Run Command Prompt Commands

Question

Is there any way to run command prompt commands from within a C# application? If so how would I do the following:

copy /b Image1.jpg + Archive.rar Image2.jpg

This basically embeds an RAR file within JPG image. I was just wondering if there was a way to do this automatically in C#.

Claque

Duplicate of #182219 (there's an answer there that does what you want). – Surculose

https://mcmap.net/q/44950/-how-to-parse-command-line-output-from-c has a better answer – Webbing

Answer 1

this is all you have to do run shell commands from C#

string strCmdText;
strCmdText= "/C copy /b Image1.jpg + Archive.rar Image2.jpg";
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("CMD.exe",strCmdText);

EDIT:

This is to hide the cmd window.

System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "/C copy /b Image1.jpg + Archive.rar Image2.jpg";
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();

EDIT 2:

It is important that the argument begins with /C, otherwise it won't work. As @scott-ferguson said: /C carries out the command specified by the string and then terminates.

Bjorn

/C Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates – Leisured

its just to tell the cmd to run and terminate (dont wait for any user input to close the window) – Bjorn

Thank you, one more question. Is there a way to hide the the command prompt during this? – Claque

@Nate, i have updated my answer for ur comments. pls check out – Bjorn

Thank you so very much. One more question lol, I'm sorry. Currently, the program has to be ran in the same directory that the files are. Is there a way to make it so the files can be in different directories? Examples: C:\Image1.jpg + C:\Directory1\Archive.rar C:\Directory2\Image2.jpg – Claque

CMD accpets the complete path... try to execute this in command line iteslf and check.. because normal copy operation like this works "copy d:\web.config d:\w5.config"; perfectly.. – Bjorn

Don't I have to change the "C:\" to "C:\\"? I had to do that to get it to run. It still doesn't want to work though... – Claque

i just tested this.. "copy /b c:\Image1.jpg + d:\archive.rar d:\image2.jpg".. it works finr – Bjorn

Ok, I found out what the problem is. I folders that the files were in were under the C:\Documents and Settings\ in a subdirectory. I guess it is because of the spaces in the directory name? – Claque

I don't see how I'm the only one that thinks this is a horrible idea. Yes, this will work, but it's completely and totally wrong. Spawning CMD processes to do simple IO operations is wrong, even if it works. Read through the documentation on the System.IO namespace. There is more than enough functionality in there to do what you need to do without spawning unneeded processes. – Beige

This works smooth. Exactly what i wanted.. @Daniel, u are right. But I needed this CMD process since I could do only using command prompt. Hiding the window etc worked fine. – Hypnotic

Fortunately, this call also properly handles spaces, quotes, stream redirections and process exit code! Wonderful, thanks! – Hydropic

I tried with 'dir' command. But I only see the command prompt opening up and it does not execute the command. string cmdStr = "dir"; System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("CMD.exe", cmdStr); – Vitia

This doesn't work in Windows 8 because the command prompt won't have elevated privileges (administrative rights) – Stamina

@CyrilGupta, i haven't checked in win 8. But to avoid that you can run your exe under admin privilege. – Bjorn

FYI: Use process.WaitForExit() to wait for the process to complete before continuing and process.ExitCode to get the exit code of the process. – Bartie

Anyone else experiencing problems passing arguments? I have tried running VS both as Administrator and normal user. cmd starts but no arguments are passed. – Sudoriferous

Tried copying to the network path and getting Access Denied error. Here is my post – Manifestation

i'd note that it seems(perhaps expectedly!) that these console hiding methods.. won't work if the project itself is a console application ;-) (at least not when clicking play in visual studio, for a console application!) – Sabotage

You should dispose the process resources: using (Process exeProcess = Process.Start(startInfo)) { exeProcess.WaitForExit(); } – Caspar

Don't forget the "/C" when using process.WaitForExit(). Otherwise your application will hang. – Rogan

How can I get the response given by the cmd. Like if I am executing a program input by user and giving command like - Node a.js, cms will generate an output. How can I get that? – Petrology

