Execute a terminal command from a Cocoa app

Question

How can I execute a terminal command (like grep) from my Objective-C Cocoa application?

Answer 1

Or since Objective C is just C with some OO layer on top you can use the posix conterparts:

int execl(const char *path, const char *arg0, ..., const char *argn, (char *)0);
int execle(const char *path, const char *arg0, ..., const char *argn, (char *)0, char *const envp[]);
int execlp(const char *file, const char *arg0, ..., const char *argn, (char *)0);
int execlpe(const char *file, const char *arg0, ..., const char *argn, (char *)0, char *const envp[]);
int execv(const char *path, char *const argv[]);
int execve(const char *path, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);
int execvp(const char *file, char *const argv[]);
int execvpe(const char *file, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]); 

They are included from unistd.h header file.

Answer 2

in the spirit of sharing... this is a method I use frequently to run shell scripts. you can add a script to your product bundle (in the copy phase of the build) and then have the script be read and run at runtime. note: this code looks for the script in the privateFrameworks sub-path. warning: this could be a security risk for deployed products, but for our in-house development it is an easy way to customize simple things (like which host to rsync to...) without re-compiling the application, but just editing the shell script in the bundle.

//------------------------------------------------------
-(void) runScript:(NSString*)scriptName
{
    NSTask *task;
    task = [[NSTask alloc] init];
    [task setLaunchPath: @"/bin/sh"];

    NSArray *arguments;
    NSString* newpath = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@",[[NSBundle mainBundle] privateFrameworksPath], scriptName];
    NSLog(@"shell script path: %@",newpath);
    arguments = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:newpath, nil];
    [task setArguments: arguments];

    NSPipe *pipe;
    pipe = [NSPipe pipe];
    [task setStandardOutput: pipe];

    NSFileHandle *file;
    file = [pipe fileHandleForReading];

    [task launch];

    NSData *data;
    data = [file readDataToEndOfFile];

    NSString *string;
    string = [[NSString alloc] initWithData: data encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSLog (@"script returned:\n%@", string);    
}
//------------------------------------------------------

Edit: Included fix for NSLog problem

If you are using NSTask to run a command-line utility via bash, then you need to include this magic line to keep NSLog working:

//The magic line that keeps your log where it belongs
[task setStandardInput:[NSPipe pipe]];

In context:

NSPipe *pipe;
pipe = [NSPipe pipe];
[task setStandardOutput: pipe];
//The magic line that keeps your log where it belongs
[task setStandardInput:[NSPipe pipe]];

An explanation is here: http://www.cocoadev.com/index.pl?NSTask

Answer 3

In addition to the several excellent answers above, I use the following code to process the output of the command in the background and avoid the blocking mechanism of [file readDataToEndOfFile].

- (void)runCommand:(NSString *)commandToRun
{
    NSTask *task = [[NSTask alloc] init];
    [task setLaunchPath:@"/bin/sh"];

    NSArray *arguments = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                          @"-c" ,
                          [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@", commandToRun],
                          nil];
    NSLog(@"run command:%@", commandToRun);
    [task setArguments:arguments];

    NSPipe *pipe = [NSPipe pipe];
    [task setStandardOutput:pipe];

    NSFileHandle *file = [pipe fileHandleForReading];

    [task launch];

    [self performSelectorInBackground:@selector(collectTaskOutput:) withObject:file];
}

- (void)collectTaskOutput:(NSFileHandle *)file
{
    NSData      *data;
    do
    {
        data = [file availableData];
        NSLog(@"%@", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] );

    } while ([data length] > 0); // [file availableData] Returns empty data when the pipe was closed

    // Task has stopped
    [file closeFile];
}

Answer 4

Custos Mortem said:

I'm surprised no one really got into blocking/non-blocking call issues

For blocking/non-blocking call issues regarding NSTask read below:

asynctask.m -- sample code that shows how to implement asynchronous stdin, stdout & stderr streams for processing data with NSTask

Source code of asynctask.m is available at GitHub.

Answer 5

If the Terminal command requires Administrator Privilege (aka sudo), use AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges instead. The following will create a file named "com.stackoverflow.test" is the root directory "/System/Library/Caches".

AuthorizationRef authorizationRef;
FILE *pipe = NULL;
OSStatus err = AuthorizationCreate(nil,
                                   kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment,
                                   kAuthorizationFlagDefaults,
                                   &authorizationRef);

char *command= "/usr/bin/touch";
char *args[] = {"/System/Library/Caches/com.stackoverflow.test", nil};

err = AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges(authorizationRef,
                                         command,
                                         kAuthorizationFlagDefaults,
                                         args,
                                         &pipe); 

Answer 6

kent's article gave me a new idea. this runCommand method doesn't need a script file, just runs a command by a line:

- (NSString *)runCommand:(NSString *)commandToRun
{
    NSTask *task = [[NSTask alloc] init];
    [task setLaunchPath:@"/bin/sh"];

    NSArray *arguments = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                          @"-c" ,
                          [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@", commandToRun],
                          nil];
    NSLog(@"run command:%@", commandToRun);
    [task setArguments:arguments];

    NSPipe *pipe = [NSPipe pipe];
    [task setStandardOutput:pipe];

    NSFileHandle *file = [pipe fileHandleForReading];

    [task launch];

    NSData *data = [file readDataToEndOfFile];

    NSString *output = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    return output;
}

You can use this method like this:

NSString *output = runCommand(@"ps -A | grep mysql");