Running Unix commands from Objective-C

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Level 1

100 points

Running Unix commands from Objective-C

I'm writing a cocoa application that I need to use Unix commands for. In AppleScript, I commonly used


do shell script "Unix commands here"

In Cocoa, I have been using


NSAppleScript *script = [[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithsource:@"Unix commands here"];
NSDictionary *error = [[NSDictionary alloc] init];
[script executeAndReturnError:error];

It works fine, but is there a way to run Unix commands directly from Cocoa without going through NSAppleScript?

Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 30, 2008 4:26 PM

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Answer 1

ericmeyers

Level 4

1,410 points

Oct 30, 2008 5:29 PM in response to briyu

Yes, look up NSTask.

Eric

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Answer 2

briyu Author

Level 1

100 points

Oct 30, 2008 5:31 PM in response to ericmeyers

I still don't see which NSTask method I would use to compile and run Unix commands?

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Answer 3

ericmeyers

Level 4

1,410 points

Oct 30, 2008 5:34 PM in response to briyu

Unix commands are not compiled. Shell scripts are executed. Look at launchedTaskWithLaunchPath:arguments: in NSTask.

Eric

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Answer 4

briyu Author

Level 1

100 points

Oct 30, 2008 5:36 PM in response to briyu

Would this work then?


NSTask *myTask = [NSTask launchedTaskWithLaunchPath:@"Unix commands here." arguments:nil];

and then whatever Unix commands here is would be executed?

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Answer 5

ericmeyers

Level 4

1,410 points

Oct 30, 2008 6:15 PM in response to briyu

Not exactly. Are you executing a single command or multiple commands? Are they system commands or shell (bash,sh, etc) commands?

I assumed you would be putting them in a shell script and then executing the script itself.

It might help if you posted exactly what command or commands you are trying to run.

Eric

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Answer 6

briyu Author

Level 1

100 points

Oct 30, 2008 7:57 PM in response to ericmeyers

I'm trying to run the following command:


touch filename

Where filename is actually the name of a folder I want to create.
I know I could probably use NSFileManager, but I would like to do it through Unix.

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Answer 7

ericmeyers

Level 4

1,410 points

Oct 31, 2008 3:11 PM in response to briyu

Touch can't create a folder. mkdir can, like this ...


 NSArray *args = [NSArray arrayWithObject:@"/path/to/your/folder"];
 [NSTask launchedTaskWithLaunchPath:@"/bin/mkdir" arguments:args];

This is a terrible way to do what you need, but whatever floats your boat 🙂

Eric

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