How do I invoke a system command and capture its output? - rust

Is there a way to invoke a system command, like ls or fuser in Rust? How about capturing its output?

std::process::Command allows for that.
There are multiple ways to spawn a child process and execute an arbitrary command on the machine:
spawn — runs the program and returns a value with details
output — runs the program and returns the output
status — runs the program and returns the exit code
One simple example from the docs:
use std::process::Command;
Command::new("ls")
.arg("-l")
.arg("-a")
.spawn()
.expect("ls command failed to start");

a very clear example from the docs:
use std::process::Command;
let output = Command::new("/bin/cat")
.arg("file.txt")
.output()
.expect("failed to execute process");
println!("status: {}", output.status);
println!("stdout: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout));
println!("stderr: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr));
assert!(output.status.success());

It is indeed possible! The relevant module is std::run.
let mut options = std::run::ProcessOptions::new();
let process = std::run::Process::new("ls", &[your, arguments], options);
ProcessOptions’ standard file descriptors default to None (create a new pipe), so you can just use process.output() (for example) to read from its output.
If you want to run the command and get all its output after it’s done, there’s wait_with_output for that.
Process::new, as of yesterday, returns an Option<Process> instead of a Process, by the way.

Related

Running multiple shell commands using std::process::Command

I am trying to insert multiple commands using std::process::Command on Rust instead of running a
bash script. I have read the concept of running multiple commands using the example cited here, from the execute crate:
https://docs.rs/execute/latest/execute/#execute-multiple-commands-and-pipe-them-together.
use std::process::{Command, Stdio};
use execute::Execute;
let mut command1 = Command::new("echo");
command1.arg("HELLO WORLD");
let mut command2 = Command::new("cut");
command2.arg("-d").arg(" ").arg("-f").arg("1");
let mut command3 = Command::new("tr");
command3.arg("A-Z").arg("a-z");
command3.stdout(Stdio::piped());
let output = command1.execute_multiple_output(&mut [&mut command2, &mut command3]).unwrap();
assert_eq!(b"hello\n", output.stdout.as_slice());
The problem is these commands are being written in a scattered format. I would like to know if there are better ways to add subcommands directly as arguments under Command::new() instead of having to segregate them as command1, command2 etc.

What is the Rust equivalent of the system function in C++? [duplicate]

Is there a way to invoke a system command, like ls or fuser in Rust? How about capturing its output?
std::process::Command allows for that.
There are multiple ways to spawn a child process and execute an arbitrary command on the machine:
spawn — runs the program and returns a value with details
output — runs the program and returns the output
status — runs the program and returns the exit code
One simple example from the docs:
use std::process::Command;
Command::new("ls")
.arg("-l")
.arg("-a")
.spawn()
.expect("ls command failed to start");
a very clear example from the docs:
use std::process::Command;
let output = Command::new("/bin/cat")
.arg("file.txt")
.output()
.expect("failed to execute process");
println!("status: {}", output.status);
println!("stdout: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout));
println!("stderr: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr));
assert!(output.status.success());
It is indeed possible! The relevant module is std::run.
let mut options = std::run::ProcessOptions::new();
let process = std::run::Process::new("ls", &[your, arguments], options);
ProcessOptions’ standard file descriptors default to None (create a new pipe), so you can just use process.output() (for example) to read from its output.
If you want to run the command and get all its output after it’s done, there’s wait_with_output for that.
Process::new, as of yesterday, returns an Option<Process> instead of a Process, by the way.

How do I execute a command in a subshell in Rust?

In Python, I could do os.system("pip install bs4"). Is there any equivalent in Rust? I've seen std::process::Command, but this seems to fail each time:
use std::process::Command;
Command::new("pip")
.arg("install")
.arg("bs4")
.spawn()
.expect("pip failed");
Is there any way to have the code execute a real shell and have them run in the terminal?
Pip requires root permissions so be sure to run your binary with sufficient privileges.
The following worked for me:
use std::process::Command;
Command::new("pip")
.args(&["install", "bs4"])
.spawn()
.expect("failed to execute process");
Use this to analyze the failure:
use std::process::Command;
let output = Command::new("pip")
.args(&["install", "bs4"])
.output()
.expect("failed to execute process");
println!("status: {}", output.status);
println!("stdout: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout));
println!("stderr: {}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr));
Example was derived from here:
How do I invoke a system command in Rust and capture its output?

What are the ways to flush a Linux command's stdout as a Node.js child process?

What are the ways to flush a Linux command's stdout as a Node.js child process?
Ending the stdin stream (child.stdin.end) will work. As will unbuffering the command with stdbuf.
But I imagine there's a proper way to stream results from external commands.
How do we tell a command we're ready to consume while we are still providing data?
Example:
const { spawn } = require('child_process');
const child = spawn('uniq');
child.stdout.pipe(process.stdout);
child.stdin.write('a\nb\nb\nc\n', 'utf8');
// No output, child is still running.
(uniq is just an example here. It's the same with most Linux commands.)

Create child process that duplicates stderr of main process

Is there a stable way I can create a child process that hangs out in the background and inherits stderr, in and out? From what I see, creating a child requires me to launch a separate program. Instead I want to create a child process that lasts as long as the main process, and only serves to allow me to duplicate stderr so I can read from it.
Here's an example of creating a process inside the link
use std::process::Command;
let output = Command::new("sh")
.arg("-c")
.arg("echo hello")
.output()
.unwrap_or_else(|e| { panic!("failed to execute process: {}", e) });
let hello = output.stdout;
what I'd like to do
use std::process::Command;
let leech = Command::new() // create process that hangs out in the background and inherits stderr, stdin and stdout from main process
// ....
// panic occurs somewhere in the program
if thread::panicking {
output = leech.output().stderr();
}
// screen clears
// print stderr of output
I need to create a leech of sorts because panics being displayed to the main screen are flushed due to terminal graphics. The library will clear the screen which in the process clears away panic messages, If I was able to duplicate stderr and somehow read it, I could reprint the panic message after the terminal restored the pre-program-running state.
I believe this is easier to do with a wrapper program, instead of launching something from the rust program itself. Here's an example of how to do it using shell script:
#!/bin/bash
# Redirection magic from http://stackoverflow.com/a/6317938/667984
{ errors=$(./my_rust_program 2>&1 1>&$original_out); } {original_out}>&1
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo
echo "--terminal reset shenanigans--"
echo
echo "$errors" >&2
fi
When used with this rust program:
fn main() {
println!("Normal program output");
panic!("oops");
}
It prints:
Normal program output
--terminal reset shenanigans--
thread '<main>' panicked at 'oops', my_rust_program.rs:3
I believe you can create one in stable rust as well, but since you mention sh in your question I assume you are in a unix environment anyway, and the shell script version should be simpler.

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