[ Operating System | Reference Manual | Alphabetic Index ]

system(+ShellCommand)

The string or atom ShellCommand is passed as a command to the operating system, and the command is executed there (it is a synonym for sh/1).
ShellCommand
String or atom.

Description

Used to send a command ShellCommand to the operating system. The command uses the streams input, output and error as the UNIX streams stdin, stdout and stderr respectively. ECLiPSe -specific streams, like null or a string stream, can not be used.

Modes and Determinism

Fail Conditions

Fails if the Shell couldn't be executed or if the command returned a non-zero status

Exceptions

(4) instantiation fault
ShellCommand is not instantiated.
(5) type error
ShellCommand is instantiated, but not to a string or atom.

Examples

Success:
      [eclipse]: system('ls -F').
      file1       dir1/
      yes.

      [eclipse]: system(date).
      Fri Aug  25 12:00:00 MET DST 1989
      yes.

      [eclipse]: system("cd ..").
      yes.

      [eclipse]: system('which eclipse').
      /home/user/eclipse
      yes.

Error:
      system(S).                     (Error 4).
      system(40).                    (Error 5).



See Also

exec / 2, exec / 3, exec_group / 3, setenv / 2, sh / 1, wait / 2