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Call php in c# with Process.Start [duplicate]

I have the following code:
info = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("TheProgram.exe", String.Join(" ", args));
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
System.Diagnostics.Process p = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(info);
p.WaitForExit();
Console.WriteLine(p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()); //need the StandardOutput contents
I know that the output from the process I am starting is around 7MB long. Running it in the Windows console works fine. Unfortunately programmatically this hangs indefinitely at WaitForExit. Note also this code does NOT hang for smaller outputs (like 3KB).
Is it possible that the internal StandardOutput in ProcessStartInfo can't buffer 7MB? If so, what should I do instead? If not, what am I doing wrong?

The problem is that if you redirect StandardOutput and/or StandardError the internal buffer can become full. Whatever order you use, there can be a problem:
If you wait for the process to exit before reading StandardOutput the process can block trying to write to it, so the process never ends.
If you read from StandardOutput using ReadToEnd then your process can block if the process never closes StandardOutput (for example if it never terminates, or if it is blocked writing to StandardError).
The solution is to use asynchronous reads to ensure that the buffer doesn't get full. To avoid any deadlocks and collect up all output from both StandardOutput and StandardError you can do this:
EDIT: See answers below for how avoid an ObjectDisposedException if the timeout occurs.
using (Process process = new Process())
{
process.StartInfo.FileName = filename;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = arguments;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
StringBuilder error = new StringBuilder();
using (AutoResetEvent outputWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
using (AutoResetEvent errorWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
{
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) => {
if (e.Data == null)
{
outputWaitHandle.Set();
}
else
{
output.AppendLine(e.Data);
}
};
process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data == null)
{
errorWaitHandle.Set();
}
else
{
error.AppendLine(e.Data);
}
};
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
if (process.WaitForExit(timeout) &&
outputWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeout) &&
errorWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeout))
{
// Process completed. Check process.ExitCode here.
}
else
{
// Timed out.
}
}
}

The documentation for Process.StandardOutput says to read before you wait otherwise you can deadlock, snippet copied below:
// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();
// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "Write500Lines.exe";
p.Start();
// Do not wait for the child process to exit before
// reading to the end of its redirected stream.
// p.WaitForExit();
// Read the output stream first and then wait.
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();

This is a more modern awaitable, Task Parallel Library (TPL) based solution for .NET 4.5 and above.
Usage Example
try
{
var exitCode = await StartProcess(
"dotnet",
"--version",
#"C:\",
10000,
Console.Out,
Console.Out);
Console.WriteLine($"Process Exited with Exit Code {exitCode}!");
}
catch (TaskCanceledException)
{
Console.WriteLine("Process Timed Out!");
}
Implementation
public static async Task<int> StartProcess(
string filename,
string arguments,
string workingDirectory= null,
int? timeout = null,
TextWriter outputTextWriter = null,
TextWriter errorTextWriter = null)
{
using (var process = new Process()
{
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo()
{
CreateNoWindow = true,
Arguments = arguments,
FileName = filename,
RedirectStandardOutput = outputTextWriter != null,
RedirectStandardError = errorTextWriter != null,
UseShellExecute = false,
WorkingDirectory = workingDirectory
}
})
{
var cancellationTokenSource = timeout.HasValue ?
new CancellationTokenSource(timeout.Value) :
new CancellationTokenSource();
process.Start();
var tasks = new List<Task>(3) { process.WaitForExitAsync(cancellationTokenSource.Token) };
if (outputTextWriter != null)
{
tasks.Add(ReadAsync(
x =>
{
process.OutputDataReceived += x;
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
},
x => process.OutputDataReceived -= x,
outputTextWriter,
cancellationTokenSource.Token));
}
if (errorTextWriter != null)
{
tasks.Add(ReadAsync(
x =>
{
process.ErrorDataReceived += x;
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
},
x => process.ErrorDataReceived -= x,
errorTextWriter,
cancellationTokenSource.Token));
}
await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
return process.ExitCode;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Waits asynchronously for the process to exit.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="process">The process to wait for cancellation.</param>
/// <param name="cancellationToken">A cancellation token. If invoked, the task will return
/// immediately as cancelled.</param>
/// <returns>A Task representing waiting for the process to end.</returns>
public static Task WaitForExitAsync(
this Process process,
CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken))
{
process.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
var taskCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
EventHandler handler = null;
handler = (sender, args) =>
{
process.Exited -= handler;
taskCompletionSource.TrySetResult(null);
};
process.Exited += handler;
if (cancellationToken != default(CancellationToken))
{
cancellationToken.Register(
() =>
{
process.Exited -= handler;
taskCompletionSource.TrySetCanceled();
});
}
return taskCompletionSource.Task;
}
/// <summary>
/// Reads the data from the specified data recieved event and writes it to the
/// <paramref name="textWriter"/>.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="addHandler">Adds the event handler.</param>
/// <param name="removeHandler">Removes the event handler.</param>
/// <param name="textWriter">The text writer.</param>
/// <param name="cancellationToken">The cancellation token.</param>
/// <returns>A task representing the asynchronous operation.</returns>
public static Task ReadAsync(
this Action<DataReceivedEventHandler> addHandler,
Action<DataReceivedEventHandler> removeHandler,
TextWriter textWriter,
CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken))
{
var taskCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
DataReceivedEventHandler handler = null;
handler = new DataReceivedEventHandler(
(sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data == null)
{
removeHandler(handler);
taskCompletionSource.TrySetResult(null);
}
else
{
textWriter.WriteLine(e.Data);
}
});
addHandler(handler);
if (cancellationToken != default(CancellationToken))
{
cancellationToken.Register(
() =>
{
removeHandler(handler);
taskCompletionSource.TrySetCanceled();
});
}
return taskCompletionSource.Task;
}