@Cool888, something like this #1391059 – Bjorn

"Read through the documentation on the System.IO namespace. There is more than enough functionality in there to do what you need to do without spawning unneeded processes" If I want to use UAC to elevate just before running some command from my application, but I don't want my application to always be elevated, then running commands this way is essentially the only option. – Thuythuya

how can i add this command , REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v ProxyEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f after adding this with escape chars , it stops working ... – Finable

Any idea how can I do this in Linux, I believe cmd.exe will not work for Linux, I need a solution which works for both Windows and Linux. – Aviv

And in some cases you need to set ProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute = true -HTH ;). – Foredate

So how can I catch when this process is end? – Textualist

@malan #12274325 – Bjorn

@InstanceHunter This comes in handy when needing to rename directories when you're only changing the case. Using System.IO requires you to call Directory.Move twice - once to rename it to something else, then again to rename it to the proper casing, whereas using cmd.exe /c ren "c:\foo\bar" "Bar" works without all that. But if you know a better way, please let me know, cause otherwise I don't like this either. – Torritorricelli

What's the best way to run multiple commands (as in a batch file) - run System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("CMD.exe", cmd); every time between each command? – Mitchmitchael

Thanks for this. I needed to create a symbolic link, and CreateSymbolicLink is not supported in .NET 4.5. – Gantt

Any way to run this on MacOS? – Clementineclementis

Answer 2

Tried RameshVel's solution but I could not pass arguments in my console application. If anyone experiences the same problem here is a solution:

using System.Diagnostics;

Process cmd = new Process();
cmd.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
cmd.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
cmd.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
cmd.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
cmd.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
cmd.Start();

cmd.StandardInput.WriteLine("echo Oscar");
cmd.StandardInput.Flush();
cmd.StandardInput.Close();
cmd.WaitForExit();
Console.WriteLine(cmd.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd());

Sudoriferous

well I gave it no chance thinking that on my machine there are some admin or anti virus restrictions but.. the code above works! thanks Ogglas – Maltha

this line: cmd.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true; saved my day. – Gavette

Is there a way of executing multiple commands in a single cmd.StandardInput.WriteLine(@"cd C:\Test; pwd") – Chem

This would deadlock if the output of the cmd process is larger than the buffer of the standard output (I remember it was 4KB on 32-bit Windows 2000, but haven't tested it recently). WaitForExit would wait for reading of the StandardOutput contents (as the buffer is full). Better to read the output in another thread, and then call WaitForExit. – Cornejo

how to do that? @robbiefan – Mormon

Create a new thread (ensure it is started) to read from the stdout of the command (store the result somewhere). Then use the current thread to write to stdin of the command. Wait for the reading thread to finish, and then grab the result. @NitinS – Cornejo

Answer 3

var proc1 = new ProcessStartInfo();
string anyCommand; 
proc1.UseShellExecute = true;

proc1.WorkingDirectory = @"C:\Windows\System32";

proc1.FileName = @"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe";
proc1.Verb = "runas";
proc1.Arguments = "/c "+anyCommand;
proc1.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
Process.Start(proc1);

Primeval

What's the @ sign in C#? – Fruity

@Fruity It tells the compiler to escape all the characters that would normally have to be escaped in the string, in this case \. So, without the \, your code would look like proc1.FileName = "C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe"; – Takahashi

@JamesKo, Ah found it: https://mcmap.net/q/53988/-what-39-s-the-in-front-of-a-string-in-c/632951 . Google is still pretty lousy on symbols. – Fruity

One should note that proc1.Verb = "runas"; makes this process run with elevated privileges... This is not always intended. – Eisinger

How can I make this cmd window doesn't close after it is finished? – Benumb

I found that calling 'cd path' joined by '&&' with other commands in the line always executes last even if it gone first. your: 'proc1.WorkingDirectory = @"C:\Windows\System32";' was very helpful! Thanks! – Haemoid

