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SYSTEM(3)                               BSD Library Functions Manual                               SYSTEM(3)

NAME
     system -- pass a command to the shell

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     system(const char *command);

DESCRIPTION
     The system() function hands the argument command to the command interpreter sh(1).  The calling process
     waits for the shell to finish executing the command, ignoring SIGINT and SIGQUIT, and blocking SIGCHLD.

     If command is a NULL pointer, system() will return non-zero if the command interpreter sh(1) is avail-able, available,
     able, and zero if it is not.

     The system() function returns the exit status of the shell as returned by waitpid(2), or -1 if an error
     occurred when invoking fork(2) or waitpid(2).  A return value of 127 means the execution of the shell
     failed.

SEE ALSO
     sh(1), execve(2), fork(2), waitpid(2), popen(3)

STANDARDS
     The system() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (``ISO C90'') and is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2
     (``POSIX.2'') compatible.

BSD                                             June 4, 1993                                             BSD