Execute multiple command lines with the same process using .NET

Question

I'm trying to execute multiple commands without create a new process each time. Basically, I want to start the DOS command shell, switch to the MySQL command shell, and execute a command. Here's how I am calling the procedure (also below). Also, how do I handle the "\"'s in the command?

ExecuteCommand("mysql --user=root --password=sa casemanager", 100, false);

ExecuteCommand(@"\. " + Environment.CurrentDirectory + @"\MySQL\CaseManager.sql", 100, true);

private void ExecuteCommand(string Command, int Timeout, Boolean closeProcess)
{
    ProcessStartInfo ProcessInfo;
    Process Process;

    ProcessInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/C " + Command);
    ProcessInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
    ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    Process = Process.Start(ProcessInfo);
    Process.WaitForExit(Timeout);

    if (closeProcess == true) { Process.Close(); }
}

DotNetUser · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-12 15:07:24Z

87

You can redirect standard input and use a StreamWriter to write to it:

        Process p = new Process();
        ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
        info.FileName = "cmd.exe";
        info.RedirectStandardInput = true;
        info.UseShellExecute = false;

        p.StartInfo = info;
        p.Start();

        using (StreamWriter sw = p.StandardInput)
        {
            if (sw.BaseStream.CanWrite)
            {
                sw.WriteLine("mysql -u root -p");
                sw.WriteLine("mypassword");
                sw.WriteLine("use mydb;");
            }
        }

edited Sep 12, 2011 at 15:07

DotNetUser

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answered Jan 12, 2009 at 23:23

scottm

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4 Comments

calben Over a year ago

i have tried this and the process seems to exit before commands can be piped to it. could somebody point me to where i'm going wrong or has the usage changed in the past few years?

Josh Over a year ago

Works fine for me. Perhaps this can be marked as answer?

9swampy Over a year ago

This didn't work for me in Corporate environment; I presume because there's some security preventing RedirectStandardInput. Calling CMD with && concatenating (see below) worked though.

Phate01 Sep 12 at 10:53

In my case I had to add sw.WriteLine("exit"); to make the process quit

Filip · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-12 14:13:38Z

64

const string strCmdText = "/C command1&command2";
Process.Start("CMD.exe", strCmdText);

answered Apr 12, 2013 at 14:13

Filip

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2 Comments

Tomáš Zato Over a year ago

This is what I was looking for. Ot also works with speci commands like IF.

Naveen Kumar Over a year ago

This one also works const string strCmdText = "/C (command1)&(command2)";

PeterJ · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-03 05:53:12Z

As another answer alludes to under newer versions of Windows it seems to be necessary to read the standard output and/or standard error streams otherwise it will stall between commands. A neater way to do that instead of using delays is to use an async callback to consume output from the stream:

static void RunCommands(List<string> cmds, string workingDirectory = "")
{
    var process = new Process();
    var psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
    psi.FileName = "cmd.exe";
    psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;
    psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
    psi.UseShellExecute = false;
    psi.WorkingDirectory = workingDirectory;
    process.StartInfo = psi;
    process.Start();
    process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) => { Console.WriteLine(e.Data); };
    process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) => { Console.WriteLine(e.Data); };
    process.BeginOutputReadLine();
    process.BeginErrorReadLine();
    using (StreamWriter sw = process.StandardInput)
    {
        foreach (var cmd in cmds)
        {
            sw.WriteLine (cmd);
        }
    }
    process.WaitForExit();
}

M4N · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-12 23:21:39Z

14

Couldn't you just write all the commands into a .cmd file in the temp folder and then execute that file?

answered Jan 12, 2009 at 23:21

M4N

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3 Comments

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

Not sure why this is being flagged as not an answer, just because it ends with a question mark doesn't make it not an answer =p

Andreas Reiff Over a year ago

I was wondernig about a similar solution, but in some cases (like mine) there might be passwords included, so you should hope there is no crash in the wrong moment and erase the file properly.. so it would have drawbacks as well.

Tomáš Zato Over a year ago

Also people get confused if you distribute your program with too many batch files.

Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩 · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-17 16:24:38Z

7

I prefer to do it by using a BAT file.

