NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     system -- pass a command to the shell

LIBRARY    [Toc]    [Back]

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     system(const char *string);

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The system() function hands the argument string to the command interpreter
 sh(1).  The calling process waits for the shell to finish executing
 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    [Toc]    [Back]

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

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The system() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (``ISO C89'') and is
     expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compatible.


FreeBSD 5.2.1			 June 4, 1993			 FreeBSD 5.2.1