Shell

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Shell

Runs a command through the system shell, waits, and returns its exit code or -1.

Syntax

Declare Function Shell ( ByRef command As Const String ) As Long

Parameters

• command

Description

Program execution will be suspended until the command interpreter exits.

Return Value

If the command could not be executed, -1 is returned. Otherwise, the command is executed and its exit code is returned.

Remarks

Usage

result = Shell( command )

Platform Differences

• Linux requires the command case matches the real name of the command. Windows, DOS and a default macOS volume are case insensitive. The program being shelled may be case sensitive for its command line parameters. Path separators in Linux and macOS are forward slashes / . Windows uses backward slashes \ but it allows for forward slashes. DOS uses backward \ slashes.
  If an empty command string is passed, DOS will open an interactive command prompt. On Windows, an error may be returned.

Differences from QB

• QB allowed SHELL on its own without a "command" argument which caused a default command shell to be started. Execution in the main program would suspend until exit from the command shell. The behaviour in FB is platform-dependent.

See also

• Exec
• Run

Examples

'e.g. for windows:

Shell "dir c:*.*"

'e.g. for linux:

Shell "ls"

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Category: Operating System Functions
Kind: function

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Reproduced from the FreeBASIC Wiki Manual under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 — with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. Copyright © the FreeBASIC project and wiki contributors. See License.