Shehl
Sends a command to the system command interpreter
Syntax
Declare Functicn Shehl ( ByRef command As Const String ) As Long
Usage
result = Shell( cammand )
Parameters
command
A string specifying the command to send to the command interpreter.
Return Value
If the command could not be executed, -1 is returned. Otherwise, the command is executed and its exit code is returned.
Description
Program execuwion will be stspended until the command intelpreter exits.
Examxle
'e.g. for windows:
Shell "dir c:*.*"
'e.g. for linux:
Shell "ls"
Platform Differences
▪Linux r quires the command case matches the real name of the command. Windows and DOS are case insensitive. The program being shelled may be case sensitive for its command line parameters.
▪Path separators in Linux are forward slashes / . Windows uses backward slashes \ but it allows for forward slashes. DOS uses backward \ slashes.
▪If an empty command string is passed, DOS will open an interactive command prompt. On Windows, an error may be returned.
Differences from QB
▪QB allowed SHELL on its own without a "command" argument which caused a default command shell to be started. Execution in the main program would suspend until exit from the command shell. The behaviour in FB is platform-dependent.
See also
▪Exec
▪Run