Feature gate: #![feature(windows_process_extensions_raw_arg)]
This is a tracking issue for the raw_arg extension to std::process::Command on Windows.
Windows programs on the lowest API layers actually aren't required to accept arguments as an array of strings.
In fact the illusion that they do accept arguments as an array of strings is mostly maintained by one function. CommandLineToArgvW. Not all programs use that function to parse arguments. Some of the programs that don't do this are really important, like cmd.exe. These programs instead read their argument as one large string, which makes them incompatible with how std::process::Command::arg passes the arguments. std::process::Command::arg assumes the program will parse the string using CommandLineToArgvW. Most of the time this is a reasonable assumption to make.
Solution: raw_arg. Strings passed via raw_arg are sent straight through with no alteration, save for inserting spaces inbetween them. Raw args are not quoted, escaped, or really anything complicated like that. This makes them compatible with Windows executable files which don't use CommandLineToArgvW.
Public API
use std::process::Command;
// This will print
// "Hello World!"
// with the quotes, which is not possible with std::process::Command and `cmd.exe`
// with the current `.arg()` method.
let cmd = Command::new("cmd.exe").raw_arg("/C echo \"Hello World!\"");
// You can also chain this
Command::new("cmd.exe")
.raw_arg("/C")
.raw_arg("echo")
.raw_arg("\"Hello World!\"")Steps / History
Unresolved Questions
Feature gate:
#![feature(windows_process_extensions_raw_arg)]This is a tracking issue for the raw_arg extension to
std::process::Commandon Windows.Windows programs on the lowest API layers actually aren't required to accept arguments as an array of strings.
In fact the illusion that they do accept arguments as an array of strings is mostly maintained by one function. CommandLineToArgvW. Not all programs use that function to parse arguments. Some of the programs that don't do this are really important, like
cmd.exe. These programs instead read their argument as one large string, which makes them incompatible with howstd::process::Command::argpasses the arguments.std::process::Command::argassumes the program will parse the string usingCommandLineToArgvW. Most of the time this is a reasonable assumption to make.Solution:
raw_arg. Strings passed viaraw_argare sent straight through with no alteration, save for inserting spaces inbetween them. Raw args are not quoted, escaped, or really anything complicated like that. This makes them compatible with Windows executable files which don't use CommandLineToArgvW.Public API
Steps / History
Unresolved Questions