NAME¶

exec - Invoke subprocesses

SYNOPSIS¶

exec ?switches? arg ?arg ...? ?&?

DESCRIPTION¶

This command treats its arguments as the specification of one or more subprocesses to execute. The arguments take the form of a standard shell pipeline where each arg becomes one word of a command, and each distinct command becomes a subprocess. The result of the command is the standard output of the final subprocess in the pipeline, interpreted using the system encoding; to use any other encoding (especially including binary data), the pipeline must be opened, configured and read explicitly.

If the initial arguments to exec start with - then they are treated as command-line switches and are not part of the pipeline specification. The following switches are currently supported:

-ignorestderr

Stops the exec command from treating the output of messages to the pipeline's standard error channel as an error case.

-keepnewline

Retains a trailing newline in the pipeline's output. Normally a trailing newline will be deleted.

--

Marks the end of switches. The argument following this one will be treated as the first arg even if it starts with a -.

If an arg (or pair of args) has one of the forms described below then it is used by exec to control the flow of input and output among the subprocess(es). Such arguments will not be passed to the subprocess(es). In forms such as “< fileName”, fileName may either be in a separate argument from “<” or in the same argument with no intervening space (i.e. “<fileName”).

|

Separates distinct commands in the pipeline. The standard output of the preceding command will be piped into the standard input of the next command.

|&

Separates distinct commands in the pipeline. Both standard output and standard error of the preceding command will be piped into the standard input of the next command. This form of redirection overrides forms such as 2> and >&.

< fileName

The file named by fileName is opened and used as the standard input for the first command in the pipeline.

<@ fileId

FileId must be the identifier for an open file, such as the return value from a previous call to open. It is used as the standard input for the first command in the pipeline. FileId must have been opened for reading.

<< value

Value is passed to the first command as its standard input.

> fileName

Standard output from the last command is redirected to the file named fileName, overwriting its previous contents.

2> fileName

Standard error from all commands in the pipeline is redirected to the file named fileName, overwriting its previous contents.

>& fileName

Both standard output from the last command and standard error from all commands are redirected to the file named fileName, overwriting its previous contents.

>> fileName

Standard output from the last command is redirected to the file named fileName, appending to it rather than overwriting it.

2>> fileName

Standard error from all commands in the pipeline is redirected to the file named fileName, appending to it rather than overwriting it.

>>& fileName

Both standard output from the last command and standard error from all commands are redirected to the file named fileName, appending to it rather than overwriting it.

>@ fileId

FileId must be the identifier for an open file, such as the return value from a previous call to open. Standard output from the last command is redirected to fileId's file, which must have been opened for writing.

2>@ fileId

FileId must be the identifier for an open file, such as the return value from a previous call to open. Standard error from all commands in the pipeline is redirected to fileId's file. The file must have been opened for writing.

2>@1 

Standard error from all commands in the pipeline is redirected to the command result. This operator is only valid at the end of the command pipeline.

>&@ fileId

FileId must be the identifier for an open file, such as the return value from a previous call to open. Both standard output from the last command and standard error from all commands are redirected to fileId's file. The file must have been opened for writing.

If standard output has not been redirected then the exec command returns the standard output from the last command in the pipeline, unless “2>@1” was specified, in which case standard error is included as well. If any of the commands in the pipeline exit abnormally or are killed or suspended, then exec will return an error and the error message will include the pipeline's output followed by error messages describing the abnormal terminations; the -errorcode return option will contain additional information about the last abnormal termination encountered. If any of the commands writes to its standard error file and that standard error is not redirected and -ignorestderr is not specified, then exec will return an error; the error message will include the pipeline's standard output, followed by messages about abnormal terminations (if any), followed by the standard error output.

If the last character of the result or error message is a newline then that character is normally deleted from the result or error message. This is consistent with other Tcl return values, which do not normally end with newlines. However, if -keepnewline is specified then the trailing newline is retained.

If standard input is not redirected with “<”, “<<” or “<@” then the standard input for the first command in the pipeline is taken from the application's current standard input.

If the last arg is “&” then the pipeline will be executed in background. In this case the exec command will return a list whose elements are the process identifiers for all of the subprocesses in the pipeline. The standard output from the last command in the pipeline will go to the application's standard output if it has not been redirected, and error output from all of the commands in the pipeline will go to the application's standard error file unless redirected.

The first word in each command is taken as the command name; tilde-substitution is performed on it, and if the result contains no slashes then the directories in the PATH environment variable are searched for an executable by the given name. If the name contains a slash then it must refer to an executable reachable from the current directory. No “glob” expansion or other shell-like substitutions are performed on the arguments to commands.

PORTABILITY ISSUES¶

Windows (all versions)

Reading from or writing to a socket, using the “@ fileId” notation, does not work. When reading from a socket, a 16-bit DOS application will hang and a 32-bit application will return immediately with end-of-file. When either type of application writes to a socket, the information is instead sent to the console, if one is present, or is discarded.

% exec my-echo.cmd {test&whoami}


  test


  mylogin
% exec my-echo.cmd "ENV X:%X%"


  ENV X: CONTENT OF X

Unix (including Mac OS X)

The exec command is fully functional and works as described.

UNIX EXAMPLES¶

Here are some examples of the use of the exec command on Unix. To execute a simple program and get its result:

exec uname -a

set status 0
if {[catch {exec grep foo bar.txt} results options]} {


    set details [dict get $options -errorcode]


    if {[lindex $details 0] eq "CHILDSTATUS"} {


        set status [lindex $details 2]


    } else {


        # Some other error; regenerate it to let caller handle


        return -options $options -level 0 $results


    }
}

try {


    set results [exec grep foo bar.txt]


    set status 0
} trap CHILDSTATUS {results options} {


    set status [lindex [dict get $options -errorcode] 2]
}

awk '{sum += $1} END {print sum}' numbers.list

exec awk {{sum += $1} END {print sum}} numbers.list

exec ls -l {*}[glob *.tcl]

set lprScript [get from user...]
set postscriptData [generate somehow...]
exec $env(SHELL) -c $lprScript << $postscriptData

WINDOWS EXAMPLES¶

Here are some examples of the use of the exec command on Windows. To start an instance of notepad editing a file without waiting for the user to finish editing the file:

exec notepad myfile.txt &

To print a text file using notepad:

exec notepad /p myfile.txt

exec cmp.bat somefile.c -o somefile

@gcc %*

@gcc %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

exec {*}[auto_execok dir] *.tcl

set secureDir "~/Desktop/Secure Directory"
file mkdir $secureDir
exec CIPHER /e /s:[file nativename $secureDir]

SEE ALSO¶

error(n), file(n), open(n)

KEYWORDS¶

execute, pipeline, redirection, subprocess