SYNOPSIS use IPC::System::Options qw(system readpipe run); # use exactly like system() system(...); # use exactly like readpipe() (a.k.a. qx a.k.a. `` a.k.a. the backtick operator) my $res = readpipe(...); $res = `...`; # but these functions accept an optional hash first argument to specify options system({...}, ...); readpipe({...}, ...); # run without shell, even though there is only one argument system({shell=>0}, "ls"); system({shell=>0}, "ls -lR"); # will fail, as there is no 'ls -lR' binary # force shell, even though there are multiple arguments (arguments will be # quoted for you, including proper quoting on Win32) system({shell=>1}, "ls", "-lR"); # set LC_ALL/LANGUAGE/LANG environment variable $res = readpipe({lang=>"de_DE.UTF-8"}, "df"); # log using Log::Any, die on failure system({log=>1, die=>1}, "blah", ...); # chdir first before running program (and chdir back afterwards) system({chdir => "/tmp", die => 1}, "some-program"); Set default options for all calls (prefix each option with dash): use IPC::System::Options 'system', 'readpipe', -log=>1, -die=>1; run() is like system() but uses IPC::Run's run() instead of system(): run('ls'); # also accepts an optional hash first argument. some additional options that # run() accepts: stdin. run({capture_stdout => \$stdout, capture_stderr => \$stderr}, 'ls', '-l'); DESCRIPTION FUNCTIONS system([ \%opts ], @args) Just like perl's system() except that it accepts an optional hash first argument to specify options. Currently known options: * shell => bool Can be set to 0 to always avoid invoking the shell. The default is to use the shell under certain conditions, like perl's system(). But unlike perl's system(), you can force shell usage even though you pass multiple arguments (in which case, the arguments will be quoted for you, including proper quoting on Win32). * lang => str Temporarily set locale-related environment variables: LC_ALL (this is the highest precedence, even higher than the other LC_* variables including LC_MESSAGES), LANGUAGE (this is used in Linux, with precedence higher than LANG but lower than LC_*), and LANG. Of course you can set the environment variables manually (or use the env option), this option is just for convenience. * env => hashref Temporarily set environment variables. * log => bool If set to true, then will log invocation as well as return/result value. Will log using Log::Any at the trace level. * die => bool If set to true, will die on failure. * capture_stdout => scalarref Capture stdout using Capture::Tiny. * capture_stderr => scalarref Capture stderr using Capture::Tiny. * capture_merged => scalarref Capture stdout and stderr in a single variable using Capture::Tiny's capture_merged. * chdir => str Attempt to change to specified directory first and change back to the original directory after the command has been run. This is a convenient option so you can do this kind of task in a single call: { my $cwd = getcwd(); chdir $dir or die; system(...); chdir $cwd or die; } If the attempt to chdir before command execution fails, will die if die option is set to true. Otherwise, $! (OS error) will be set to the chdir() error and to minimize surprise $? (child exit code) will also be set to non-zero value (-1) even though at this point no child process has been run. If the attempt to chdir back (after command execution) fails, will die if die option is set to true. Otherwise, $! will be set to the chdir() error and $? will be set to -1 only if $? is zero. So if the command fails, $? will contain the exit code of the command. * dry_run => bool If set to true, then will only display what would be executed to STDERR (or log at warn level, if log option is true) instead of actually executing the command. Will set $? (child exit code) to 0. An example of how this option can be used: system({ dry_run => $ENV{DRY_RUN} }, ...); This will allow you to run script in dry-run mode by setting environment variable. readpipe([ \%opts ], @args) Just like perl's readpipe() (a.k.a. qx() a.k.a. `` a.k.a. the backtick operator) except that it accepts an optional hash first argument to specify options. And it can accept multiple arguments (in which case, the arguments will be quoted for you, including proper quoting on Win32). Known options: * lang => str See option documentation in system(). * env => hash See option documentation in system(). * log => bool See option documentation in system(). * die => bool See option documentation in system(). * capture_stdout => scalarref See option documentation in system(). * capture_stderr => scalarref See option documentation in system(). * capture_merged => scalarref See option documentation in system(). * max_log_output => int If set, will limit result length being logged. It's a good idea to set this (e.g. to 1024) if you expect some command to return large output. * chdir => str See option documentation in system(). * dry_run => bool See option documentation in system(). run([ \%opts ], @args) Like system(), but uses IPC::Run's run(). Known options: * lang => str See option documentation in system(). * env => hash See option documentation in system(). * log => bool See option documentation in system(). * die => bool See option documentation in system(). * capture_stdout => scalarref See option documentation in system(). * capture_stderr => scalarref See option documentation in system(). * capture_merged => scalarref See option documentation in system(). * stdin => scalar Supply standard input. * chdir => str See option documentation in system(). * dry_run => bool See option documentation in system().