I am working on a program that I want to run a console command and save the output to a string. This program is installed by the user before running my program.
However, I have found I keep getting the error Cannot run program "XXXX" (in directory "C:\Users\accou\Downloads"): CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
For example, I have the program "Maui" that I have added to my system path:
Running in my Command Prompt:
C:\Users\accou\Downloads>maui
HELLO
C:\Users\accou\Downloads>
If I run the following code in Java I get the exception above
ProcessBuilder pb =
new ProcessBuilder("maui");
pb.directory(new File("C:\\Users\\accou\\Downloads"));
File log = new File("C:\\Users\\accou\\Downloads\\log.txt");
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
pb.redirectOutput(ProcessBuilder.Redirect.appendTo(log));
Process p = pb.start();
assert pb.redirectInput() == ProcessBuilder.Redirect.PIPE;
assert pb.redirectOutput().file() == log;
assert p.getInputStream().read() == -1;
Exception:
Exception in thread "main" java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "maui" (in directory "C:\Users\accou\Downloads"): CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1142)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1073)
at Application.main(Application.java:13)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.create(Native Method)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.<init>(ProcessImpl.java:483)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(ProcessImpl.java:158)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1109)
... 2 more
I will get the same error if I try commands such as "dir" which I know 100% is available in windows.
However, if I can the command to the following it workes perfectly fine.
new ProcessBuilder("cmd.exe", "/c", "maui");
The following also works
new ProcessBuilder("maui.cmd");
Why is it that I cannot run "dir" or more importantly "maui" directly?
You're confusing ProcessBuilder with a shell. ProcessBuilder is not 'ask the dos box cmd shell to act as if we ran this statement', and when you type something in that black box, such as 'dir', that is not the same as 'ask the OS to execute this process'.
The shell does all sorts of intriguing transformations and interpretations of what you typed. That's cmd.exe (or, on other OSes, e.g. /usr/bin/bash), it is not the OS doing that, and java does not ship with a bash or cmd.exe baked in. It just asks the OS to do what you asked.
Thus, you can't use all these shellisms. Unfortunately, java tries to do some very basic shellisms, which just adds confusion. In particular:
The single-string argument variant will split on spaces to attempt to extract the executable to run + the arguments to pass.
On windows, *.txt and friends probably works. On other OSes it probably does not, as expanding a star into all matching files is a bashism. Best not use it.
built-ins, such as cd, pwd, test, dir, and others definitely do not work.
Relying on $PATH probably doesn't work, but this is one that java does sometimes try to apply. Still, best not rely on it.
Any fancy redirects and the like are all shellisms and do not work. You can't ask java to redirect to printer using foo.exe >PRN or /usr/bin/whatnot >/dev/printer. You can't write an if or a loop, or use %foo% or $foo or any other such things.
This leads to the following conclusion:
Do not ever use relative paths for anything ProcessBuilder related.
Do not ever try to squeeze the executable and the arguments into a single string; always use the multiple strings variant.
Don't rely on ANYTHING other than an absolute path, and absolute arguments.
If you need any shellisms of any sort, run cmd.exe /c C:\absolute\path\to\something.bat, or on posixy systems, /bin/bash -c /abs/path/to/shellscript, and strongly consider on windows to use System.getenv to get the installed location of windows, so you can absolute-path cmd to thatPath + "cmd.exe", so that you end up with "C:\\Windows\\cmd.exe" or equivalent (windows may not actually be installed there, hence, use env).
Unwieldy? Yeah. Don't use ProcessBuilder unless you know what you are doing.
In this case, if type maui on the command line, it's cmd.exe that figures out: Oh, hey, there is a maui.cmd in this dir on the path, surely they meant that. That's a shellism. Not baked into the OS itself, and java does not ship with cmd.exe built in, so that does not work. dir is not an executable but a built-in feature of cmd.exe. Same rule.
Java can do all these baked in things. There is no need to call dir - java can walk paths and give you all relevant info with e.g. the java.nio.file.Files API.
Related
I've recently started using fish, and I needed to use a jar file for google's bundletool.
As such, I needed to set up an alias/function for bundletool, and I chose a function since it seems more "fishy".
