The R Project SVN R

% File src/library/base/man/system.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2010 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{system2}
\alias{system2}
\title{Invoke a System Command}
\description{
  \code{system} invokes the OS command specified by \code{command}.
}
\usage{
system2(command, args = character(),
        stdout = "", stderr = "", wait = TRUE, input = NULL,
        minimized = FALSE, invisible = TRUE)
}
\arguments{
  \item{command}{the system command to be invoked, as a character string.}
  \item{args}{a character vector of arguments to \command{command}.}
  \item{stdout, stderr}{where output to \file{stdout} or
    \file{stderr} should be sent.  Possible values are \code{""}, to the \R
    console (the default), \code{NULL} or \code{FALSE} (discard output),
    \code{TRUE} (capture the output in a character vector) or a
    character string naming a file.} 
  \item{wait}{a logical (not \code{NA}) indicating whether the \R
    interpreter should wait for the command to finish, or run it
    asynchronously.  This will be ignored (and the interpreter will
    always wait) if \code{stdout = TRUE}.}
  \item{input}{if a character vector is supplied, this is copied one
    string per line to a temporary file, and the standard input of
    \code{command} is redirected to the file.}
#ifdef unix
  \item{minimized, invisible}{arguments
    that are accepted on Windows but ignored on this platform, with a
    warning.}
#endif
#ifdef windows
  \item{minimized}{logical (not \code{NA}), indicates whether the
    command window should be displayed initially as a minimized window.}
  \item{invisible}{logical (not \code{NA}), indicates whether the
    command window should be visible on the screen.}
#endif
}
\details{
  Unlike \code{\link{system}}, \code{command} is always quoted by
  \code{\link{shQuote}}.

  For details of how \code{command} is found see \code{\link{system}}.

  Because of the way it is implemented, on a Unix-alike \code{stderr =
    TRUE} implies \code{stdout = TRUE}.
}

\value{
  
  If \code{stdout = TRUE} or \code{stderr = TRUE}, a character vector
  giving the output of the command, one line per character string.
  (Output lines of more than 8095 bytes will be split.)  If the command
  could not be run an \R error is generated.
#ifdef Unix
  If \code{command} runs but gives a non-zero exit status this will be
  reported with a warning. 
#endif

  In other cases, the return value is an error code (\code{0}
  for success), given the invisible attribute (so needs to be printed
  explicitly).  If the command could not be run for any reason, the
  value is \code{127}.  Otherwise if \code{wait = TRUE} the value is the
  exit status returned by the command, and if \code{wait = FALSE} it is
  \code{0} (the conventional success value).
#ifdef windows
  Some Windows commands return out-of-range status values
  (e.g. \code{-1}) and so only the bottom 16 bits of the value are used.
#endif
}

\note{
  \code{system2} is the beginnings of a more portable approach which
  allows redirection of output without needing to invoke a shell on
  Windows.  It is more flexible, for example allowing either or both of
  stderr and stdout to be captured in a character vector.
}

\seealso{
  \code{\link{system}}.
#ifdef windows
  
  \code{\link{shell}} or \code{\link{shell.exec}} for a less raw
  interface.
#endif
}
\keyword{interface}
\keyword{file}
\keyword{utilities}