system() help

[GandonAD]

hello, i have a quick question about system commands. i have been having trouble with this for some time....

is it possible to save the text output of a system() command? for example, would the data from system("ipconfig") or system("tasklist") be able to be saved in a char variable? or at least a string?

thanks for the help

[Jesse]

I've tryed but it seem's to always conflict with somthing
kia might be able to help

[GandonAD]

allright...ty i'll keep checking back here

[muzhogg]

Use freopen().

Check the reference for this function here;

http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/clibrary/cstdio/freopen.html

The following short code is an example of it in use. This code redirects some of the screen output to a file called file.txt. It should compile and run, but you'll need to press a key to get it to continue processing (the output of the system("Pause") command doesn't show on screen!).

Open file.txt to see the output.

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{

    // open a file called "file.txt" and send output to it
    FILE *stream ;
    if((stream = freopen("file.txt", "w", stdout)) == NULL)
       exit(-1);

    // you WON'T see the following on the screen
    cout << "this is going to a file.txt NOT the screen\n";
   
    // you WON'T see the "Press any key to continue" message either!
    system("PAUSE");
    
    // now send the output to the screen once again;
    stream = freopen("CON", "w", stdout);

   // SO you WILL see this;
    cout << "\n\nI'm back...\n";
    // and the prompt from this;
    system("Pause");

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

I guess if you wanted to capture just the output of say system("ipconfig") you could do something like;

    FILE *stream ;
    if((stream = freopen("ipconfig.txt", "w", stdout)) == NULL)
       exit(-1);
    system("ipconfig");
    stream = freopen("CON", "w", stdout);

and then immediately open ipconfig.txt and read its contents into an array.

You could also use stringstream - see the following;

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t280688-stdout-redirection.html

But I can't help you much with this as I've never used it. Sorry :(

Regards,
Muzhogg

[Gras]

How about

system("ipconfig >> flap.txt");

This will put the output of ipconfig in flap.txt. Then you could like simply read the file into a variable. It isn't the best solution, but it works.