@HrvojeT use /k in place of /c. See cmd doc – Bombastic

Answer 4

None of the above answers helped for some reason, it seems like they sweep errors under the rug and make troubleshooting one's command difficult. So I ended up going with something like this, maybe it will help someone else:

var proc = new Process
{
    StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
    {
        FileName = @"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\tf.exe",
        Arguments = "checkout AndroidManifest.xml",
        UseShellExecute = false,
        RedirectStandardOutput = true,
        CreateNoWindow = true,
        WorkingDirectory = @"C:\MyAndroidApp\"
    }
};

proc.Start();

Essy

If i would want to compile this into a stand-alone console application, what other code would have to be added to make it work? (i'm a noob to all this programming stuff, only done some scripting). I'm using csc.exe btw. – Discern

@copyitright A namespace and class. If you just create a new project they will be generated for you. – Kali

Ah. nevermind. if you use the cmd.exe app you can pass commands as arguments. – Chem

For posterity: I wanted the process to run echo Hello World! and display the command output in the cmd window that pops up . So I tried: Filename = @"echo", Arguments = "Hello World!", UseShellExecute = false, RedirectStandardOuput = false, CreateNoWindow = false. This allowed the cmd window of the parent application to display "Hello World!" (which makes sense because stdout was not redirected to the child process). – Draught

Answer 5

Though technically this doesn't directly answer question posed, it does answer the question of how to do what the original poster wanted to do: combine files. If anything, this is a post to help newbies understand what Instance Hunter and Konstantin are talking about.

This is the method I use to combine files (in this case a jpg and a zip). Note that I create a buffer that gets filled with the content of the zip file (in small chunks rather than in one big read operation), and then the buffer gets written to the back of the jpg file until the end of the zip file is reached:

private void CombineFiles(string jpgFileName, string zipFileName)
{
    using (Stream original = new FileStream(jpgFileName, FileMode.Append))
    {
        using (Stream extra = new FileStream(zipFileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            var buffer = new byte[32 * 1024];

            int blockSize;
            while ((blockSize = extra.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
            {
                original.Write(buffer, 0, blockSize);
            }
        }
    }
}

Kukri

Answer 6

if you want to keep the cmd window open or want to use it in winform/wpf then use it like this

    string strCmdText;
//For Testing
    strCmdText= "/K ipconfig";

 System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("CMD.exe",strCmdText);

/K

Will keep the cmd window open

Basilica

Nice. Found this documentation for cmd command and its parameters. – Bombastic

Answer 7

if you want to run the command in async mode - and print the results. you can you this class:

    public static class ExecuteCmd
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Executes a shell command synchronously.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="command">string command</param>
    /// <returns>string, as output of the command.</returns>
    public static void ExecuteCommandSync(object command)
    {
        try
        {
            // create the ProcessStartInfo using "cmd" as the program to be run, and "/c " as the parameters.
            // Incidentally, /c tells cmd that we want it to execute the command that follows, and then exit.
            System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + command);
            // The following commands are needed to redirect the standard output. 
            //This means that it will be redirected to the Process.StandardOutput StreamReader.
            procStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput =  true;
            procStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
            // Do not create the black window.
            procStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
            // Now we create a process, assign its ProcessStartInfo and start it
            System.Diagnostics.Process proc = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
            proc.StartInfo = procStartInfo;
            proc.Start();

            // Get the output into a string
            string result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();

            // Display the command output.
            Console.WriteLine(result);
        }
        catch (Exception objException)
        {
            // Log the exception
            Console.WriteLine("ExecuteCommandSync failed" + objException.Message);
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Execute the command Asynchronously.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="command">string command.</param>
    public static void ExecuteCommandAsync(string command)
    {
        try
        {
            //Asynchronously start the Thread to process the Execute command request.
            Thread objThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(ExecuteCommandSync));
            //Make the thread as background thread.
            objThread.IsBackground = true;
            //Set the Priority of the thread.
            objThread.Priority = ThreadPriority.AboveNormal;
            //Start the thread.
            objThread.Start(command);
        }
        catch (ThreadStartException )
        {
            // Log the exception
        }
        catch (ThreadAbortException )
        {
            // Log the exception
        }
        catch (Exception )
        {
            // Log the exception
        }
    }

}

Cooperstein

Answer 8

This can also be done by P/Invoking the C standard library's system function.