Mark Byers' answer is excellent, but I would just add the following:
The OutputDataReceived and ErrorDataReceived delegates need to be removed before the outputWaitHandle and errorWaitHandle get disposed. If the process continues to output data after the timeout has been exceeded and then terminates, the outputWaitHandle and errorWaitHandle variables will be accessed after being disposed.
(FYI I had to add this caveat as an answer as I couldn't comment on his post.)

The problem with unhandled ObjectDisposedException happens when the process is timed out. In such case the other parts of the condition:
if (process.WaitForExit(timeout)
&& outputWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeout)
&& errorWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeout))
are not executed. I resolved this problem in a following way:
using (AutoResetEvent outputWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
using (AutoResetEvent errorWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
{
using (Process process = new Process())
{
// preparing ProcessStartInfo
try
{
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data == null)
{
outputWaitHandle.Set();
}
else
{
outputBuilder.AppendLine(e.Data);
}
};
process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data == null)
{
errorWaitHandle.Set();
}
else
{
errorBuilder.AppendLine(e.Data);
}
};
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
if (process.WaitForExit(timeout))
{
exitCode = process.ExitCode;
}
else
{
// timed out
}
output = outputBuilder.ToString();
}
finally
{
outputWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeout);
errorWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeout);
}
}
}

Rob answered it and saved me few more hours of trials. Read the output/error buffer before waiting:
// Read the output stream first and then wait.
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();

We have this issue as well (or a variant).
Try the following:
1) Add a timeout to p.WaitForExit(nnnn); where nnnn is in milliseconds.
2) Put the ReadToEnd call before the WaitForExit call. This is what we've seen MS recommend.

Credit to EM0 for https://stackoverflow.com/a/17600012/4151626
The other solutions (including EM0's) still deadlocked for my application, due to internal timeouts and the use of both StandardOutput and StandardError by the spawned application. Here is what worked for me:
Process p = new Process()
{
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo()
{
FileName = exe,
Arguments = args,
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
RedirectStandardError = true
}
};
p.Start();
string cv_error = null;
Thread et = new Thread(() => { cv_error = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd(); });
et.Start();
string cv_out = null;
Thread ot = new Thread(() => { cv_out = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd(); });
ot.Start();
p.WaitForExit();
ot.Join();
et.Join();
Edit: added initialization of StartInfo to code sample

I solved it this way:
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo.FileName = batchFile;
proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
proc.Start();
StreamWriter streamWriter = proc.StandardInput;
StreamReader outputReader = proc.StandardOutput;
StreamReader errorReader = proc.StandardError;
while (!outputReader.EndOfStream)
{
string text = outputReader.ReadLine();
streamWriter.WriteLine(text);
}
while (!errorReader.EndOfStream)
{
string text = errorReader.ReadLine();
streamWriter.WriteLine(text);
}
streamWriter.Close();
proc.WaitForExit();
I redirected both input, output and error and handled reading from output and error streams.
This solution works for SDK 7- 8.1, both for Windows 7 and Windows 8

