Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
SYSTEM(3)		 BSD Library Functions Manual		     SYSTEM(3)

NAME
     system -- pass a command to the shell

LIBRARY
     Standard C	Library	(libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     system(const char *string);

DESCRIPTION
     The system() function hands the argument string to	the command inter-
     preter sh(1).  The	calling	process	waits for the shell to finish execut-
     ing the command, ignoring SIGINT and SIGQUIT, and blocking	SIGCHLD.

     If	string is a NULL pointer, system() will	return non-zero	if the command
     interpreter sh(1) is available, and zero if it is not.

     The system() function returns the exit status of the shell	as returned by
     waitpid(2), or -1 if an error occurred when invoking fork(2) or
     waitpid(2).  A return value of 127	means the execution of the shell
     failed.

SEE ALSO
     sh(1), execve(2), fork(2),	waitpid(2), popen(3)

STANDARDS
     The system() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 ("ISO C90") and is
     expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2")	compatible.

BSD				 June 4, 1993				   BSD

NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=system&sektion=3&manpath=FreeBSD+5.2-RELEASE+and+Ports>

home | help