NAME

system − execute a UNIX command

SYNOPSIS

integer function system (string)
character∗(∗) string

DESCRIPTION

system passes string as input to the shell as though string were a typed command.  If system finds the environment variable SHELL, it uses SHELL’s value as the command interpreter (shell); otherwise, system passes string to sh(1). 

The current process waits until the command terminates.  The returned value will be the exit status of the shell.  See wait(2) for an explanation of this value. 

FILES

/usr/lib/libU77.a

SEE ALSO

exec(2), wait(2), system(3)

BUGS

string cannot be longer than NCARGS−50 characters, as defined in <sys/param.h>.

5 BSD  —  May 15, 1985