Edit

Share via

_execvp, _wexecvp

  • Article

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 _execvp(
   const char *cmdname,
   const char *const *argv
);
intptr_t _wexecvp(
   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 and using the PATH environment variable to find the file to execute.

The _execvp functions validate their parameters. These functions invoke the invalid parameter handler, as described in Parameter validation, when:

  • cmdname is a null pointer,
  • argv is either a null pointer or pointer to an empty array,
  • the array contains an empty string as the first argument.

If execution is allowed to continue by the handler, 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
_execvp <process.h> <errno.h>
_wexecvp <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