C++ popen command without console

Question

when I use popen to get the output of a command, say dir, it will prompt out a console.

however, can I get the output of a command without the appearance of the cons

Answer 1

Maybe something like this? This code will return the output but it has to wait for the process to finish.

#include 
#include 

int runCmd(const char* cmd, std::string& outOutput) {

    HANDLE g_hChildStd_OUT_Rd = NULL;
    HANDLE g_hChildStd_OUT_Wr = NULL;
    HANDLE g_hChildStd_ERR_Rd = NULL;
    HANDLE g_hChildStd_ERR_Wr = NULL;

    SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES sa;
    // Set the bInheritHandle flag so pipe handles are inherited.
    sa.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
    sa.bInheritHandle = TRUE;
    sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
    if (!CreatePipe(&g_hChildStd_ERR_Rd, &g_hChildStd_ERR_Wr, &sa, 0))     { return 1; } // Create a pipe for the child process's STDERR.
    if (!SetHandleInformation(g_hChildStd_ERR_Rd, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0)) { return 1; } // Ensure the read handle to the pipe for STDERR is not inherited.
    if (!CreatePipe(&g_hChildStd_OUT_Rd, &g_hChildStd_OUT_Wr, &sa, 0))     { return 1; } // Create a pipe for the child process's STDOUT.
    if (!SetHandleInformation(g_hChildStd_OUT_Rd, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0)) { return 1; } // Ensure the read handle to the pipe for STDOUT is not inherited

    PROCESS_INFORMATION piProcInfo;
    STARTUPINFO siStartInfo;
    bool bSuccess = FALSE;

    // Set up members of the PROCESS_INFORMATION structure.
    ZeroMemory(&piProcInfo, sizeof(PROCESS_INFORMATION));

    // Set up members of the STARTUPINFO structure.
    // This structure specifies the STDERR and STDOUT handles for redirection.
    ZeroMemory(&siStartInfo, sizeof(STARTUPINFO));
    siStartInfo.cb = sizeof(STARTUPINFO);
    siStartInfo.hStdError  = g_hChildStd_ERR_Wr;
    siStartInfo.hStdOutput = g_hChildStd_OUT_Wr;
    siStartInfo.dwFlags |= STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;

    // Create the child process.
    bSuccess = CreateProcess(
        NULL,             // program name
        (char*)cmd,       // command line
        NULL,             // process security attributes
        NULL,             // primary thread security attributes
        TRUE,             // handles are inherited
        CREATE_NO_WINDOW, // creation flags (this is what hides the window)
        NULL,             // use parent's environment
        NULL,             // use parent's current directory
        &siStartInfo,     // STARTUPINFO pointer
        &piProcInfo       // receives PROCESS_INFORMATION
    );

    CloseHandle(g_hChildStd_ERR_Wr);
    CloseHandle(g_hChildStd_OUT_Wr);

    // read output
    #define BUFSIZE 4096
    DWORD dwRead;
    CHAR chBuf[BUFSIZE];
    bool bSuccess2 = FALSE;
    for (;;) { // read stdout
        bSuccess2 = ReadFile(g_hChildStd_OUT_Rd, chBuf, BUFSIZE, &dwRead, NULL);
        if(!bSuccess2 || dwRead == 0) break;
        std::string s(chBuf, dwRead);
        outOutput += s;
    }
    dwRead = 0;
    for (;;) { // read stderr
        bSuccess2 = ReadFile(g_hChildStd_ERR_Rd, chBuf, BUFSIZE, &dwRead, NULL);
        if(!bSuccess2 || dwRead == 0) break;
        std::string s(chBuf, dwRead);
        outOutput += s;
    }

    // The remaining open handles are cleaned up when this process terminates.
    // To avoid resource leaks in a larger application,
    // close handles explicitly.
    return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {

    std::string output;
    runCmd("cmd /c dir", output);

    std::cout << output << std::endl;

    return 0;
}