How Can I Execute a Non-Lua File From a Lua Script?

Question

I have a Lua script and I want to execute a batch file from within this file; how can I do this?

I've seen examples as follows that I thought could do this but in retrospect I am probably misunderstanding their purpose:

os.execute('C:\\tmp\\MyFile.bat')

or

local handle = io.open('C:\\tmp\\MyFile.bat')
handle:close()

I believe this question has been asked and answered before: How do I run an executable using Lua?

However my code is failing; I'm not sure why. Is there a library I need to load for 'os' for example?

When I try and run this code I get the following error:

"attempt to index a nil value"

What about those examples is not working for you? If you are getting errors from either of them please include those. — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 17:51
I assume that's for the second (io.open) case? That just means io.open didn't return a handle, which means something failed. In that case io.open returns a second error value. local handle, err = io.open(...) if not handle then print(err) else handle:close() end`. — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 17:57
Also io.open opens the file for reading/writing. It doesn't execute anything. Use os.execute or io.popen for executing processes. — Colonel Thirty Two
– Colonel Thirty Two, Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 18:06
I have tried io.popen and os.execute and it's as if io/os are not visible; is there a library I must load? — Gedalya
– Gedalya, Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 18:12

Jonathan · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-12 17:48:26Z

1

You have to use os.execute[[yourFile.bat]] when opening a batch file.
More information for this here

answered Sep 12, 2014 at 13:45

Jonathan

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