1IO::CaptureOutput(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation IO::CaptureOutput(3)
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6 IO::CaptureOutput - (DEPRECATED) capture STDOUT and STDERR from Perl
7 code, subprocesses or XS
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10 version 1.1105
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13 use IO::CaptureOutput qw(capture qxx qxy);
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15 # STDOUT and STDERR separately
16 capture { noisy_sub(@args) } \$stdout, \$stderr;
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18 # STDOUT and STDERR together
19 capture { noisy_sub(@args) } \$combined, \$combined;
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21 # STDOUT and STDERR from external command
22 ($stdout, $stderr, $success) = qxx( @cmd );
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24 # STDOUT and STDERR together from external command
25 ($combined, $success) = qxy( @cmd );
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28 This module is no longer recommended by the maintainer - see
29 Capture::Tiny instead.
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31 This module provides routines for capturing STDOUT and STDERR from perl
32 subroutines, forked system calls (e.g. system(), fork()) and from XS or
33 C modules.
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37 The following functions will be exported on demand.
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39 capture()
40 capture \&subroutine, \$stdout, \$stderr;
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42 Captures everything printed to "STDOUT" and "STDERR" for the duration
43 of &subroutine. $stdout and $stderr are optional scalars that will
44 contain "STDOUT" and "STDERR" respectively.
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46 capture() uses a code prototype so the first argument can be specified
47 directly within brackets if desired.
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49 # shorthand with prototype
50 capture C< print __PACKAGE__ > \$stdout, \$stderr;
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52 Returns the return value(s) of &subroutine. The sub is called in the
53 same context as capture() was called e.g.:
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55 @rv = capture C< wantarray > ; # returns true
56 $rv = capture C< wantarray > ; # returns defined, but not true
57 capture C< wantarray >; # void, returns undef
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59 capture() is able to capture output from subprocesses and C code, which
60 traditional tie() methods of output capture are unable to do.
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62 Note: capture() will only capture output that has been written or
63 flushed to the filehandle.
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65 If the two scalar references refer to the same scalar, then "STDERR"
66 will be merged to "STDOUT" before capturing and the scalar will hold
67 the combined output of both.
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69 capture \&subroutine, \$combined, \$combined;
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71 Normally, capture() uses anonymous, temporary files for capturing
72 output. If desired, specific file names may be provided instead as
73 additional options.
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75 capture \&subroutine, \$stdout, \$stderr, $out_file, $err_file;
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77 Files provided will be clobbered, overwriting any previous data, but
78 will persist after the call to capture() for inspection or other
79 manipulation.
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81 By default, when no references are provided to hold STDOUT or STDERR,
82 output is captured and silently discarded.
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84 # Capture STDOUT, discard STDERR
85 capture \&subroutine, \$stdout;
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87 # Discard STDOUT, capture STDERR
88 capture \&subroutine, undef, \$stderr;
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90 However, even when using "undef", output can be captured to specific
91 files.
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93 # Capture STDOUT to a specific file, discard STDERR
94 capture \&subroutine, \$stdout, undef, $outfile;
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96 # Discard STDOUT, capture STDERR to a specific file
97 capture \&subroutine, undef, \$stderr, undef, $err_file;
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99 # Discard both, capture merged output to a specific file
100 capture \&subroutine, undef, undef, $mergedfile;
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102 It is a fatal error to merge STDOUT and STDERR and request separate,
103 specific files for capture.
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105 # ERROR:
106 capture \&subroutine, \$stdout, \$stdout, $out_file, $err_file;
107 capture \&subroutine, undef, undef, $out_file, $err_file;
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109 If either STDOUT or STDERR should be passed through to the terminal
110 instead of captured, provide a reference to undef -- "\undef" --
111 instead of a capture variable.
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113 # Capture STDOUT, display STDERR
114 capture \&subroutine, \$stdout, \undef;
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116 # Display STDOUT, capture STDERR
117 capture \&subroutine, \undef, \$stderr;
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119 capture_exec()
120 ($stdout, $stderr, $success, $exit_code) = capture_exec(@args);
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122 Captures and returns the output from system(@args). In scalar context,
123 capture_exec() will return what was printed to "STDOUT". In list
124 context, it returns what was printed to "STDOUT" and "STDERR" as well
125 as a success flag and the exit value.
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127 $stdout = capture_exec('perl', '-e', 'print "hello world"');
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129 ($stdout, $stderr, $success, $exit_code) =
130 capture_exec('perl', '-e', 'warn "Test"');
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132 "capture_exec" passes its arguments to system() and on MSWin32 will
133 protect arguments with shell quotes if necessary. This makes it a
134 handy and slightly more portable alternative to backticks, piped open()
135 and "IPC::Open3".
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137 The $success flag returned will be true if the command ran successfully
138 and false if it did not (if the command could not be run or if it ran
139 and returned a non-zero exit value). On failure, the raw exit value of
140 the system() call is available both in the $exit_code returned and in
141 the $? variable.
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143 ($stdout, $stderr, $success, $exit_code) =
144 capture_exec('perl', '-e', 'warn "Test" and exit 1');
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146 if ( ! $success ) {
147 print "The exit code was " . ($exit_code >> 8) . "\n";
148 }
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150 See perlvar for more information on interpreting a child process exit
151 code.
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153 capture_exec_combined()
154 ($combined, $success, $exit_code) = capture_exec_combined(
155 'perl', '-e', 'print "hello\n"', 'warn "Test\n"
156 );
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158 This is just like capture_exec(), except that it merges "STDERR" with
159 "STDOUT" before capturing output.
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161 Note: there is no guarantee that text printed to "STDOUT" and "STDERR"
162 in the subprocess will be appear in order. The actual order will depend
163 on how IO buffering is handled in the subprocess.
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165 qxx()
166 This is an alias for capture_exec().
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168 qxy()
169 This is an alias for capture_exec_combined().
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172 • Capture::Tiny
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174 • IPC::Open3
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176 • IO::Capture
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178 • IO::Utils
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180 • IPC::System::Simple
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183 Bugs / Feature Requests
184 Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at
185 <https://github.com/dagolden/IO-CaptureOutput/issues>. You will be
186 notified automatically of any progress on your issue.
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188 Source Code
189 This is open source software. The code repository is available for
190 public review and contribution under the terms of the license.
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192 <https://github.com/dagolden/IO-CaptureOutput>
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194 git clone https://github.com/dagolden/IO-CaptureOutput.git
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197 • Simon Flack <simonflk@cpan.org>
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199 • David Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>
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202 • David Golden <xdg@xdg.me>
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204 • José Joaquín Atria <jjatria@gmail.com>
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206 • Mike Latimer <mlatimer@suse.com>
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208 • Olivier Mengué <dolmen@cpan.org>
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210 • Tony Cook <tony@develop-help.com>
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213 This software is copyright (c) 2019 by Simon Flack and David Golden.
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215 This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
216 the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
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220perl v5.38.0 2023-07-20 IO::CaptureOutput(3)