Using linux commands in C++ code

[pezplaya]

How can I use linux commands in my c++ code?

I'm trying to write a program that will compare two files, and if the two files are the same, i want the program to delete one of the files using rm -rf or some other command.

[JayMan8081]

I think that you can just do:
system("rm -rf");

And you can change that string to be whatever command you like.

[Fryguy8]

diff + rm + bashscript might be more wise than writing this in c++

just a thought.

[pezplaya]

hmm alright that is what i was looking for.

how would i go about listing a directory the user enters?
(if i store the directory the user enters as a string)

diff + rm + bashscript might be more wise than writing this in c++

just a thought.

ya, im really just fooling around with c++ right now though.

[JayMan8081]

I think you would want to use something from dirstat.h. It allows you to perform manipulations on directories and is specific to Linux, IRC. I'm not currently in linux so I am not 100% sure on that though.

[evac-q8r]

#include <string.h> /* You'll need this header file */
...
char *cmd, *dir;
...
sprintf(cmd,"ls -dlrt ") /* Maybe you want different options... just make sure there is a
space after options so dir doesn't become infused to
the command options */
scanf("%s", dir); /* Read input from user */
...
strcat( cmd, dir); /* Concatenate both strings */
...
system( cmd ) /* Use command as before, nothing different here */

I hope this is what you were looking for. This is mainly c though. Not any c++ here.

EVAC

[truls]

man 3 opendir
man 3 readdir

Use opendir on the directory you want to read, then loop with readdir until there are no more directory entries. This can be improved to ignore . and .. since these are not actual files.

What you really want, if you have the money and the shelf-space, is to get the book "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" by W. Richard Stevens, where all this is described in detail with sample code. This is all C code, but you can always make things easier to use by wrapping it all in C++ classes and providing iterators for the file elements.

Or you can just ask questions here, and we'll all answer them as best we can :D

[tecknophreak]

Yeah, use the opendir and readdir to get the listings for the files/folders, then use unlink to delete the files. No need for any system calls.