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

[DllImport("msvcrt.dll")]
public static extern int system(string format);

system("copy Test.txt Test2.txt");

Output:

      1 file(s) copied.

Indiscretion

Nice alternative. – Statuesque

Answer 9

Yes, there is (see link in Matt Hamilton's comment), but it would be easier and better to use .NET's IO classes. You can use File.ReadAllBytes to read the files and then File.WriteAllBytes to write the "embedded" version.

Beige

Loading whole files into memory just to append one to another is not very efficient, especially if files are big enough. – Leash

Try to look at the spirit of the answer. The point is that .NET has more than enough IO classes and functions to do this without having to call out to the OS shell. The particular functions I mentioned may not be the best, but those were just the simplest. It doesn't make any sense at all to call out to the shell to do this. – Beige

Answer 10

with a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic

Interaction.Shell("copy /b Image1.jpg + Archive.rar Image2.jpg", AppWinStyle.Hide);

Feudatory

Answer 11

Here is little simple and less code version. It will hide the console window too-

System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
process.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
process.StartInfo.Arguments = "/C copy /b Image1.jpg + Archive.rar Image2.jpg";
process.Start();

Handy

Answer 12

I have the following method, which I use to run the command prompt commands from C#

In first parameter pass the command you want to run

public static string RunCommand(string arguments, bool readOutput)
{
    var output = string.Empty;
    try
    {
        var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
        {
            Verb = "runas",
            FileName = "cmd.exe",
            Arguments = "/C "+arguments,
            WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
            UseShellExecute = false,
            CreateNoWindow = true,
            RedirectStandardOutput = true,
            RedirectStandardError = false
        };

        var proc = Process.Start(startInfo);

        if (readOutput)
        {
            output = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd(); 
        }

        proc.WaitForExit(60000);

        return output;
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        return output;
    }
}

Maldon

Answer 13

You can achieve this by using the following method (as mentioned in other answers):

strCmdText = "'/C some command";
Process.Start("CMD.exe", strCmdText);

When I tried the methods listed above I found that my custom command did not work using the syntax of some of the answers above.

I found out more complex commands need to be encapsulated in quotes to work:

string strCmdText;
strCmdText = "'/C cd " + path + " && composer update && composer install -o'";
Process.Start("CMD.exe", strCmdText);

Erythritol

From my exprience that happens when a filepath contains whitespace - the parser splits by that whitespace. – Hackman

Answer 14

you can use simply write the code in a .bat format extension ,the code of the batch file :

c:/ copy /b Image1.jpg + Archive.rar Image2.jpg

use this c# code :

Process.Start("file_name.bat")

Cagle

if you want to hide the cmd while running you can use a simple visual basic script code in a .vbs format extension ,the code : CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run "filename.bat",0,True – Cagle

Answer 15

You can use RunProcessAsTask pacakge and run your process async and easily like this:

var processResults = await ProcessEx.RunAsync("git.exe", "pull");
//get process result
foreach (var output in processResults.StandardOutput)
{
   Console.WriteLine("Output line: " + output);
}

Motor

Answer 16

This may be a bit of a read so im sorry in advance. And this is my tried and tested way of doing this, there may be a simpler way but this is from me throwing code at a wall and seeing what stuck

If it can be done with a batch file then the maybe over complicated work around is have c# write a .bat file and run it. If you want user input you could place the input into a variable and have c# write it into the file. it will take trial and error with this way because its like controlling a puppet with another puppet.

here is an example, In this case the function is for a push button in windows forum app that clears the print queue.