With BAT file you have more control and can do whatever you want.

string batFileName = path + @"\" + Guid.NewGuid() + ".bat";

using (StreamWriter batFile = new StreamWriter(batFileName))
{
    batFile.WriteLine($"YOUR COMMAND");
    batFile.WriteLine($"YOUR COMMAND");
    batFile.WriteLine($"YOUR COMMAND");
}

ProcessStartInfo processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/c " + batFileName);
processStartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
processStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
processStartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo = processStartInfo;
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();

File.Delete(batFileName);

edited Jan 17, 2020 at 16:24

Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩

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answered Jan 17, 2020 at 16:00

Hermes Monteiro

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Comments

Michael Petrotta · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-22 00:55:35Z

6

ProcessStartInfo pStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
pStartInfo.FileName = "CMD";
pStartInfo.Arguments = @"/C mysql --user=root --password=sa casemanager && \. " + Environment.CurrentDirectory + @"\MySQL\CaseManager.sql"
pStartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
Process.Start(pStartInfo);

The && is the way to tell the command shell that there is another command to execute.

edited Aug 22, 2012 at 0:55

Michael Petrotta

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answered Aug 22, 2012 at 0:20

Jimmy

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1 Comment

Filip Over a year ago

&& means if the left command fails, the right one won't get executed, see support.microsoft.com/kb/279253/en-us. You can just use the single & in case that's not desired

ChrisW · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-12 23:25:50Z

3

A command-line process such cmd.exe or mysql.exe will usually read (and execute) whatever you (the user) type in (at the keyboard).

To mimic that, I think you want to use the RedirectStandardInput property: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.processstartinfo.redirectstandardinput.aspx

answered Jan 12, 2009 at 23:25

ChrisW

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1 Comment

Andreas Reiff Over a year ago

Very useful, e. g. if the commands might contain an ampersand. (I will have user-entered text in them, so they might contain anything, I assume I would get my ampersand misinterpreted as "new command" with above solution.)

Ben Hoffstein · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-12 23:26:19Z

1

You could also tell MySQL to execute the commands in the given file, like so:

mysql --user=root --password=sa casemanager < CaseManager.sql

answered Jan 12, 2009 at 23:26

Ben Hoffstein

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Comments

Fernando Reis Guimaraes · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-06 07:55:55Z

You need to READ ALL data from input, before send another command!

And you can't ask to READ if no data is avaliable... little bit suck isn't?

My solutions... when ask to read... ask to read a big buffer... like 1 MEGA...

And you will need wait a min 100 milliseconds... sample code...

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim oProcess As New Process()
        Dim oStartInfo As New ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "")
        oStartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
        oStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
        oStartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True
        oStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
        oProcess.StartInfo = oStartInfo
        oProcess.Start()


        Dim Response As String = String.Empty
        Dim BuffSize As Integer = 1024 * 1024
        Dim x As Char() = New Char(BuffSize - 1) {}
        Dim bytesRead As Integer = 0


        oProcess.StandardInput.WriteLine("dir")
        Threading.Thread.Sleep(100)
        bytesRead = oProcess.StandardOutput.Read(x, 0, BuffSize)
        Response = String.Concat(Response, String.Join("", x).Substring(0, bytesRead))




        MsgBox(Response)
        Response = String.Empty






        oProcess.StandardInput.WriteLine("dir c:\")
        Threading.Thread.Sleep(100)
        bytesRead = 0
        bytesRead = oProcess.StandardOutput.Read(x, 0, BuffSize)
        Response = String.Concat(Response, String.Join("", x).Substring(0, bytesRead))

        MsgBox(Response)


    End Sub
End Class

MiMFa · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-14 11:44:31Z

0

I'm using these methods:

    public static Process StartCommand(params string[] commands) => StartCommand(commands, false);
    public static Process StartCommand(IEnumerable<string> commands, bool inBackground, bool runAsAdministrator = true)
    {
        Process p = new Process();
        p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
        if(commands.Any()) p.StartInfo.Arguments = @"/C " + string.Join("&&", commands);
        if (runAsAdministrator)
            p.StartInfo.Verb = "runas";
        if (inBackground)
        {
            p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
            p.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
        }
        p.Start();
        return p;
    }

Enjoy...

answered Jun 14, 2022 at 11:44

MiMFa

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