Question

I am trying to run command line from my c# program. to keep it simple all i am doing is running “dir” command. then i read each line of the result. when i reach the end of the output the program hangs. it does not do anything. Below is the program.

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("Cmd.exe");

        startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
        startInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
        startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;

        Process process = new Process();
        process.StartInfo = startInfo;
        process.Start();

        List<string> output = new List<string>();

        process.StandardInput.WriteLine("dir");
        process.StandardInput.Flush();

        while (process.StandardOutput.ReadLine() != null)
        {

            output.Add(process.StandardOutput.ReadLine());

        }
        process.WaitForExit();
        process.Kill();
    }

Answer 1

Cmd.exe doesn’t exit until you tell it to – you’re waiting for it to complete, but it’s waiting for your next command.

Try process.StandardInput.WriteLine("exit"); to tell the process to quit.