ipipe-shell-command(2)

NAME

ipipe-shell-command - Incremental pipe (non-suspending system call)
ipipe-kill - Kill a incremental pipe
ipipe-write - Write a string to an incremental pipe

SYNOPSIS

n ipipe-shell-command "command" ["buffer-name"] (esc backslash) 
n ipipe-write "string"
ipipe-kill

PLATFORM

UNIX - irix, hpux, sunos55, freebsd, linux.

Windows NT - win32.

DESCRIPTION

ipipe-shell-command executes the given system command command, opening up a *icommand* buffer into which the results of the command execution are displayed. Unlike the pipe-shell-command(2), the user may continue editing during command execution. The command may be terminated by deleting the buffer or issuing a ipipe-kill command.

The argument n can be used to change the default behavior of pipe-shell-command described above, n is a bit based flag where:-

0x01


Enables the use of the default buffer name *icommand* (default). If this bit is clear the user must supply a buffer name. This enables another command to be started without effecting any other command buffer.

0x02


Hides the output buffer, default action pops up a window and displays the output buffer in the new window.

0x04


Disable the use of the command-line processor to launch the program (win32 versions only). By default the "command" is launched by executing the command:

    %COMSPEC% /c command 

Where %COMSPEC% is typically command.com. If this bit is set, the "command" is launched directly.

0x08


Detach the launched process from MicroEmacs (win32 versions only). By default the command is launched as a child process of MicroEmacs with a new console. With this bit set the process is completely detached from MicroEmacs instead.

0x10


Disable the command name mangling (win32 versions only). By default any '/' characters found in the command name (the first argument only) are converted to '\' characters to make it Windows compliant.

Many other macro commands (see compile(3), grep(3)etc.) use this command.

ipipe-write writes a string string to an open ipipe, n times.

ipipe-kill terminates an open ipipe, typically bound to the C-c C-c key sequence.

NOTES

On UNIX platforms the TERM environment variable of the new process can be set by setting the user variable %ipipe-term to the required value, e.g.:

    set-variable %ipipe-term "TERM=vt100-nam" 

Ipipe shells support a large sub-set of vt100 terminal commands, notable exceptions are color and font support and the support of auto-margins. Using the terminal type "vt100-nam" disables the use of auto-margins, providing better support.

On platforms which do not support ipipe-shell-command, such as MS-DOS, executing ipipe-shell-command automatically invokes pipe-shell-command, hence macros may safely use ipipes without explicitly checking the platform type. ipipe-shell-command does not run reliably on Windows 3.11 and Windows 95; Windows NT does support ipipes.

While the pipe command is running, mode pipe(2m) is enabled. Modes lock(2m) and wrap(2m) effect the output behavior of an ipipe-shell-command.

EXAMPLE

The following example is the grep(3) command macro which utilizes the ipipe-shell-command, diverting the output to a buffer called *grep*.

define-macro grep 
    !if &seq %grep-com "ERROR" 
        set-variable %grep-com "grep " 
    !endif 
    !force set-variable #l0 @1 
    !if &not $status 
        set-variable #l0 @ml00 %grep-com 
    !endif 
    !if @? 
        1 pipe-shell-command &cat %grep-com #l0 "*grep*" @mna 
    !else 
        1 ipipe-shell-command &cat %grep-com #l0 "*grep*" @mna 
    !endif 
!emacro 

Note that if an argument is passed to grep then it uses pipe-shell-command instead. This is useful if another command is using grep which must finish before the calling command can continue, see replace-all-string(3) for an example.

BUGS

On MicroSoft Windows platforms, ipipe-shell-command spawns the shell (e.g. command.com) with the appropriate command line to make it execute the given command. If the command to be run detaches from the shell and creates its own window, for example me.exe, ipipe-kill will only kill the shell, it will not kill the actual process, i.e. the me.exe.

On MicroSoft Windows platforms ipipe-shell-command does not work on Novell's Intranet Client v2.2 networked drives, version 2.5 does appear to work.

SEE ALSO

$buffer-ipipe(5), compile(3), grep(3), pipe-shell-command(2), replace-all-string(3), shell-command(2), pipe(2m), lock(2m), wrap(2m).

(c) Copyright JASSPA 1999
Last Modified: 1999/03/09
Generated On: 1999/12/01