Can't understand why this causes an error - c

I have a large directory of music which is listed in a file called op. I have been able to build a command which will randomly pick a song from the op file using some creative math with the nanosecond output from the date command. It works fine from the command line:
sed -n $((10#$(date +%N)%$(wc -l /shared/southpark/music/op|cut -d ' ' -f 1)))p /shared/southpark/music/op
I want to include this command in a c program and read the line in with popen.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
char command[201];
char buf[501];
FILE *fp;
strcpy(command, "sed -n $((10#$(date +%N)%$(wc -l /shared/southpark/music/op|cut -d ' ' -f 1)))p /shared/southpark/music/op");
if((fp = popen(command, "r")) == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "music_player: popen failed\n");
return(1);
}
if(fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), fp) == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "music_player: fgets failed\n");
return(1);
}
printf("%s\n", buf);
pclose(fp);
return(0);
}
But when I run it, I get the following error:
sh: 1: arithmetic expression: expecting EOF: "10#271445839%2278"
music_player: fgets failed
How can I do this? I'm not understanding the error message.

popen executes your command using
/bin/sh -c "command"
and your sh doesn't understand the 10# base-conversion prefix. You've been running the command in bash previously.
To fix, you have two options:
Discard the unnecessary 10# prefix (it is the default) for sh compatibility
Use bash:
popen("bash -c 'command'", ...)

After trying and failing with both of nneonneo's options, I had to resort to placing the command in a bash script file and then I popen'ed the script. It gives me the desired results.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
char command[201];
char buf[501];
FILE *fp;
strcpy(command, "/dea/testing/popen/get_file");
if((fp = popen(command, "r")) == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "music_player: popen failed\n");
return(1);
}
if(fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), fp) == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "music_player: fgets failed\n");
return(1);
}
printf("%s", buf);
pclose(fp);
return(0);
}

Related

Redirect output of command line to a variable in C

Is there a way to redirect output of a command line which returns integer as an output to a variable in C?
for example, if the command is "cmd", then is there a way to redirect its output (an integer) and store it in variable in C?
I tried using popen and fgets but it seems to be working only with characters. Any suggestions?
It works perfectly fine with popen and fgets:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
const char *cmd = argc > 1 ? argv[1] : "echo 42";
char buf[32];
FILE *fp = popen(cmd, "r");
if( fp == NULL ){
perror("popen");
return 1;
}
if( fgets(buf, sizeof buf, fp) == buf ){
int v = strtol(buf, NULL, 10);
printf("read: %d\n", v);
}
return 0;
}
If you want to convert a character string from the standard input, you could use fgets and then use atoi to convert the input to an integer.
If you want to convert the output of a command, let's say ls and store the output of the command to a variable, you could learn about fork, dup2, pipe, and exec function family.
More about this topic on this tutorial : Capture the output of a child in C. This tutorial also provide an example with popen if you want to keep things "high level".
Here is an even simpler example using popen() and fscanf():
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
FILE *fp = popen("date '+%s'", "r");
long seconds;
if (fp == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "popen failed: %s\n", strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
if (fscanf(fp, "%ld", &seconds) == 1) {
printf("epoch seconds: %ld\n", seconds);
pclose(fp);
return 0;
} else {
fprintf(stderr, "invalid program output\n");
pclose(fp);
return 1;
}
}

Using popen to read and write in C using two executables

I understand that popen doesn't allow simultaneous read and write.
To get around this, I created two files, 1.c for writing, and 2.c for reading. The files are included below.
When I run 1.out, I get the expected output on stdout:
bodhi#bodhipc:~/Downloads$ ./1.out
Stockfish 11 64 BMI2 by T. Romstad, M. Costalba, J. Kiiski, G. Linscott
bodhi#bodhipc:~/Downloads$
However, 2.out doesn't give any output on stdout:
bodhi#bodhipc:~/Downloads$ ./2.out
bodhi#bodhipc:~/Downloads$
Where am I going wrong?
1.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
FILE *fp;
char path[1035];
/* Open the command for writing. */
fp = popen("./stockfish", "w");
if (fp == NULL) {
printf("Failed to run command\n" );
exit(1);
}
fprintf(fp,"uci\n");
/* close */
pclose(fp);
return 0;
}
2.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
FILE *fp;
char path[1035];
/* Open the command for reading. */
fp = popen("./1.out", "r");
if (fp == NULL) {
printf("Failed to run command\n" );
exit(1);
}
/* Read the output a line at a time - output it.*/
while (fgets(path, sizeof(path), stdout) != NULL) {
printf("%s", path);
printf("Done!\n");
}
/* close */
pclose(fp);
return 0;
}
while (fgets(path, sizeof(path), stdout) != NULL) {
you don't want to read from stdout, instead:
while (fgets(path, sizeof(path), fp) != NULL) {

