EXEC(3) | Library Functions Manual | EXEC(3)

# NAME

`execl`, `execlp`, `execlpe`, `execle`, `exect`, `execv`, `execvp`, `execvpe` — execute a file

# LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

# SYNOPSIS

`#include <unistd.h>`

extern char **environ;

int
`execl`(const char *path, const char *arg, ...);

int
`execlp`(const char *file, const char *arg, ...);

int
`execlpe`(const char *file, const char *arg, ..., char *const envp[]);

int
`execle`(const char *path, const char *arg, ..., char *const envp[]);

int
`exect`(const char *path, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);

int
`execv`(const char *path, char *const argv[]);

int
`execvp`(const char *file, char *const argv[]);

int
`execvpe`(const char *file, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);

# DESCRIPTION

The `exec`() family of functions replaces the current process image with a new process image. The functions described in this manual page are front-ends for the function execve(2). (See the manual page for execve(2) for detailed information about the replacement of the current process. The script(7) manual page provides detailed information about the execution of interpreter scripts.)

The initial argument for these functions is the pathname of a file which is to be executed.

The const char *arg and subsequent ellipses in the `execl`(), `execlp`(), `execlpe`(), and `execle`() functions can be thought of as arg0, arg1, ..., argn. Together they describe a list of one or more pointers to NUL-terminated strings that represent the argument list available to the executed program. The first argument, by convention, should point to the file name associated with the file being executed. The list of arguments must be terminated by a `NULL` pointer.

The `exect`(), `execv`(), `execvp`(), and `execvpe`() functions provide an array of pointers to NUL-terminated strings that represent the argument list available to the new program. The first argument, by convention, should point to the file name associated with the file being executed. The array of pointers must be terminated by a `NULL` pointer.

The `execle`(), `execlpe`(), `exect`(), and `execvpe`() functions also specify the environment of the executed process by following the `NULL` pointer that terminates the list of arguments in the parameter list or the pointer to the argv array with an additional parameter. This additional parameter is an array of pointers to NUL-terminated strings and must be terminated by a `NULL` pointer. The other functions take the environment for the new process image from the external variable environ in the current process.

Some of these functions have special semantics.

The functions `execlp`(), `execlpe`(), `execvp`(), and `execvpe`() will duplicate the actions of the shell in searching for an executable file if the specified file name does not contain a slash “`/`” character. The search path is the path specified in the environment by the `PATH` variable. If this variable isn't specified, _PATH_DEFPATH from `<paths.h>` is used instead, its value being: /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/bin. In addition, certain errors are treated specially.

If permission is denied for a file (the attempted execve(2) returned `EACCES`), these functions will continue searching the rest of the search path. If no other file is found, however, they will return with the global variable errno set to `EACCES`.

If the header of a file isn't recognized (the attempted execve(2) returned `ENOEXEC`), these functions will execute the shell with the path of the file as its first argument. (If this attempt fails, no further searching is done.)

If the file is currently busy (the attempted execve(2) returned `ETXTBUSY`), these functions will sleep for several seconds, periodically re-attempting to execute the file.

The function `exect`() executes a file with the program tracing facilities enabled (see ptrace(2)).

# RETURN VALUES

If any of the `exec`() functions returns, an error will have occurred. The return value is -1, and the global variable errno will be set to indicate the error.

# FILES

/bin/sh
  The shell.

# COMPATIBILITY

Historically, the default path for the `execlp`() `execlpe`(), `execvp`(), and `execvpe`() functions was “:/bin:/usr/bin”. This was changed to improve security and behaviour.

The behavior of `execlp`(), `execlpe`(), `execvp`(), and `execvpe`() when errors occur while attempting to execute the file is historic practice, but has not traditionally been documented and is not specified by the POSIX standard.

Traditionally, the functions `execlp`(), `execlpe`(), `execvp`(), and `execvpe`() ignored all errors except for the ones described above and `ENOMEM` and `E2BIG`, upon which they returned. They now return if any error other than the ones described above occurs.

# ERRORS

`execl`(), `execle`(), `execlp`(), `execlpe`(), `execvp`(), and `execvpe`() may fail and set errno for any of the errors specified for the library functions execve(2) and malloc(3).

`exect`() and `execv`() may fail and set errno for any of the errors specified for the library function execve(2).

# SEE ALSO

sh(1), execve(2), fork(2), ptrace(2), environ(7), script(7)

# STANDARDS

`execl`(), `execv`(), `execle`(), `execlp`(), and `execvp`() conform to IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 (“POSIX.1”).

# HISTORY

The `exec`() function appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX. The `execlpe`() function appeared first in QNX and the `execvpe`() function exists on both NetBSD and QNX.

September 1, 2019 | NetBSD 11.0