In
UNIX/
linux programming, the
system("...")
command is used in
C/C++ code to
execute a command as if you typed it at the
command line.
For example:
system("cat readme.txt");
>
would print the readme.txt text file out to the screen just as if you had typed "
cat readme.txt" on the command line.
It is a very bad idea to use this command in programs that will be running with special (or really any) priveliges (for
security reasons). By
hex editing or devious file name and
path manipulation, a
malicious user (
hacker) with access to that program could easily execute anything he or she desired on your machine.
A particularly good reference to learn more about this and other unix commands is
Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment by
W. Richard Stevens.