C++ Interfacing with command line tools
 

I am currently trying to understand how to interface with some command line tools in C++. Basically, whenever I am in bash -- I execute some commands to perfrom some action. Let's say that I want to do a par2repair on some file.par2. I would just execute "par2repair file.par2". However, I would like to do the same thing within a C++ application, but have been told that exec() and system() like calls are not good to use (not portable?). Also, how would I parse the data returned by the call to par2repair, for instance, if there was an error? Is there some way to go about doing this? I have not learned this in school, but am trying to develop something on my own which needs this capability. Thank for your input...

Kristian Hermansen

I don't know in C++ but in C there is popen() function from <stdio.h> that
works like a pipe for set input/get output to/from a command

man 3 popen (really easy to use)

if its available in C, I'm sure it's available in C++. it's probably in <cstio>. although i know there are people out there who say it's a bad idea to use C code in C++. i'm not sure i necessarily understand why unless the C libraries do not have to be included by a Standard C++ compiler and you could have some protability issues. otherwise, if it's there, why not use it?