execl()'ing batch files in DOS

[RAKES,RICHARD B]

In article <302 at ohs.UUCP> mday at ohs.UUCP (Matthew T. Day) writes:
>Does anybody know if it's possible to execl() a batch file in DOS?  I am
>using MicroSoft C v5.1, and using MS-DOS v3.30.  I have tried:
>
>	execl("\command.com", "tryit.bat", NULL);
>
>and perror() tells me "No such file or directory."  Any help or input would
>be appreciated.
>-- 

I am not a DOS user, I mostly program in a UNIX or MAC environment, but I
can make a logical guess as to your problem.  Remember that C strings use
the backslash '\' character as an 'escape' character.  In your example,
the '\c' is probably being interpreted as simply the ASCII letter 'c' since
I don't think there is a a MSC interpretation for that sequence.  Anyway,
what you probably need to do is use two backslashes so that the second
one would be taken literally as in:

	execl("\\command.com", "tryit.bat", NULL);

Also, my understanding is that MSC understands the RIGHT way :-) to delimit
directories in a pathname and will handle 'forward slashes.'  Thus, an
alternative would be:

	execl("/command.com", "tryit.bat", NULL);




-- 
RAKES,RICHARD B
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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