Running Perl throughC# code

Question

I'm trying to run a perl script through C# code. The perl script takes a text file as input and creates two new files as output (doing some text processing in between). When I run the perl script through C# using the below code, it seems to start executing, but no files are created. Whats the problem? Syntax error?

        ProcessStartInfo perlStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(@"c:\Perl\bin\perl.exe");
        perlStartInfo.Arguments = "c:\\Perl\\DOC-MAT.pl " + "c:\\Perl\\comb1.txt" + "c:\\Perl\\comb1.mat";
        perlStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
        perlStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
        perlStartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
        perlStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;

        Process perl = new Process();
        perl.StartInfo = perlStartInfo;
        perl.Start();
        perl.WaitForExit();
        string output = perl.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();

Here, comb1.txt is my input file, and comb1.mat and comb1.clabel should be the files getting created by the perl code.

1) Does the program have write permissions in C:\Perl ? 2) Is it possible the files are being written to standard out and thus into string output ? — jb.
– jb., Commented Feb 13, 2012 at 9:49

Quick Joe Smith · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-13 09:36:56Z

2

It looks as though you are missing a space between the two file arguments in your string concatenation.

perlStartInfo.Arguments = "c:\\Perl\\DOC-MAT.pl " + "c:\\Perl\\comb1.txt" + "c:\\Perl\\comb1.mat";

Should be:

perlStartInfo.Arguments = "c:\\Perl\\DOC-MAT.pl " + "c:\\Perl\\comb1.txt " + "c:\\Perl\\comb1.mat";

Perhaps a better alternative is to build up an array or List of argument strings, and use string.Join to do the concatenation.

var args = new List<string>();
args.Add(@"c:\file1");
args.Add(@"c:\file2");

psi.Arguments = string.Join(" ", args);

The above will work in .NET4, previous versions may require you to call args.ToArray() before passing it to the join method.

Important edit: Also, I think you need to swap the last two lines to prevent the process waiting indefinitely for the output buffer to clear. See Process.StandardOutput (MSDN) for more details.

edited Feb 13, 2012 at 9:36

answered Feb 13, 2012 at 9:31

Quick Joe Smith

8,2683 gold badges31 silver badges33 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Running Perl throughC# code

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related