in reply to System and a question of style

Why don't you write a sub that does everything you want around each system call? That way you can change your mind later; add logging in one place, etc. 

sub run_command
{
    my $command = shift;

    system($command);
    if ($?)
    {
        my $rc = $? >> 8;
        die "Failed to run '$command': exit code $rc\n";
    }
}

run_command('vxdg deport oracle');
run_command('something else ...');

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Re: Re: System and a question of style
by submersible_toaster (Chaplain) on Feb 07, 2003 at 05:42 UTC

    Good idea steves++ , I suppose it depends on one's perl version and personal preference, but being able to call system with list syntax (bypassing the shell hence no jiggery-pokery with escaping things) is IMHO so groovy it hurts doing it the old way!. I'd make a small modification to your subroutine.

    sub run_command
  {
      # invoke system(@list) if more than one arg passed.
      ($#_) ? system(@_) : system($_[0]);
      
      if ($?)
      {
          my $rc = $? >> 8;
          die "Failed to run '$command': exit code $rc\n";
      }
  }
  # Easy arg passing with a list;
  run_command('blah' , '-v' , '-q');
  # Pass as scalar for shell interpretation of metachars
  run_command('tar cvf /dev/null /tmp/*.sock');

    [download]

    warning - the args to run_command are untested but no harmful

    I can't believe it's not psellchecked
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[d/l]
      Perhaps you should put $! in the die string too.
[reply]

      Why don't force the list syntax? For example, doing a system(@_,"")?

      --bronto

      The very nature of Perl to be like natural language--inconsistant and full of dwim and special cases--makes it impossible to know it all without simply memorizing the documentation (which is not complete or totally correct anyway).
      --John M. Dlugosz
[reply]
[d/l]

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