Using execvp

In my code I try to remove the contents of a folder using this

Code:

if((nTokens = makeargv("rm /tmp/.tmp_cache/*.*", " ", &tokens)) == -1 ){
	printf("Ocorreu um erro ao separar o comando em tokens.\n");
}
else{
	if(execvp("rm", "rm", "/tmp/.tmp_cache/*.*", NULL) == -1){
		perror("Error executing execvp : ");
	}
}

(makargv is a function that tokenizes the string - let me know if you wanna see it)

The output for it is

Code:

rm: cannot remove `/tmp/.tmp_cache/*.*': No such file or directory

but if I try

Code:

rm /tmp/.tmp_cache/*.*

on the same shell just after the program ends it wirks fine.

I have no idea of what can be wrong. Please help.

Wildcards are expanded by the shell, not by execv or the process which ultimately receives the command line.

So how can I run that command?

Or any command that allows me to delete all content of a file (without knowing what could be there in advance)

either call the shell exec...("/bin/sh -e rm /tmp/something/*"...); or walk the entire directory (readdir()) to delete each file one by one.

How would I go about calling the shell exec?

it's ok to run in execvp ("/bin/sh", "/bin/sh", "-e", "rm", "/tmp/cenas/*.*", NULL );

sorry, I missed a word: "either call the shell *from* exec", there is no "shell exec"
and yes your example seems right.

now I get

Code:

/bin/sh: Can't open rm

Originally Posted by kotoko

now I get

Code:

/bin/sh: Can't open rm

You may need to pass the path to rm (or pass in the environment from your exisitng process by calling execve instead).

http://www.manpagez.com/man/2/execve/

--
Mats

I far as I understood the execve needs to specify the environment. I'm not that sure of what this means exactly but it seems to me that it's the kind of thing that isn't very portable. My problem with that is that the code must run on my machine, my colleague and on a server.

It really isn't any simpler way of deleting the contents of a directory?

what matsp meant, was to add the path to rm: execvp(..."/bin/rm"...), that's all (or provide the appropriate PATH env. var. to exec)

Hmm It's just that I saw this example

Code:

#include <unistd.h>


int ret;
char *cmd[] = { "ls", "-l", (char *)0 };
char *env[] = { "HOME=/usr/home", "LOGNAME=home", (char *)0 };
...
ret = execve ("/bin/ls", cmd, env);

The man pages says

Code:

int execve(const char *path, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);

So the correct use for me would be

Code:

char *cmd[] = { "rm", "/tmp/cenas/*.*", (char *)0 };
char *env[] = { "HOME=/usr/home", "LOGNAME=home", (char *)0 };
execve("/bin/sh", cmd, env);

I'm confused about the env part

You can obviously write a function that deletes all files in a directory.

You can also do

Code:

extern char **environ;
char *argv[] =
{
   "/bin/sh", "-e", "rm", "/tmp/cenas/*.*", NULL
};
execve(argv[0], argv, environ);

execvp in itself is specific to Unix OS's, so it's not VERY portable. But if all the machines you need to run this on are Unix/Linux, then you should be fine with this.

--
Mats

I'm still getting

Code:

/bin/sh: Can't open rm

Is that with the code I posted or your code?

--
Mats

Yup. I get

Code:

/bin/sh: Can't open rm

using

Code:

extern char **environ;
char *argv[] = {"/bin/sh", "-e", "rm", "/tmp/cenas/*.*", NULL};
execve(argv[0], argv, environ);