Tcl Built-In Commands - exec manual page

  NAME
    exec - Invoke subprocess(es)
  SYNOPSIS
    exec ?switches? arg ?arg ...?
  DESCRIPTION
    -keepnewline
    --
    |
    |&
    < fileName
    <@ fileId
    << value
    > fileName
    2> fileName
    >& fileName
    >> fileName
    2>> fileName
    >>& fileName
    >@ fileId
    2>@ fileId
    >&@ fileId
  PORTABILITY ISSUES
    Windows (all versions)
    Windows NT
    Windows 95
    Windows 3.X
    Macintosh
    Unix
  SEE ALSO
  KEYWORDS

### NAME

exec - Invoke subprocess(es)

### 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.

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:

-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 arg's) 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.

>&@ 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. 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 variable 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 isn't redirected, 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 don't normally end with newlines. However, if -keepnewline is specified then the trailing newline is retained.

If standard input isn't redirected with ``<'' or ``<<'' 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 hasn't 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.

  The Tk console text widget does not provide real standard IO capabilities. Under Tk, when redirecting from standard input, all applications will see an immediate end-of-file; information redirected to standard output or standard error will be discarded.

  Either forward or backward slashes are accepted as path separators for arguments to Tcl commands. When executing an application, the path name specified for the application may also contain forward or backward slashes as path separators. Bear in mind, however, that most Windows applications accept arguments with forward slashes only as option delimiters and backslashes only in paths. Any arguments to an application that specify a path name with forward slashes will not automatically be converted to use the backslash character. If an argument contains forward slashes as the path separator, it may or may not be recognized as a path name, depending on the program.

  Additionally, when calling a 16-bit DOS or Windows 3.X application, all path names must use the short, cryptic, path format (e.g., using ``applba~1.def'' instead of ``applbakery.default'').

  Two or more forward or backward slashes in a row in a path refer to a network path. For example, a simple concatenation of the root directory c:/ with a subdirectory /windows/system will yield c://windows/system (two slashes together), which refers to the directory /system on the machine windows (and the c:/ is ignored), and is not equivalent to c:/windows/system, which describes a directory on the current computer.

Windows NT
  When attempting to execute an application, exec first searches for the name as it was specified. Then, in order, .com, .exe, and .bat are appended to the end of the specified name and it searches for the longer name. If a directory name was not specified as part of the application name, the following directories are automatically searched in order when attempting to locate the application:

    The directory from which the Tcl executable was loaded.
    The current directory.
    The Windows NT 32-bit system directory.
    The Windows NT 16-bit system directory.
    The Windows NT home directory.
    The directories listed in the path.

  In order to execute the shell builtin commands like dir and copy, the caller must prepend ``cmd.exe /c '' to the desired command.

Windows 95
  When attempting to execute an application, exec first searches for the name as it was specified. Then, in order, .com, .exe, and .bat are appended to the end of the specified name and it searches for the longer name. If a directory name was not specified as part of the application name, the following directories are automatically searched in order when attempting to locate the application:

    The directory from which the Tcl executable was loaded.
    The current directory.
    The Windows 95 system directory.
    The Windows 95 home directory.
    The directories listed in the path.

  In order to execute the shell builtin commands like dir and copy, the caller must prepend ``command.com /c '' to the desired command.

  Once a 16-bit DOS application has read standard input from a console and then quit, all subsequently run 16-bit DOS applications will see the standard input as already closed. 32-bit applications do not have this problem and will run correctly even after a 16-bit DOS application thinks that standard input is closed. There is no known workaround for this bug at this time.

  Redirection between the NUL: device and a 16-bit application does not always work. When redirecting from NUL:, some applications may hang, others will get an infinite stream of ``0x01'' bytes, and some will actually correctly get an immediate end-of-file; the behavior seems to depend upon something compiled into the application itself. When redirecting greater than 4K or so to NUL:, some applications will hang. The above problems do not happen with 32-bit applications.

  All DOS 16-bit applications are run synchronously. All standard input from a pipe to a 16-bit DOS application is collected into a temporary file; the other end of the pipe must be closed before the 16-bit DOS application begins executing. All standard output or error from a 16-bit DOS application to a pipe is collected into temporary files; the application must terminate before the temporary files are redirected to the next stage of the pipeline. This is due to a workaround for a Windows 95 bug in the implementation of pipes, and is how the Windows 95 command line interpreter handles pipes itself.

  Certain applications, such as command.com, should not be executed interactively. Applications which directly access the console window, rather than reading from their standard input and writing to their standard output may fail, hang Tcl, or even hang the system if their own private console window is not available to them.

Windows 3.X
  When attempting to execute an application, exec first searches for the name as it was specified. Then, in order, .com, .exe, and .bat are appended to the end of the specified name and it searches for the longer name. If a directory name was not specified as part of the application name, the following directories are automatically searched in order when attempting to locate the application:

    The directory from which the Tcl executable was loaded.
    The current directory.
    The Windows 3.X system directory.
    The Windows 3.X home directory.
    The directories listed in the path.

  In order to execute the shell builtin commands like dir and copy, the caller must prepend ``command.com /c '' to the desired command.

  16-bit and 32-bit DOS and Windows applications may be executed. However, redirection and piping of standard IO only works with 16-bit DOS applications. 32-bit applications always see standard input as already closed, and any standard output or error is discarded, no matter where in the pipeline the application occurs or what redirection symbols are used by the caller. Additionally, for 16-bit applications, standard error is always sent to the same place as standard output; it cannot be redirected to a separate location. In order to achieve pseudo-redirection for 32-bit applications, the 32-bit application must instead be written to take command line arguments that specify the files that it should read from and write to and open those files itself.

  All applications, both 16-bit and 32-bit, run synchronously; each application runs to completion before the next one in the pipeline starts. Temporary files are used to simulate piping between applications. The exec command cannot be used to start an application in the background.

  When standard input is redirected from an open file using the ``@ fileId'' notation, the open file is completely read up to its end. This is slightly different than under Windows 95 or NT, where the child application consumes from the open file only as much as it wants. Redirecting to an open file is supported as normal.

Macintosh
  The exec command is not implemented and does not exist under Macintosh.

Unix
  The exec command is fully functional and works as described.

### SEE ALSO

open

### KEYWORDS

execute, pipeline, redirection, subprocess

    Copyright © 1993 The Regents of the University of California.
    Copyright © 1994-1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Copyright © 1995-1997 Roger E. Critchlow Jr.