Question

I’m currently building a console app for a school project and I really need this function for my app.

How do I save all the text from console to a string in C (Windows platform)?

For example:

If I used the function system("dir"), it will output to console and list all the subdirectories and files in a directory. And I want it to be saved on a string for later use.

Answer 1

You could use popen() rather than system():

#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>

int main()
{
    FILE *fp;
    char path[PATH_MAX];

    fp = popen("DIR", "r");
    if (fp == NULL)
    {
        /* Handle error */
    }

    while (fgets(path, PATH_MAX, fp) != NULL)
    {
        printf("%s", path);
    }

    pclose(fp);
    return 0;
}