Struct std::process::Child

pub struct Child {
    pub stdin: Option<ChildStdin>,
    pub stdout: Option<ChildStdout>,
    pub stderr: Option<ChildStderr>,
    // some fields omitted
}

Representation of a running or exited child process.

This structure is used to represent and manage child processes. A child process is created via the Command struct, which configures the spawning process and can itself be constructed using a builder-style interface.

There is no implementation of Drop for child processes, so if you do not ensure the Child has exited then it will continue to run, even after the Child handle to the child process has gone out of scope.

Calling wait (or other functions that wrap around it) will make the parent process wait until the child has actually exited before continuing.

Warning

On some systems, calling wait or similar is necessary for the OS to release resources. A process that terminated but has not been waited on is still around as a "zombie". Leaving too many zombies around may exhaust global resources (for example process IDs).

The standard library does not automatically wait on child processes (not even if the Child is dropped), it is up to the application developer to do so. As a consequence, dropping Child handles without waiting on them first is not recommended in long-running applications.

Examples

use std::process::Command;

let mut child = Command::new("/bin/cat")
                        .arg("file.txt")
                        .spawn()
                        .expect("failed to execute child");

let ecode = child.wait()
                 .expect("failed to wait on child");

assert!(ecode.success());

Fields

The handle for writing to the child's standard input (stdin), if it has been captured. To avoid partially moving the child and thus blocking yourself from calling functions on child while using stdin, you might find it helpful:

let stdin = child.stdin.take().unwrap();

The handle for reading from the child's standard output (stdout), if it has been captured. You might find it helpful to do

let stdout = child.stdout.take().unwrap();

to avoid partially moving the child and thus blocking yourself from calling functions on child while using stdout.

The handle for reading from the child's standard error (stderr), if it has been captured. You might find it helpful to do

let stderr = child.stderr.take().unwrap();

to avoid partially moving the child and thus blocking yourself from calling functions on child while using stderr.

Implementations

impl Child[src]

pub fn kill(&mut self) -> Result<()>[src]

use std::process::Command;

let mut command = Command::new("yes");
if let Ok(mut child) = command.spawn() {
    child.kill().expect("command wasn't running");
} else {
    println!("yes command didn't start");
}

pub fn id(&self) -> u32[src]1.3.0

use std::process::Command;

let mut command = Command::new("ls");
if let Ok(child) = command.spawn() {
    println!("Child's ID is {}", child.id());
} else {
    println!("ls command didn't start");
}

pub fn wait(&mut self) -> Result<ExitStatus>[src]

use std::process::Command;

let mut command = Command::new("ls");
if let Ok(mut child) = command.spawn() {
    child.wait().expect("command wasn't running");
    println!("Child has finished its execution!");
} else {
    println!("ls command didn't start");
}

pub fn try_wait(&mut self) -> Result<Option<ExitStatus>>[src]1.18.0

use std::process::Command;

let mut child = Command::new("ls").spawn().unwrap();

match child.try_wait() {
    Ok(Some(status)) => println!("exited with: {}", status),
    Ok(None) => {
        println!("status not ready yet, let's really wait");
        let res = child.wait();
        println!("result: {:?}", res);
    }
    Err(e) => println!("error attempting to wait: {}", e),
}

pub fn wait_with_output(self) -> Result<Output>[src]

use std::process::{Command, Stdio};

let child = Command::new("/bin/cat")
    .arg("file.txt")
    .stdout(Stdio::piped())
    .spawn()
    .expect("failed to execute child");

let output = child
    .wait_with_output()
    .expect("failed to wait on child");

assert!(output.status.success());

Trait Implementations

Auto Trait Implementations

Blanket Implementations