Process.start: how to get the output?

Question

I would like to run an external command line program from my Mono/.NET app. For example, I would like to run mencoder. Is it possible:

1. To get

Answer 1

You can process your output synchronously or asynchronously.

1. Synchronous example

static void runCommand()
{
    Process process = new Process();
    process.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
    process.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c DIR"; // Note the /c command (*)
    process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    process.Start();
    //* Read the output (or the error)
    string output = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
    Console.WriteLine(output);
    string err = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
    Console.WriteLine(err);
    process.WaitForExit();
}

Note that it's better to process both output and errors: they must be handled separately.

(*) For some commands (here StartInfo.Arguments) you must add the /c directive, otherwise the process freezes in the WaitForExit().

2. Asynchronous example

static void runCommand() 
{
    //* Create your Process
    Process process = new Process();
    process.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
    process.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c DIR";
    process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    //* Set your output and error (asynchronous) handlers
    process.OutputDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(OutputHandler);
    process.ErrorDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(OutputHandler);
    //* Start process and handlers
    process.Start();
    process.BeginOutputReadLine();
    process.BeginErrorReadLine();
    process.WaitForExit();
}

static void OutputHandler(object sendingProcess, DataReceivedEventArgs outLine) 
{
    //* Do your stuff with the output (write to console/log/StringBuilder)
    Console.WriteLine(outLine.Data);
}

If you don't need to do complicate operations with the output, you can bypass the OutputHandler method, just adding the handlers directly inline:

//* Set your output and error (asynchronous) handlers
process.OutputDataReceived += (s, e) => Console.WriteLine(e.Data);
process.ErrorDataReceived += (s, e) => Console.WriteLine(e.Data);