netbsd man page for system

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 *string);

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

     If string is a NULL pointer, system() will return non-zero, if the command interpreter is available, or zero if none is available.  Other-
     wise, system() returns the termination status of the shell in the format specified by waitpid(2).

RETURN VALUES
     If a child process cannot be created, or the termination status of the shell cannot be obtained, system() returns -1 and sets errno to indi-
     cate the error.  If execution of the shell fails, system() returns the termination status for a program that terminates with a call of
     exit(127).

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

STANDARDS
     The system() function conforms to ANSI X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C89'') and IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (``POSIX.2'').

CAVEATS
     Never supply the system() function with a command containing any part of an unsanitized user-supplied string.  Shell meta-characters present
     will be honored by the sh(1) command interpreter.

BSD
								  August 2, 2007							       BSD