I tried to make a class that would solve your problem using asynchronous stream read, by taking in account Mark Byers, Rob, stevejay answers. Doing so I realised that there is a bug related to asynchronous process output stream read.
I reported that bug at Microsoft: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/3119134
Summary:
You can't do that:
process.BeginOutputReadLine(); process.Start();
You will receive System.InvalidOperationException : StandardOut has
not been redirected or the process hasn't started yet.
============================================================================================================================
Then you have to start asynchronous output read after the process is
started:
process.Start(); process.BeginOutputReadLine();
Doing so, make a race condition because the output stream can receive
data before you set it to asynchronous:
process.Start();
// Here the operating system could give the cpu to another thread.
// For example, the newly created thread (Process) and it could start writing to the output
// immediately before next line would execute.
// That create a race condition.
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
============================================================================================================================
Then some people could say that you just have to read the stream
before you set it to asynchronous. But the same problem occurs. There
will be a race condition between the synchronous read and set the
stream into asynchronous mode.
============================================================================================================================
There is no way to acheive safe asynchronous read of an output stream
of a process in the actual way "Process" and "ProcessStartInfo" has
been designed.
You are probably better using asynchronous read like suggested by other users for your case. But you should be aware that you could miss some information due to race condition.

I think with async, it is possible to have a more elegant solution and not having deadlocks even when using both standardOutput and standardError:
using (Process process = new Process())
{
process.StartInfo.FileName = filename;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = arguments;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.Start();
var tStandardOutput = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEndAsync();
var tStandardError = process.StandardError.ReadToEndAsync();
if (process.WaitForExit(timeout))
{
string output = await tStandardOutput;
string errors = await tStandardError;
// Process completed. Check process.ExitCode here.
}
else
{
// Timed out.
}
}
It is base on Mark Byers answer.
If you are not in an async method, you can use string output = tStandardOutput.result; instead of await

I've read many of the answers and made my own. Not sure this one will fix in any case, but it fixes in my environment. I'm just not using WaitForExit and use WaitHandle.WaitAll on both output & error end signals. I will be glad, if someone will see possible problems with that. Or if it will help someone. For me it's better because not uses timeouts.
private static int DoProcess(string workingDir, string fileName, string arguments)
{
int exitCode;
using (var process = new Process
{
StartInfo =
{
WorkingDirectory = workingDir,
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
CreateNoWindow = true,
UseShellExecute = false,
FileName = fileName,
Arguments = arguments,
RedirectStandardError = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true
},
EnableRaisingEvents = true
})
{
using (var outputWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
using (var errorWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
{
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, args) =>
{
// ReSharper disable once AccessToDisposedClosure
if (args.Data != null) Debug.Log(args.Data);
else outputWaitHandle.Set();
};
process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, args) =>
{
// ReSharper disable once AccessToDisposedClosure
if (args.Data != null) Debug.LogError(args.Data);
else errorWaitHandle.Set();
};
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
WaitHandle.WaitAll(new WaitHandle[] { outputWaitHandle, errorWaitHandle });
exitCode = process.ExitCode;
}
}
return exitCode;
}

I thing that this is simple and better approach (we don't need AutoResetEvent):
public static string GGSCIShell(string Path, string Command)
{
using (Process process = new Process())
{
process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = Path;
process.StartInfo.FileName = Path + #"\ggsci.exe";
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data != null)
{
output.AppendLine(e.Data);
}
};
process.Start();
process.StandardInput.WriteLine(Command);
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
int timeoutParts = 10;
int timeoutPart = (int)TIMEOUT / timeoutParts;
do
{
Thread.Sleep(500);//sometimes halv scond is enough to empty output buff (therefore "exit" will be accepted without "timeoutPart" waiting)
process.StandardInput.WriteLine("exit");
timeoutParts--;
}
while (!process.WaitForExit(timeoutPart) && timeoutParts > 0);
if (timeoutParts <= 0)
{
output.AppendLine("------ GGSCIShell TIMEOUT: " + TIMEOUT + "ms ------");
}
string result = output.ToString();
return result;
}
}