parsing ssid with iwconfig in c

I am about building a bar for DWM (ubuntu linux), showing wifi details such as the ssid.
Thats my code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
FILE *fp;
int status;
char path[1035];
/* Open the command for reading. */
fp = popen("iwconfig", "r");
if (fp == NULL) {
printf("Failed to run command\n" );
exit;
}
char s[500];
/* Read the output a line at a time - output it. */
while (fgets(path, sizeof(path)-1, fp) != NULL) {
sprintf(s,"%s%s",s, path);
}
//printf("%s",s);
/* close */
pclose(fp);
char delimiter[1] = "s";
char *ptr;
ptr = strtok(s, delimiter);
printf("SSID: %s\n", ptr);
return 0;
}
i am getting overflowerrors and dont know what to do.
I dont think, thats a good way to get the ssid either... :/
Suggestions?
I would rather use direct information from the kernel (such as netdevice(7)) rather than calling a sub-process.
Maybe this header can help: http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/include/linux/wireless.h
Edit: if you still want to use popen, which don't you just add a | grep Essid: ?
$ /sbin/ifconfig 2>/dev/null | grep ESSID | cut -d: -f2
"pink-panter"

Simulate the Linux command tee in C

I have to do the simulation of the command tee in C for Linux. How does tee work internally? It looks like a T-shaped pipe, so should I use a pipe? Is there a special kind of pipe?
tee takes stdin and copies the data stream to stdout as well as a file given as an option, it can be used in many very different situations.
An implementation in C is quite simple, just make a program that copies all data from stdin to stdout, but also use the same output statements for stdout on a file that you opened based on the command line argument.
basically in pseudo code:
file f = open(argv[1])
while (! end of file stdin) {
buffer = read stdin
write stdout buffer
write f buffer
}
close(f)
Note that you don't really have to do anything with pipes, your shell will sort out the pipes, the program only has to copy data from one stream to two others.
I finished the program!
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
main(int argc, char *argv[]){
FILE *fp, *fp1;
char buffer;
if(argc != 4){
printf("\nError");
printf("\nSintaxis: tee [archivo1] [archivo2]\n");
exit(0);
}
if(strcmp(argv[1], "tee") == 0){
fp = fopen(argv[2], "r");
fp1 = fopen(argv[3], "w");
printf("\Content in %s:\n", argv[2]);
while(!feof(fp)){
buffer = fgetc(fp);
fputc(buffer, fp1);
printf("%c", buffer);
}
printf("\n\n%s received %s\n", argv[3], argv[2]);
fclose(fp);
fclose(fp1);
}
else
printf("\nThe first argument have to be tee\n");
}
Here is some code I wrote about 20 years ago to implement TEE in Windows. I have been using this with various batch files since then. Note the flush command at the end of each line.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <share.h>
int main (int argc, char * argv[])
{
if (argc < 2 )
{
printf ("Error: No output file name given, example: theCmd 2>&1 |ltee outputFileName \n");
return 1;
}
FILE *Out = _fsopen(argv[argc-1], "a", _SH_DENYWR);
if (NULL == Out)
{
char buf[300];
sprintf_s(buf, 300, "Error openning %s", argv[argc-1]);
perror(buf);
return 1;
}
int ch;
while ( EOF != (ch=getchar()))
{
putchar(ch);
putc(ch, Out);
if ( '\n' == ch )
fflush(Out);
}
_flushall();
fclose(Out);
return 0;
}