My function is simple:
function bundletool
java -jar bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar $argv
end
The bundletool jar itself lives at ~/.local/bin, which is on my fish user path:
lase#laser-razer /m/c/U/matth [1]> echo $fish_user_paths
/home/lase/.local/bin /usr/local/go/bin /home/lase/.nvm /home/lase/.cargo/bin /home/lase/.cargo
In a regular shell, I can execute java -jar bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar, and the command runs as expected. However, in the function, fish doesn't seem to know about my fish_user_paths, and reports it cannot find the jar file.
To remedy this, I had to update my function to specify the full path:
function bundletool
java -jar ~/.local/bin/bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar $argv
end
This works, but I feel like I'm doing something incorrectly. Should I be setting up my paths or functions in a different fashion?
Your function will run in the ordinary environment.
It will run with the current $PATH [0] and, more importantly to you, the current working directory.
What happens is this:
java -jar bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar
Will tell java to run the jar found at bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar.
Notably, fish just hands java the string "bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar", and java will then not look at $PATH. It does not care about $PATH. It simply looks at "bundletool-all-1.12.1.jar", and tries to open a file by that name.
And it will find that file, if it is in the current directory.
And that's the reason this worked for you when you executed it interactively - because you happened to be in that directory
And then you tried it with the function, but you tried it from a different directory, and so it didn't work.
This works, but I feel like I'm doing something incorrectly. Should I be setting up my paths or functions in a different fashion?
No, giving the full path to the file instead of relying on the working directory is the right thing to do.
[0]: $fish_user_paths is just a variable you set, that fish will then take care to add to $PATH. $PATH is the actual variable that fish and other tools (including any command fish starts, if it wants to) will use to find commands.
I don't really know which part of the described technology stack the behaviour i'm describing is actually a property of - linux, or bash/sh? but it does not really matter i guess.
Anyway, on linux, in a bash or sh shell, i can run a script marked as executable in the file system without specifying the interpreter on the shell or somewhere global, but right in first line of the file,
e.g.
#!/bin/bash
#!/usr/bin/python
or even
#!/usr/bin/gcl -f
for a common lisp implementation.
Is there a general windows, powershell or cmd.exe equivalent to this?Specifically, specifying the interpreter/command line to run the script with in the script itself, rather than on the command line or in the windows registry.
If not, what are similar options? The most similar thing I know about are shortcuts. Is there something more similar?
In Windows the file extension specifies, which programs is used to Interpret a script.
You can also specify the Interpreter like "cmd": CMD /c "c:\temp\script.cmd" or with Powershell: powershell.exe script.ps1
What you can do (in Powershell) is, to specify the Version, which is used to run the script. Use #Requires -version 3.0 in first line and it will throw error on v4 cmdlets etc.
I got a problem when executing batch file commands through matlab. This batch file includes commands to run simulations in Adams. When I execute the batch file directly from DOS window, it works well. But if I use matlab to execute it (using command dos()), it gives error saying 'cannot check out the license for Adams'.
This confuses me: if the license is incorrect, it should not work no matter I execute the batch file directly in DOS or ask MATLAB to execute it. I also tried to execute other DOS commands through matlab using dos() and it worked well.
Does anyone know what the problem may be?
Such issues are commonly caused by some environment variables being changed or cleared by MATLAB. I have very similar experience on Linux and Mac OS X, where this causes havoc when using system or unix.
In Unix-like systems, MATLAB is started from a shell script where all of this happens. So you can either incorporate missing variables there or in the .matlab7rc.sh in your home directory (the latter is preserved when you upgrade MATLAB and it is much easier to use). I won't go into all the Unix details here.
An alternative workaround is to explicitly set those variables when you issue a system command (e.g. system('export variable=value ; ...')). It is quite a bit of work, but you can then use that MATLAB code on different computers with ease.
On Windows, I'm not completely sure about the exact location of the corresponding files (and whether MATLAB starts in quite a similar way as on Unix). But if they exist, you can probably find it in the MATLAB documentation.
Anyhow, the alternative fix should work here as well.
First you need to diagnose which system variables you need (likely a PATH or anything that has a name related to Adams).
To do so in Windows, run set from the Windows command prompt (cmd.exe) and from within MATLAB. Whatever differs in the output is a possible suspect for your problem.
To inspect just a single variable, you can use the command echo %variablename%.
