C++ Popen

Basic Example

#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>

#define DATA_SIZE 512
using namespace std;

int main() {
    FILE *cmdprompt;        
    char data[DATA_SIZE];
    

    cmdprompt = popen("hostname", "r");             // Creates Pipe to cmd called cmdprompt - executes hostname
        fgets(data, DATA_SIZE , cmdprompt);         // Grab data from process execution
        cout << data;                               // Print grabbed data to the screen.
     pclose(cmdprompt); 
     
    cout << "Press Enter to Continue:";
    std::cin.get();      
}

Using a String Variable in popen

popen will only use a specially formatted const char Variable - not a string Variable.

//VARIABLES
const char *tempChar;
string myString = "Hello World";



tempChar = myString.c_str();

sprintf(command, tempChar);				//formats the char to the format for a stream


cmdprompt = popen(command, "r");
	//commands while cmdprompt pipe is open
pclose(cmdprompt);