_execv, _wexecv

Loads and executes new child processes.

Important

This API cannot be used in applications that execute in the Windows Runtime. For more information, see CRT functions not supported in Universal Windows Platform apps.

Syntax

intptr_t _execv(
   const char *cmdname,
   const char *const *argv
);
intptr_t _wexecv(
   const wchar_t *cmdname,
   const wchar_t *const *argv
);

Parameters

cmdname
Path of the file to execute.

argv
Array of pointers to parameters.

Return value

If successful, these functions don't return to the calling process. A return value of -1 indicates an error, in which case the errno global variable is set.

errno value	Description
E2BIG	The space required for the arguments and environment settings exceeds 32 KB.
EACCES	The specified file has a locking or sharing violation.
EINVAL	Invalid parameter.
EMFILE	Too many files open (the specified file must be opened to determine whether it's executable).
ENOENT	The file or path not found.
ENOEXEC	The specified file isn't executable or has an invalid executable-file format.
ENOMEM	Not enough memory is available to execute the new process; the available memory has been corrupted; or an invalid block exists, indicating that the calling process wasn't allocated properly.

For more information about these and other return codes, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

Remarks

Each of these functions loads and executes a new process, passing an array of pointers to command-line arguments.

The _execv functions validate their parameters. If cmdname is a null pointer, or if argv is a null pointer, pointer to an empty array, or if the array contains an empty string as the first argument, the _execv functions invoke the invalid parameter handler as described in Parameter validation. If execution is allowed to continue, these functions set errno to EINVAL and return -1. No process is launched.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Requirements

Function	Required header	Optional header
_execv	<process.h>	<errno.h>
_wexecv	<process.h> or <wchar.h>	<errno.h>

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

See the example in _exec, _wexec functions.

See also

Process and environment control
_exec, _wexec functions
abort
atexit
exit, _Exit, _exit
_onexit, _onexit_m
_spawn, _wspawn functions
system, _wsystem