I will assume that you have found that the suspect environment variable is missing and should be set to value.
The workaround fix is then to run your command in MATLAB as system('set suspect=value & ...') where you replace ... with your original command.
I want my Perl scripts to behave just like any other executable (*.exe file).
When I double-click on myscript.pl I want it to execute instead of opening in a text editor.
I want to run myscript.pl instead of perl myscript.pl.
I really want to run myscript instead of myscript.pl.
I want to run program | myscript instead of program | perl myscript.pl.
I want to be able to run my script via drag & drop.
There are a number of changes you have to make on Windows to make all of
these things work. Users typically stumble upon things that don't work one at
a time; leaving them confused whether they've made an error, there's a bug in
Perl, there's a bug in Windows, or the behavior they want just isn't possible.
This question is intended to provide a single point of reference for making
everything work up front; ideally before these problems even occur.
Related questions:
How do I make Perl scripts recognize parameters in the Win32 cmd console?
Running a perl script on windows without extension
Perl execution from command line question
How can I read piped input in Perl on Windows?
Perl on Windows, file associations and I/O redirection
How do I create drag-and-drop Strawberry Perl programs?
Note: The actions below require administrative privileges. For
steps utilizing the command prompt it must be launched via "Run as
administrator" on Windows Vista / Windows 7.
Associate *.pl files with perl
Run the following commands at a shell prompt:
assoc .pl=PerlScript
ftype PerlScript=C:\bin\perl.exe "%1" %*
Replace C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe with the path to your Perl installation. This
enables you to run myscript.pl instead of perl myscript.pl.
Default install locations are:
ActivePerl: C:\Perl
Strawberry Perl: C:\Strawberry
Add .PL to your PATHEXT environment variable.
This makes Windows consider *.pl files to be executable when searching your
PATH. It enables you to run myscript instead of myscript.pl.
You can set it for the current cmd session
set PATHEXT=%PATHEXT%;.PL
To set it permanently (under Windows Vista or Windows 7)
setx PATHEXT %PATHEXT%;.PL
Under Windows XP you have to use the GUI:
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
Click the Advanced tab.
Click Environment variables.
Select PATHEXT, then click Edit.
Append ;.PL to the current value.
Make I/O redirection work
I/O redirection (e.g. program | myscript) doesn't work for programs started
via a file association. There is a registry patch to correct the problem.
Start Registry Editor.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value name: InheritConsoleHandles
Data type: REG_DWORD
Radix: Decimal
Value data: 1
Quit Registry Editor.
Warning: In principle, this should only be necessary on Windows XP. In my experience it's also necessary in Windows 7. In Windows 10 this is actively harmful—programs execute but produce nothing on stdout/stderr. The registry key needs to be set to 0 instead of 1.
See also:
STDIN/STDOUT Redirection May Not Work If Started from a File Association
Perl Scripts on Windows 10 run from Explorer but not Command Prompt
If patching the registry isn't an option running program | perl -S myscript.pl
is a less annoying work-around for scripts in your PATH.
Add a drop handler
Adding a drop handler for Perl allows you to run a Perl script via drag & drop;
e.g. dragging a file over the file icon in Windows Explorer and dropping it
there. Run the following script to add the necessary entries to the registry:
use Win32::TieRegistry;
$Registry->Delimiter("/");
$perlKey = $Registry-> {"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Perl/"};
$perlKey-> {"shellex/"} = {
"DropHandler/" => {
"/" => "{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"
}};
Convert your perl scripts into batch files using pl2bat once they are ready to be run by users.
The trick works through the perl -x switch which, according to perldoc perlrun, makes Perl search for the first line looking like #!.*perl.
After following the instructions in the accepted answer, a double click still led to .pl files opening with Notepad in Windows 10 — even when perl.exe was set as the default file handler.
After finding Jack Wu's comment at ActivePerl. .pl files no longer execute but open in Notepad instead I was able to run perl scripts on double-click as such:
Select and right-click a .pl file
Use the "Open With" submenu to "Choose another app"
Select "Always use this app to open .pl files" (do this now – you won't get the chance after you have selected a program)
Scroll to the bottom of the "Other options" to find "More apps", and select "Look for another app on this PC"
Navigate to C:/path/to/perl/bin/ and select Perl5.16.3.exe (or the equivalent, depending on which version of Perl you have installed: but not Perl.exe)
Then the Perl icon appears next to .pl files and a double-click leads to them opening in Perl every time, as desired.
