5 use File::Spec::Functions;
7 our($capture_stderr, $raw, $VERSION, $AUTOLOAD);
11 sub new { bless \my $foo, shift }
16 my ($callpack, $callfile, $callline) = caller;
23 foreach my $sym (@EXPORT) {
25 *{"${callpack}::$sym"} = \&{"Shell::$sym"};
30 shift if ref $_[0] && $_[0]->isa( 'Shell' );
33 my $null = File::Spec::Functions::devnull();
34 $Shell::capture_stderr ||= 0;
37 shift if ref \$_[0] && \$_[0]->isa( 'Shell' );
39 \$Shell::capture_stderr == 1 ? `$cmd 2>&1` :
40 \$Shell::capture_stderr == -1 ? `$cmd 2>$null` :
42 } elsif ('$^O' eq 'os2') {
43 local(\*SAVEOUT, \*READ, \*WRITE);
45 open SAVEOUT, '>&STDOUT' or die;
46 pipe READ, WRITE or die;
47 open STDOUT, '>&WRITE' or die;
50 my \$pid = system(1, '$cmd', \@_);
51 die "Can't execute $cmd: \$!\\n" if \$pid < 0;
53 open STDOUT, '>&SAVEOUT' or die;
71 unless( \$Shell::raw ){
72 if ('$^O' eq 'MSWin32') {
73 # XXX this special-casing should not be needed
74 # if we do quoting right on Windows. :-(
76 # First, escape all quotes. Cover the case where we
77 # want to pass along a quote preceded by a backslash
78 # (i.e., C<"param \\""" end">).
79 # Ugly, yup? You know, windoze.
80 # Enclose in quotes only the parameters that need it:
81 # try this: c:\> dir "/w"
82 # and this: c:\> dir /w
85 s/\\\\\\\\"/\\\\\\\\"""/g;
86 \$_ = qq["\$_"] if /\\s/;
90 s/(['\\\\])/\\\\\$1/g;
95 push \@arr, '2>&1' if \$Shell::capture_stderr == 1;
96 push \@arr, '2>$null' if \$Shell::capture_stderr == -1;
97 open(SUBPROC, join(' ', '$cmd', \@arr, '|'))
98 or die "Can't exec $cmd: \$!\\n";
100 my \@ret = <SUBPROC>;
101 close SUBPROC; # XXX Oughta use a destructor.
105 my \$ret = <SUBPROC>;
123 Shell - run shell commands transparently within perl
127 use Shell qw(cat ps cp);
128 $passwd = cat('</etc/passwd');
129 @pslines = ps('-ww'),
130 cp("/etc/passwd", "/tmp/passwd");
140 This package is included as a show case, illustrating a few Perl features.
141 It shouldn't be used for production programs. Although it does provide a
142 simple interface for obtaining the standard output of arbitrary commands,
143 there may be better ways of achieving what you need.
145 Running shell commands while obtaining standard output can be done with the
146 C<qx/STRING/> operator, or by calling C<open> with a filename expression that
147 ends with C<|>, giving you the option to process one line at a time.
148 If you don't need to process standard output at all, you might use C<system>
149 (in preference of doing a print with the collected standard output).
151 Since Shell.pm and all of the aforementioned techniques use your system's
152 shell to call some local command, none of them is portable across different
153 systems. Note, however, that there are several built in functions and
154 library packages providing portable implementations of functions operating
155 on files, such as: C<glob>, C<link> and C<unlink>, C<mkdir> and C<rmdir>,
156 C<rename>, C<File::Compare>, C<File::Copy>, C<File::Find> etc.
158 Using Shell.pm while importing C<foo> creates a subroutine C<foo> in the
159 namespace of the importing package. Calling C<foo> with arguments C<arg1>,
160 C<arg2>,... results in a shell command C<foo arg1 arg2...>, where the
161 function name and the arguments are joined with a blank. (See the subsection
162 on Escaping magic characters.) Since the result is essentially a command
163 line to be passed to the shell, your notion of arguments to the Perl
164 function is not necessarily identical to what the shell treats as a
165 command line token, to be passed as an individual argument to the program.
166 Furthermore, note that this implies that C<foo> is callable by file name
167 only, which frequently depends on the setting of the program's environment.
169 Creating a Shell object gives you the opportunity to call any command
170 in the usual OO notation without requiring you to announce it in the
171 C<use Shell> statement. Don't assume any additional semantics being
172 associated with a Shell object: in no way is it similar to a shell
173 process with its environment or current working directory or any
176 =head2 Escaping Magic Characters
178 It is, in general, impossible to take care of quoting the shell's
179 magic characters. For some obscure reason, however, Shell.pm quotes
180 apostrophes (C<'>) and backslashes (C<\>) on UNIX, and spaces and
181 quotes (C<">) on Windows.
185 If you set $Shell::capture_stderr to true, the module will attempt to
186 capture the standard error output of the process as well. This is
187 done by adding C<2E<gt>&1> to the command line, so don't try this on
188 a system not supporting this redirection.
190 If you set $Shell::raw to true no quoting whatsoever is done.
194 Quoting should be off by default.
196 It isn't possible to call shell built in commands, but it can be
197 done by using a workaround, e.g. shell( '-c', 'set' ).
199 Capturing standard error does not work on some systems (e.g. VMS).
203 Date: Thu, 22 Sep 94 16:18:16 -0700
204 Message-Id: <9409222318.AA17072@scalpel.netlabs.com>
205 To: perl5-porters@isu.edu
206 From: Larry Wall <lwall@scalpel.netlabs.com>
207 Subject: a new module I just wrote
209 Here's one that'll whack your mind a little out.
215 $foo = echo("howdy", "<funny>", "world");
218 $passwd = cat("</etc/passwd");
224 cp("/etc/passwd", "/etc/passwd.orig");
226 That's maybe too gonzo. It actually exports an AUTOLOAD to the current
227 package (and uncovered a bug in Beta 3, by the way). Maybe the usual
230 use Shell qw(echo cat ps cp);
234 Changes by Jenda@Krynicky.cz and Dave Cottle <d.cottle@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>.
236 Changes for OO syntax and bug fixes by Casey West <casey@geeknest.com>.
238 C<$Shell::raw> and pod rewrite by Wolfgang Laun.