None of the answers above is doing the job.
Rob solution hangs and 'Mark Byers' solution get the disposed exception.(I tried the "solutions" of the other answers).
So I decided to suggest another solution:
public void GetProcessOutputWithTimeout(Process process, int timeoutSec, CancellationToken token, out string output, out int exitCode)
{
string outputLocal = ""; int localExitCode = -1;
var task = System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
outputLocal = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
process.WaitForExit();
localExitCode = process.ExitCode;
}, token);
if (task.Wait(timeoutSec, token))
{
output = outputLocal;
exitCode = localExitCode;
}
else
{
exitCode = -1;
output = "";
}
}
using (var process = new Process())
{
process.StartInfo = ...;
process.Start();
string outputUnicode; int exitCode;
GetProcessOutputWithTimeout(process, PROCESS_TIMEOUT, out outputUnicode, out exitCode);
}
This code debugged and works perfectly.

Introduction
Currently accepted answer doesn't work (throws exception) and there are too many workarounds but no complete code. This is obviously wasting lots of people's time because this is a popular question.
Combining Mark Byers' answer and Karol Tyl's answer I wrote full code based on how I want to use the Process.Start method.
Usage
I have used it to create progress dialog around git commands. This is how I've used it:
private bool Run(string fullCommand)
{
Error = "";
int timeout = 5000;
var result = ProcessNoBS.Start(
filename: #"C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe",
arguments: fullCommand,
timeoutInMs: timeout,
workingDir: #"C:\test");
if (result.hasTimedOut)
{
Error = String.Format("Timeout ({0} sec)", timeout/1000);
return false;
}
if (result.ExitCode != 0)
{
Error = (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(result.stderr))
? result.stdout : result.stderr;
return false;
}
return true;
}
In theory you can also combine stdout and stderr, but I haven't tested that.
Code
public struct ProcessResult
{
public string stdout;
public string stderr;
public bool hasTimedOut;
private int? exitCode;
public ProcessResult(bool hasTimedOut = true)
{
this.hasTimedOut = hasTimedOut;
stdout = null;
stderr = null;
exitCode = null;
}
public int ExitCode
{
get
{
if (hasTimedOut)
throw new InvalidOperationException(
"There was no exit code - process has timed out.");
return (int)exitCode;
}
set
{
exitCode = value;
}
}
}
public class ProcessNoBS
{
public static ProcessResult Start(string filename, string arguments,
string workingDir = null, int timeoutInMs = 5000,
bool combineStdoutAndStderr = false)
{
using (AutoResetEvent outputWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
using (AutoResetEvent errorWaitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false))
{
using (var process = new Process())
{
var info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.FileName = filename;
info.Arguments = arguments;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.RedirectStandardError = true;
if (workingDir != null)
info.WorkingDirectory = workingDir;
process.StartInfo = info;
StringBuilder stdout = new StringBuilder();
StringBuilder stderr = combineStdoutAndStderr
? stdout : new StringBuilder();
var result = new ProcessResult();
try
{
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data == null)
outputWaitHandle.Set();
else
stdout.AppendLine(e.Data);
};
process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data == null)
errorWaitHandle.Set();
else
stderr.AppendLine(e.Data);
};
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
if (process.WaitForExit(timeoutInMs))
result.ExitCode = process.ExitCode;
// else process has timed out
// but that's already default ProcessResult
result.stdout = stdout.ToString();
if (combineStdoutAndStderr)
result.stderr = null;
else
result.stderr = stderr.ToString();
return result;
}
finally
{
outputWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeoutInMs);
errorWaitHandle.WaitOne(timeoutInMs);
}
}
}
}
}