I tried the assoc and ftype methods and they didn't work for me.
What worked was editing this registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command
It was set to:
"C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "%1"
When it should be:
"C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "%1" %*
It is the same content as the ftype, but for arcane windows reasons, I had to set it there too.
Like some others, I had set 'assoc' and 'ftype', but also had set Notepad text editor via the GUI, and when I tried to execute a script via the command line, Windows invoked Notepad to edit the script instead of running my script.
Using the GUI to instead point the .pl file association to the script-running executable was not much of an improvement, since it would invoke the executable on my script, but would pass no command-line arguments (even when I invoked my script from the command line).
I finally found salvation here which advised me to delete some registry keys.
Key quote:
"The problem is that if you have already associated the program with the extension via the Open With dialog then you will have created an application association, instead of a file extension association, between the two. And application associations take precedence."
In my case, following the instructions to use RegEdit to delete
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Applications \ perl.exe
where perl.exe is the name of my Perl executable, and then also deleting:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .pl
seemed to solve my problem, and then (after re-executing 'assoc' and 'ftype' commands as shown in other answers) I could then execute scripts from cmd.exe and have them run with access to their command-line parameters.
Some other related information here.
I have a executable that when double clicked opens in a command line window.
Now there is a input file (i.e named "sphere_15000.inp") in the same directory where the executable apame_win64.exe is located. So we can inter the file name in the command line.
The question is how this can be done from mathematica front end? With the RunThrough command I tried to do it with no avail.
RunThrough["Executable Location", "sphere_15000"]
Do I need to put this file location in my Windows 7 environment path variable? Hope for some suggestion in this regard.
UPDATE
Found a solution to my problem.
First set the Mathematica directory to the folder where the executable is located.
path="C:\Users\FlowCrusher\Desktop\CUSP solver\Apame_build_2011_01_09\solver";
SetDirectory[path];
Then use the following style of input.
Run["\"\"apame_win64.exe\" \"input\"\""]
Here "apame_win64.exe" is the executable one want to run and "input" is the input file for the executable. This solves the problem. But a new item in the wishlist.
Is there a way to hide the console window in the background?
Here is how it looks on my screen.
As Chris suggested if we use minimized console in the Run command we get a minimized window but the program does not execute.
I hope that a solution exists.
BR
Yes, you might put the folder of you executable into the Path variable, or provide the full path name.
However, RunThrough seems to have been superseeded (on Windows) by
Import["!command ","Text"], which will execute command and read the comaand line output into Matheamtica as a string.
E.g.:
Export["testit.txt", "bla", "Text"];
Import["!dir" <> " testit* > dir.log", "Text"];
FilePrint["dir.log"]
--
Otherwise, I also had good results in the past using NETLink (not sure if WScript.shell
still works on Windows7/8 or if one should use something else).
Emulating Run (RunThrough is not really needed I think):
Run2[cmd_String] := Module[{shell},
Switch[$OperatingSystem,
"Windows",
Needs["NETLink`"];
shell = NETLink`CreateCOMObject["WScript.shell"];
shell # run[cmd,0,True],
"Unix",
Run # cmd,
"MacOSX",
Run # cmd ] ];
Can you run your application with input from a basic command window instead of the application console? This might be the form of command you would need:
apame_win64 -input sphere_15000.inp
or simply
apame_win64 sphere_15000.inp
You can probably check the available switches by running apame_win64 -help
A multi-part command can be run from Mathematica, e.g.
Run["type c:\\temp\\test.txt"]
Alternatively, also returning output to the Mathematica session:
ReadList["!type c:\\temp\\test.txt", String]
I landed here wanting to run abaqus command line on windows.
The solutions provided here worked out for me (Windows 7, Mathematica 9):
SetDirectory#path;
Run["start /min abaqus job=" <> fileName <> " interactive ask_delete=OFF >> log.txt"]
(Here the abaqus option ask_delete=OFF overwrites an existing simulation results and the >> redirects all the output to a file)
I think, minimizing the window did not run in your case since the executable throws open that window. In that case, this might be of some help