How Can I Effectively Capture stdout from a `system()` Command in C/C ?

Capturing stdout from a system() Command Effectively

When utilizing the system() function to launch an external application, such as "ls", it may be desirable to capture its output in real-time for further processing. To achieve this in C/C , consider the following optimal approach:

The popen() and pclose() functions, as documented in the popen manual, provide a robust mechanism for capturing stdout/stderr from external commands. Here's a code example:

#include <stdio.h>

FILE *fp;
char buffer[1024];

fp = popen("ls", "r");
while (fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), fp) != NULL) {
  // Process the stdout line
}
pclose(fp);

This code snippet opens a pipe to the "ls" command and iterates over each line of output, sending it for further processing. Once the external command completes, pclose() closes the pipe and releases resources.

By employing this technique, you can effectively capture stdout from your external applications, ensuring seamless integration with your C/C code.

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