I know that this is supper old but, after reading this whole page none of the solutions was working for me, although I didn't try Muhammad Rehan as the code was a little hard to follow, although I guess he was on the right track. When I say it didn't work that's not entirely true, sometimes it would work fine, I guess it is something to do with the length of the output before an EOF mark.
Anyway, the solution that worked for me was to use different threads to read the StandardOutput and StandardError and write the messages.
StreamWriter sw = null;
var queue = new ConcurrentQueue<string>();
var flushTask = new System.Timers.Timer(50);
flushTask.Elapsed += (s, e) =>
{
while (!queue.IsEmpty)
{
string line = null;
if (queue.TryDequeue(out line))
sw.WriteLine(line);
}
sw.FlushAsync();
};
flushTask.Start();
using (var process = new Process())
{
try
{
process.StartInfo.FileName = #"...";
process.StartInfo.Arguments = $"...";
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.Start();
var outputRead = Task.Run(() =>
{
while (!process.StandardOutput.EndOfStream)
{
queue.Enqueue(process.StandardOutput.ReadLine());
}
});
var errorRead = Task.Run(() =>
{
while (!process.StandardError.EndOfStream)
{
queue.Enqueue(process.StandardError.ReadLine());
}
});
var timeout = new TimeSpan(hours: 0, minutes: 10, seconds: 0);
if (Task.WaitAll(new[] { outputRead, errorRead }, timeout) &&
process.WaitForExit((int)timeout.TotalMilliseconds))
{
if (process.ExitCode != 0)
{
throw new Exception($"Failed run... blah blah");
}
}
else
{
throw new Exception($"process timed out after waiting {timeout}");
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
throw new Exception($"Failed to succesfully run the process.....", e);
}
}
}
Hope this helps someone, who thought this could be so hard!

After reading all the posts here, i settled on the consolidated solution of Marko Avlijaš.
However, it did not solve all of my issues.
In our environment we have a Windows Service which is scheduled to run hundreds of different .bat .cmd .exe,... etc. files which have accumulated over the years and were written by many different people and in different styles. We have no control over the writing of the programs & scripts, we are just responsible for scheduling, running, and reporting on success/failure.
So i tried pretty much all of the suggestions here with different levels of success. Marko's answer was almost perfect, but when run as a service, it didnt always capture stdout. I never got to the bottom of why not.
The only solution we found that works in ALL our cases is this : http://csharptest.net/319/using-the-processrunner-class/index.html

Workaround I ended up using to avoid all the complexity:
var outputFile = Path.GetTempFileName();
info = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("TheProgram.exe", String.Join(" ", args) + " > " + outputFile + " 2>&1");
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
System.Diagnostics.Process p = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(info);
p.WaitForExit();
Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText(outputFile)); //need the StandardOutput contents
So I create a temp file, redirect both the output and error to it by using > outputfile > 2>&1 and then just read the file after the process has finished.
The other solutions are fine for scenarios where you want to do other stuff with the output, but for simple stuff this avoids a lot of complexity.

In my case I had an error so I just waited in vain for a normal ouput.
I switched the order from this:
string result = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string error = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
To this:
string error = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(error))
string result = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();

This post maybe outdated but i found out the main cause why it usually hang is due to stack overflow for the redirectStandardoutput or if you have redirectStandarderror.
As the output data or the error data is large, it will cause a hang time as it is still processing for indefinite duration.
so to resolve this issue:
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardoutput = False
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandarderror = False

Let us call the sample code posted here the redirector and the other program the redirected. If it were me then I would probably write a test redirected program that can be used to duplicate the problem.
So I did. For test data I used the ECMA-334 C# Language Specificationv PDF; it is about 5MB. The following is the important part of that.
StreamReader stream = null;
try { stream = new StreamReader(Path); }
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.Error.WriteLine("Input open error: " + ex.Message);
return;
}
Console.SetIn(stream);
int datasize = 0;
try
{
string record = Console.ReadLine();
while (record != null)
{
datasize += record.Length + 2;
record = Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine(record);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.Error.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
return;
}
The datasize value does not match the actual file size but that does not matter. It is not clear if a PDF file always uses both CR and LF at the end of lines but that does not matter for this. You can use any other large text file to test with.
Using that the sample redirector code hangs when I write the large amount of data but not when I write a small amount.
I tried very much to somehow trace the execution of that code and I could not. I commented out the lines of the redirected program that disabled creation of a console for the redirected program to try to get a separate console window but I could not.
Then I found How to start a console app in a new window, the parent’s window, or no window. So apparently we cannot (easily) have a separate console when one console program starts another console program without ShellExecute and since ShellExecute does not support redirection we must share a console, even if we specify no window for the other process.
I assume that if the redirected program fills up a buffer somewhere then it must wait for the data to be read and if at that point no data is read by the redirector then it is a deadlock.
The solution is to not use ReadToEnd and to read the data while the data is being written but it is not necessary to use asynchronous reads. The solution can be quite simple. The following works for me with the 5 MB PDF.
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo(TheProgram);
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
Process p = Process.Start(info);
string record = p.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
while (record != null)
{
Console.WriteLine(record);
record = p.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
}
p.WaitForExit();
Another possibility is to use a GUI program to do the redirection. The preceding code works in a WPF application except with obvious modifications.

