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

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 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

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;
}