exec and pipes

hi,

i have a char* filename and want to determine if the file is an executable file.
first, which is the best way to find that out? i have chosen to use the "file" command. i want to make file post its output to a pipe "pipefile" . my process then reads the pipe contents and checks for the string "executable"

since writing to a pipe blocks i need to fork a child for that.

please see if the following is somewhat sound:

Code:

...
int i = fork();
if (i == 0)
     execlp("file",...)
}
else {
     read("pipefile",buffer);
     waitpid(i);
     process_buffer();
}

now i really dont know how to call execlp correctly so that file will write its output to the pipe.


hope someone can help me?

ok this works with redirection tricks and is well explained here:
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~beej/guide/ipc/pipes.html

Or use the popen() function.

this looks cool. thanks for the popen hint.

Hi

If you wanto get more info about pipes (and also system programming) see the page

http://www.advancedlinuxprogramming.com/alp-folder

I higly recommend anyone want to write system programs to visit the page.

Hope helps..

Thanks for the reference.

felix