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

Question

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 jus

Answer 1

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 
#include 
//
// 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