Using bash commands in C

[Sebouh]

Hi guys.
I'm working on an assignment that requires me to use the output of ls(1) as an input of wc(1). The problem is i don't know how to call ls or wc in C. I only know how to execute them using system(), i.e. directly in the shell.
Can anyone help me here? I've searched and found nothing on the web. I need to save the output of ls in a buffer or something, and somehow excute wc in and store that output too, in order to print if later.

Thanks alot!

[Sebouh]

Well thanks for the reply guys ;)
I think i found the answer. It has to do with pipes...popen().
Now i only need to know how to use it.
cheers.

[sicarie]

Sebouh-

Good job finding that, and thanks for posting again when you found it! Best of luck, sorry we couldn't help this time, but feel free to post again.

[horace1]

Hi guys.
I'm working on an assignment that requires me to use the output of ls(1) as an input of wc(1). The problem is i don't know how to call ls or wc in C. I only know how to execute them using system(), i.e. directly in the shell.
Can anyone help me here? I've searched and found nothing on the web. I need to save the output of ls in a buffer or something, and somehow excute wc in and store that output too, in order to print if later.

Thanks alot!

not sure what you are trying to do
you could use system directly to pipe the output of ls to wc

    system("ls -l | wc"); 
 

or redirect the streams, e.g. output the result of ls to file x

    system("ls -l > x"); 

and input it to wc

    system("wc < x"); 

[Sebouh]

Yes that's possible, but each of ls and wc has to run by a different process and transfer data, so...