Execute one or more child processes.
execute_process(COMMAND <cmd1> [<arguments>]
[COMMAND <cmd2> [<arguments>]]...
[WORKING_DIRECTORY <directory>]
[TIMEOUT <seconds>]
[RESULT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[RESULTS_VARIABLE <variable>]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[ERROR_VARIABLE <variable>]
[INPUT_FILE <file>]
[OUTPUT_FILE <file>]
[ERROR_FILE <file>]
[OUTPUT_QUIET]
[ERROR_QUIET]
[COMMAND_ECHO <where>]
[OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE]
[ERROR_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE]
[ENCODING <name>]
[ECHO_OUTPUT_VARIABLE]
[ECHO_ERROR_VARIABLE]
[COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL <ANY|LAST|NONE>])
Runs the given sequence of one or more commands.
Commands are executed concurrently as a pipeline, with the standard output of each process piped to the standard input of the next. A single standard error pipe is used for all processes.
execute_process runs commands while CMake is configuring the project,
prior to build system generation. Use the add_custom_target() and
add_custom_command() commands to create custom commands that run
at build time.
Options:
COMMANDA child process command line.
CMake executes the child process using operating system APIs directly:
On POSIX platforms, the command line is passed to the child process
in an argv[] style array. No intermediate shell is executed,
so shell operators such as > are treated as normal arguments.
On Windows platforms, the command line is encoded as a string such that child processes using CommandLineToArgvW will decode the original arguments.
If the command runs a .exe, .com, or other executable,
no intermediate command interpreter is executed, so shell operators
such as > are treated as normal arguments.
If the command runs a .bat or .cmd script, it is executed
through the cmd command interpreter. The command interpreter
does not use CommandLineToArgvW, so some arguments may be received
by the script with extra quoting.
Changed in version 4.0: .bat and .cmd scripts are now explicitly executed through the
command interpreter by prepending cmd /c call to the command line.
Previously, they were implicitly executed through cmd /c, without
call, by undocumented behavior of CreateProcessW.
Use the INPUT_*, OUTPUT_*, and ERROR_* options to
redirect stdin, stdout, and stderr.
For sequential execution of multiple commands use multiple
execute_process calls each with a single COMMAND argument.
WORKING_DIRECTORYThe named directory will be set as the current working directory of the child processes.
TIMEOUTAfter the specified number of seconds (fractions allowed), all unfinished
child processes will be terminated, and the RESULT_VARIABLE will be
set to a string mentioning the "timeout".
RESULT_VARIABLEThe variable will be set to contain the result of last child process. This will be an integer return code from the last child or a string describing an error condition.
RESULTS_VARIABLE <variable>Added in version 3.10.
The variable will be set to contain the result of all processes as a
semicolon-separated list, in order of the
given COMMAND arguments. Each entry will be an integer return code
from the corresponding child or a string describing an error condition.
INPUT_FILE <file><file> is attached to the standard input pipe of the first COMMAND
process.
OUTPUT_FILE <file><file> is attached to the standard output pipe of the last COMMAND
process.
ERROR_FILE <file><file> is attached to the standard error pipe of all COMMAND
processes.
Added in version 3.3: If the same <file> is named for both OUTPUT_FILE and ERROR_FILE
then it will be used for both standard output and standard error pipes.
OUTPUT_QUIET, ERROR_QUIETThe standard output on OUTPUT_VARIABLE or standard error on
ERROR_VARIABLE are not connected (no variable content).
The *_FILE and ECHO_*_VARIABLE options are not affected.
OUTPUT_VARIABLE, ERROR_VARIABLEThe variable named will be set with the contents of the standard output and standard error pipes, respectively. If the same variable is named for both pipes their output will be merged in the order produced.
ECHO_OUTPUT_VARIABLE, ECHO_ERROR_VARIABLEAdded in version 3.18.
The standard output or standard error will not be exclusively redirected to the specified variables.
The output will be duplicated into the specified variables and also onto
standard output or standard error analogous to the tee Unix command.
Note
If more than one OUTPUT_* or ERROR_* option is given for the
same pipe the precedence is not specified.
If no OUTPUT_* or ERROR_* options are given the output will
be shared with the corresponding pipes of the CMake process itself.
COMMAND_ECHO <where>Added in version 3.15.
The command being run will be echo'ed to <where> with <where>
being set to one of STDERR, STDOUT or NONE.
See the CMAKE_EXECUTE_PROCESS_COMMAND_ECHO variable for a way
to control the default behavior when this option is not present.
ENCODING <name>Added in version 3.8.
On Windows, the encoding that is used to decode output from the process. Ignored on other platforms. Valid encoding names are:
NONEPerform no decoding. This assumes that the process output is encoded in the same way as CMake's internal encoding (UTF-8).
This was the default in CMake 3.14 and older.
AUTOUse the current active console's codepage or if that isn't available then use ANSI.
This was the default in CMake 3.15 through 3.30.
ANSIUse the ANSI codepage.
OEMUse the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) code page.
UTF-8Added in version 3.11.
Use the UTF-8 codepage.
This is the default since CMake 3.31. See policy CMP0176.
UTF8Use the UTF-8 codepage. Use of this name is discouraged in favor
of UTF-8 to match the
UTF-8 RFC
naming convention.
COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL <ANY|LAST|NONE>Added in version 3.19.
The option following COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL determines the behavior when
an error is encountered:
ANYIf any of the commands in the list of commands fail, the
execute_process() command halts with an error.
LASTIf the last command in the list of commands fails, the
execute_process() command halts with an error.
Commands earlier in the list will not cause a fatal error.
NONEAdded in version 4.0.
Regardless of any of the commands failing, the execute_process()
command will not halt with an error.
Added in version 4.0: If not provided, the
CMAKE_EXECUTE_PROCESS_COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL variable
is checked. If the variable is not set, the default is NONE.
If RESULT_VARIABLE or RESULTS_VARIABLE is supplied,
CMAKE_EXECUTE_PROCESS_COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL is ignored.