[c++] How to run a bash script from C++ program

Bash scripts are very useful and can save a lot of programming time. So how do you start a bash script in a C++ program? Also if you know how to make user become the super-user that would be nice also. Thanks!

The only standard mandated implementation dependent way is to use the system() function from stdlib.h.

Also if you know how to make user become the super-user that would be nice also.

Do you want the script to run as super-user or do you want to elevate the privileges of the C executable? The former can be done with sudo but there are a few things you need to know before you can go off using sudo.

Since this is a pretty old question, and this method hasn't been added (aside from the system() call function) I guess it would be useful to include creating the shell script with the C binary itself. The shell code will be housed inside the file.c source file. Here is an example of code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define SHELLSCRIPT "\
#/bin/bash \n\
echo -e \"\" \n\
echo -e \"This is a test shell script inside C code!!\" \n\
read -p \"press <enter> to continue\" \n\
clear\
"

int main() {

system(SHELLSCRIPT);
return 0;
}

Basically, in a nutshell (pun intended), we are defining the script name, fleshing out the script, enclosing them in double quotes (while inserting proper escapes to ignore double quotes in the shell code), and then calling that script's name, which in this example is SHELLSCRIPT using the system() function in main().

StackOverflow: How to execute a command and get output of command within C++?

StackOverflow: (Using fork,pipe,select): ...nobody does things the hard way any more...

Also if you know how to make user become the super-user that would be nice also. Thanks!

sudo. su. chmod 04500. (setuid() & seteuid(), but they require you to already be root. E..g. chmod'ed 04***.)

Take care. These can open "interesting" security holes...

Depending on what you are doing, you may not need root. (For instance: I'll often chmod/chown /dev devices (serial ports, etc) (under sudo root) so I can use them from my software without being root. On the other hand, that doesn't work so well when loading/unloading kernel modules...)

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

// ....


system("my_bash_script.sh");