Execute a terminal command from a Cocoa app

Question

How can I execute a terminal command (like grep) from my Objective-C Cocoa application?

Answer 1

If the Terminal command requires Administrator Privilege (aka sudo), use AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges instead. The following will create a file named "com.stackoverflow.test" is the root directory "/System/Library/Caches".

AuthorizationRef authorizationRef;
FILE *pipe = NULL;
OSStatus err = AuthorizationCreate(nil,
                                   kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment,
                                   kAuthorizationFlagDefaults,
                                   &authorizationRef);

char *command= "/usr/bin/touch";
char *args[] = {"/System/Library/Caches/com.stackoverflow.test", nil};

err = AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges(authorizationRef,
                                         command,
                                         kAuthorizationFlagDefaults,
                                         args,
                                         &pipe);