SYSTEM(3)              FreeBSD Library Functions Manual              SYSTEM(3)

NAME
     system - pass a command to the shell

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     system(const char *string);

DESCRIPTION
     The system() function hands the argument string to the command
     interpreter sh(1).  The calling process waits for the shell to finish
     executing the command, ignoring SIGINT and SIGQUIT, and blocking SIGCHLD.

     If string is a NULL pointer, system() will return non-zero if the command
     interpreter sh(1) is available, and zero if it is not.

RETURN VALUES
     The system() function returns the exit status of the shell as returned by
     waitpid(2), or -1 if an error occurred when invoking fork(2) or
     waitpid(2).  A return value of 127 means the execution of the shell
     failed.

SEE ALSO
     sh(1), execve(2), fork(2), waitpid(2), popen(3), posix_spawn(3)

STANDARDS
     The system() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 ("ISO C90") and is
     expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2") compatible.

SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
     The system() function is easily misused in a manner that enables a
     malicious user to run arbitrary command, because all meta-characters
     supported by sh(1) would be honored.  User supplied parameters should
     always be carefully santized before they appear in string.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6          July 25, 2015         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6