Opening gzipped files for reading in C without creating temporary files

I have some gzipped files that I want to read in C via fopen and fscanf. Is there anyway to do this without having to gunzip the files to temporary files?
Thanks.
You can use libzlib to open the gzipped files directly.
It also offers a "gzopen" function that behaves similar to fopen but operates on gzipped files. However, fscanf would probably not work on such a handle, since it expects normal FILE pointers.
If popen is fair game, you can do it with fopen and fscanf:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
const char prefix[] = "zcat ";
const char *arg;
char *cmd;
FILE *in;
char buf[4096];
if (argc != 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s file\n", argv[0]);
return 1;
}
arg = argv[1];
cmd = malloc(sizeof(prefix) + strlen(arg) + 1);
if (!cmd) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s: malloc: %s\n", argv[0], strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
sprintf(cmd, "%s%s", prefix, arg);
in = popen(cmd, "r");
if (!in) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s: popen: %s\n", argv[0], strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
while (fscanf(in, "%s", buf) == 1)
printf("%s: got [%s]\n", argv[0], buf);
if (ferror(in)) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s: fread: %s\n", argv[0], strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
else if (!feof(in)) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s: %s: unconsumed input\n", argv[0], argv[1]);
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
For example:
$ zcat file.gz
Every good boy does fine.
$ ./gzread file.gz
./gzread: got [Every]
./gzread: got [good]
./gzread: got [boy]
./gzread: got [does]
./gzread: got [fine.]
Do not use
sprintf(cmd, "zcat %s", argv[1]);
popen(cmd,"r");
to open .gz files. Properly escape argv[1] instead. You may otherwise end up with a vulnerability, especially when some injects an argument argv[1] such as
123;rm -rf /
It already helps to change the above instruction into
sprintf(cmd, "zcat \'%s\'",argv[1]);
You may also want to escape characters such as '\0', '\'', '\;' etc.
Newbie attempt at gzscanf():
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdarg.h>
#include <zlib.h>
#define MAXLEN 256
int gzscanf(gzFile *stream, const char *fmt, ...) {
/* read one line from stream (up to newline) and parse with sscanf */
va_list args;
va_start(args, fmt);
int n;
static char buf[MAXLEN];
if (NULL == gzgets(stream, buf, MAXLEN)) {
printf("gzscanf: Failed to read line from gz file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
n = vsscanf(buf, fmt, args);
va_end(args);
return n;
}
You can use zlib and wrap it to a regular file pointer, this way you can use fscanf,fread,etc. transparently.
FILE *myfopen(const char *path, const char *mode)
{
#ifdef WITH_ZLIB
gzFile *zfp;
/* try gzopen */
zfp = gzopen(path,mode);
if (zfp == NULL)
return fopen(path,mode);
/* open file pointer */
return funopen(zfp,
(int(*)(void*,char*,int))gzread,
(int(*)(void*,const char*,int))gzwrite,
(fpos_t(*)(void*,fpos_t,int))gzseek,
(int(*)(void*))gzclose);
#else
return fopen(path,mode);
#endif
}
You can use zlib, but it will require you to replace your I/O calls to be zlib-specific.
you have to open a pipe to do this. The basic flow in pseudo code is:
create pipe // man pipe
fork // man fork
if (parent) {
close the writing end of the pipe // man 2 close
read from the pipe // man 2 read
} else if (child) {
close the reading end of the pipe // man 2 close
overwrite the file descriptor for stdout with the writing end of the pipe // man dup2
call exec() with gzip and the relevant parameters // man 3 exec
}
You can use the man pages in the comments for more details on how to do this.
It's quite simple to use zlib to open .gz files. There's a reasonable manual over at zlib.net.
Here's a quick example to get you started:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <zlib.h>
int main( int argc, char **argv )
{
// we're reading 2 text lines, and a binary blob from the given file
char line1[1024];
char line2[1024];
int blob[64];
if (argc > 1)
{
const char *filename = argv[1];
gzFile gz_in = gzopen( filename, "rb" ); // same as fopen()
if (gz_in != NULL)
{
if ( gzgets( gz_in, line1, sizeof(line1) ) != NULL ) // same as fgets()
{
if ( gzgets( gz_in, line2, sizeof(line2) ) != NULL )
{
if ( gzfread( blob, sizeof(int), 64, gz_in ) == 64 ) // same as fread()
{
printf("Line1: %s", line1);
printf("Line2: %s", line2);
// ...etc
}
}
}
gzclose(gz_in); // same as fclose()
}
else
{
printf( "Failed to GZ-open [%s]\n", filename );
}
}
return 0;
}
Remember to link with zlib, under UNIX gcc ... -lz

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