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

C++ stream implemention of waqas's answer:

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

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 buffer;
            std::unique_ptr 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 '' 2>&1 > /dev/null

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

sh -c '' 2>&1