I was having the same issue, but the reason was different. It would however happen under Windows 8, but not under Windows 7. The following line seems to have caused the problem.
pProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
The solution was to NOT disable UseShellExecute. I now received a Shell popup window, which is unwanted, but much better than the program waiting for nothing particular to happen. So I added the following work-around for that:
pProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
Now the only thing bothering me is to why this is happening under Windows 8 in the first place.

Add progressBar to view progress percentage to a process in c#

This is code about my process:
StreamReader outputReader = null;
StreamReader errorReader = null;
ProcessStartInfo processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(......);
processStartInfo.ErrorDialog = false;
//Execute the process
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = processStartInfo;
bool processStarted = process.Start();
if (processStarted)
{
//Get the output stream
outputReader = process.StandardOutput;
errorReader = process.StandardError;
//Display the result
string displayText = "Output" + Environment.NewLine + "==============" + Environment.NewLine;
displayText += outputReader.ReadToEnd();
displayText += Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine + "==============" +
Environment.NewLine;
displayText += errorReader.ReadToEnd();
// txtResult.Text = displayText;
}
I need add progressBar to my form to calculate progress percentage to this process, but I dont know how do.
Im using Visual Studio 2012, windows form.

Use the process OutputDataReceived event to capture progress. (assuming the process is giving any sort of updates). You could format an initial output to return the total number of increments, and then bump the progress for each output event or actually parse the output data to determine current progress.
In this example the output from the process will set the maximum, and each following step will bump it up.
e.g.
progressBar1.Style = ProgressBarStyle.Continuous;
// for every line written to stdOut, raise a progress event
int result = SpawnProcessSynchronous(fileName, args, out placeholder, false,
(sender, eventArgs) =>
{
if (eventArgs.Data.StartsWith("TotalSteps=")
{
progressBar1.Minimum = 0;
progressBar1.Maximum = Convert.ToInt32(eventArgs.Data.Replace("TotalSteps=",""));
progressBar1.Value = 0;
}
else
{
progressBar1.Increment(1);
}
});
public static int SpawnProcessSynchronous(string fileName, string args, out string stdOut, bool isVisible, DataReceivedEventHandler OutputDataReceivedDelegate)
{
int returnValue = 0;
var processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
stdOut = "";
processInfo.FileName = fileName;
processInfo.WorkingDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) ?? "";
log.Debug("Set working directory to: {0}", processInfo.WorkingDirectory);
processInfo.WindowStyle = isVisible ? ProcessWindowStyle.Normal : ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
processInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
processInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
processInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
processInfo.Arguments = args;
using (Process process = Process.Start(processInfo))
{
if (OutputDataReceivedDelegate != null)
{
process.OutputDataReceived += OutputDataReceivedDelegate;
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
}
else
{
stdOut = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
}
// do not reverse order of synchronous read to end and WaitForExit or deadlock
// Wait for the process to end.
process.WaitForExit();
returnValue = process.ExitCode;
}
return returnValue;
}

A generic Process does not have a built-in mechanism to provide progress notification. You need to figure out some means for the process you are starting to inform of its progress.
If you control that process, you might have it write to Standard Out or Standard Error, and use the
outputReader = process.StandardOutput;
errorReader = process.StandardError;
you have defined to read that progress back into your program. For example, the process could write to Standard Error
10
31
50
99
and your parent process, reading errorReader, could interpret those individual lines as % complete.
Once you have a means of getting the % complete of the child process, you can use a ProgressBar to show that progress.

