1 > /dev/null

If you want to catch both stdout and stderr then the command should be like this:

sh -c '<your-command>' 2>&1

Command class uses system("cmd > stdout 2> stderr") to provide user with stdout and stderr, in addition to the exit code.

Test run:

./a.out 'ls .'
exit code: 0
stdout: HelloWorld
HelloWorld.c
HelloWorld.cpp
HelloWorld.dSYM
a.out
gcc_container.bash
linuxsys
macsys
test.sh

stderr: 

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <sstream>
#include <unistd.h>
using namespace std;

class Command {
    public:
        Command() {
            exit_code_ = -1;
        }

        int GetExitCode() { return exit_code_;}

        string GetStdOutStr() {return stdout_str_;}

        string GetStdErrStr() {return stderr_str_;}

        int Run(const char* cmd) {
            return Run(string(cmd));
        }

        /**
         * @brief run a given command
         * 
         * @param cmd: command string
         * @return int: the exit code of running the command
         */
        int Run(string cmd) {

            // create temp files
            char tmp_dir[] = "/tmp/stdir.XXXXXX";
            mkdtemp(tmp_dir);
            string stdout_file = string(tmp_dir) + "/stdout";
            string stderr_file = string(tmp_dir) + "/stderr";

            // execute the command "cmd > stdout_file 2> stderr_file"
            string cli = cmd + " > " + stdout_file + " 2> " + stderr_file;
            exit_code_ = system(cli.c_str());
            exit_code_ = WEXITSTATUS(exit_code_);
            stdout_str_ = File2Str(stdout_file);
            stderr_str_ = File2Str(stderr_file);

            // rid of the temp files
            remove(stdout_file.c_str());
            remove(stderr_file.c_str());
            remove(tmp_dir);

            return exit_code_;
        }

    private:
        int exit_code_;
        string stderr_str_;
        string stdout_str_;

        /**
         * @brief read a file
         * 
         * @param file_name: file path 
         * @return string the contents of the file.
         */
        string File2Str(string file_name) {
            ifstream file;
            stringstream str_stream;

            file.open(file_name);
            if (file.is_open()) {
                str_stream << file.rdbuf();
                file.close();
            }
            return str_stream.str();
        }
};

int main(int argc, const char* argv[]) {
    Command command;

    command.Run(argv[1]);
    cout << "exit code: " << command.GetExitCode() << endl;
    cout << "stdout: " << command.GetStdOutStr() << endl;
    cout << "stderr: " << command.GetStdErrStr() << endl;
    return  command.GetExitCode();
}