using System.IO;
using System;

   public static void ClearPrintQueue()
    {

        //this is the path the document or in our case batch file will be placed
        string docPath =
         Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
        //this is the path process.start usues
        string path1 = docPath + "\\Test.bat";

        // these are the batch commands
        // remember its "", the comma separates the lines
        string[] lines =
        {
            "@echo off",
            "net stop spooler",
            "del %systemroot%\\System32\\spool\\Printers\\* /Q",
            "net start spooler",
            //this deletes the file
            "del \"%~f0\"" //do not put a comma on the last line
        };

        //this writes the string to the file
        using (StreamWriter outputFile = new StreamWriter(Path.Combine(docPath, "test.bat")))
        {
            //This writes the file line by line
            foreach (string line in lines)
                outputFile.WriteLine(line);
        }
        System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(path1);

    }

IF you want user input then you could try something like this.

This is for setting the computer IP as static but asking the user what the IP, gateway, and dns server is.

you will need this for it to work

public static void SetIPStatic()
    {
//These open pop up boxes which ask for user input
        string STATIC = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.InputBox("Whats the static IP?", "", "", 100, 100);
        string SUBNET = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.InputBox("Whats the Subnet?(Press enter for default)", "255.255.255.0", "", 100, 100);
        string DEFAULTGATEWAY = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.InputBox("Whats the Default gateway?", "", "", 100, 100);
        string DNS = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.InputBox("Whats the DNS server IP?(Input required, 8.8.4.4 has already been set as secondary)", "", "", 100, 100);



        //this is the path the document or in our case batch file will be placed
        string docPath =
         Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
        //this is the path process.start usues
        string path1 = docPath + "\\Test.bat";

        // these are the batch commands
        // remember its "", the comma separates the lines
        string[] lines =
        {
            "SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion",
            "SET adapterName=",
            "FOR /F \"tokens=* delims=:\" %%a IN ('IPCONFIG ^| FIND /I \"ETHERNET ADAPTER\"') DO (",
            "SET adapterName=%%a",
            "REM Removes \"Ethernet adapter\" from the front of the adapter name",
            "SET adapterName=!adapterName:~17!",
            "REM Removes the colon from the end of the adapter name",
            "SET adapterName=!adapterName:~0,-1!",
//the variables that were set before are used here
            "netsh interface ipv4 set address name=\"!adapterName!\" static " + STATIC + " " + STATIC + " " + DEFAULTGATEWAY,
            "netsh interface ipv4 set dns name=\"!adapterName!\" static " + DNS + " primary",
            "netsh interface ipv4 add dns name=\"!adapterName!\" 8.8.4.4 index=2",
            ")",
            "ipconfig /flushdns",
            "ipconfig /registerdns",
            ":EOF",
            "DEL \"%~f0\"",
            ""
        };

        //this writes the string to the file
        using (StreamWriter outputFile = new StreamWriter(Path.Combine(docPath, "test.bat")))
        {
            //This writes the file line by line
            foreach (string line in lines)
                outputFile.WriteLine(line);
        }
        System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(path1);

    }

Like I said. It may be a little overcomplicated but it never fails unless I write the batch commands wrong.

Punk

Answer 17

Below working program returns version using few Above solutions.

internal class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(getDotnetversion());
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    private static string getDotnetversion()
    {
        string version =string.Empty;
        try
        {
            Process cmdDotnet = new Process();
            cmdDotnet.StartInfo.FileName = "dotnet.exe";
            cmdDotnet.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
            cmdDotnet.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            cmdDotnet.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
            cmdDotnet.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
            cmdDotnet.StartInfo.Arguments = "--version";
            cmdDotnet.Start();
            cmdDotnet.StandardInput.WriteLine("cmd started");
            cmdDotnet.StandardInput.Flush();
            cmdDotnet.StandardInput.Close();
            cmdDotnet.WaitForExit();
            version = cmdDotnet.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
        }
        catch
        {
            version = "";
        }
        return version;
    }
}

Billiards