StandardOutput.ReadToEnd() hangs [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
ProcessStartInfo hanging on "WaitForExit"? Why?
(22 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
I have a program that frequently uses an external program and reads its outputs.
It works pretty well using your usual process redirect output, but one specific argument for some reason hangs when I try to read it, no error message - no exception, it just 'stops' when it reaches that line.
I of course use a centralized function to call and read output from the program, which is this:
public string ADBShell(string adbInput)
{
try
{
//Create Empty values
string result = string.Empty;
string error = string.Empty;
string output = string.Empty;
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo
= new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(toolPath + "adb.exe");
procStartInfo.Arguments = adbInput;
procStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
procStartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
procStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
procStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
procStartInfo.WorkingDirectory = toolPath;
System.Diagnostics.Process proc = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
proc.StartInfo = procStartInfo;
proc.Start();
// Get the output into a string
proc.WaitForExit();
result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
error = proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd(); //Some ADB outputs use this
if (result.Length > 1)
{
output += result;
}
if (error.Length > 1)
{
output += error;
}
Return output;
}
catch (Exception objException)
{
throw objException;
}
}
The line that hangs is result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();, but again, not every time, only when sent a specific argument ("start-server"). All other arguments work just fine - it reads the value and returns it.
It's also strange the way it hangs. It doesn't freeze or give an error or anything, it just stops processing. As if it was a 'return' command, except it doesn't even return to the calling function, it just stops everything with the interface still up and running.
Anyone experienced this before? Anyone have any idea what I should try? I'm assuming it's something unexpected within the stream itself, but is there a way I can handle/ignore this so that it reads it anyway?

Proposed solutions with BeginOutputReadLine() are a good way but in situations such as that, it is not applicable, because process (certainly with using WaitForExit()) exits earlier than async output finished completely.
So, I tried to implement it synchronously and found that the solution is in using Peek() method from StreamReader class. I added check for Peek() > -1 to sure that it is not the end of the stream as in MSDN article described and finally it works and stop hanging!
Here is the code:
var process = new Process();
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = #"C:\test\";
process.StartInfo.FileName = "test.exe";
process.StartInfo.Arguments = "your arguments here";
process.Start();
var output = new List<string>();
while (process.StandardOutput.Peek() > -1)
{
output.Add(process.StandardOutput.ReadLine());
}
while (process.StandardError.Peek() > -1)
{
output.Add(process.StandardError.ReadLine());
}
process.WaitForExit();

The problem is that you are using the synchronous ReadToEnd methods on both the StandardOutput and the StandardError streams. This can lead to a potential deadlock you are experiencing. This is even described in the MSDN. The solution is described there. Basically, it is: Use the asynchronous version BeginOutputReadLine to read the data of the StandardOutput stream:
p.BeginOutputReadLine();
string error = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
Implementation of Async reading using BeginOutputReadLine see in ProcessStartInfo hanging on "WaitForExit"? Why?

What about something like:
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, args) =>
{
var outputData = args.Data;
// ...
};
process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, args) =>
{
var errorData = args.Data;
// ...
};
process.WaitForExit();

I had the same deadlock problem. This code snippet worked for me.
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd")
{
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardInput = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
CreateNoWindow = true
};
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();
process.StandardInput.WriteLine("echo hi");
process.StandardInput.WriteLine("exit");
var output = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
process.Dispose();

Something that is elegant and worked for me is:
Process nslookup = new Process()
{
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("nslookup")
{
RedirectStandardInput = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
UseShellExecute = false,
CreateNoWindow = true,
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
}
};
nslookup.Start();
nslookup.StandardInput.WriteLine("set type=srv");
nslookup.StandardInput.WriteLine("_ldap._tcp.domain.local");
nslookup.StandardInput.Flush();
nslookup.StandardInput.Close();
string output = nslookup.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
nslookup.WaitForExit();
nslookup.Close();
This answer I found here and the trick is using Flush() and Close() on standard input.

The accepted answer's solution didn't work for me. I had to use tasks in order to avoid the deadlock:
//Code to start process here
String outputResult = GetStreamOutput(process.StandardOutput);
String errorResult = GetStreamOutput(process.StandardError);
process.WaitForExit();
With a GetStreamOutput function as follows:
private string GetStreamOutput(StreamReader stream)
{
//Read output in separate task to avoid deadlocks
var outputReadTask = Task.Run(() => stream.ReadToEnd());
return outputReadTask.Result;
}

I had the same kind of problem that error was just hanging.
Based on your response to Daniel Hilgarth I didn't even try using those codes though i think they would have worked for me.
Since I want to be able do some fancier output still eventually i decided that I would do it with both of the outputs being done in a background thread.
public static class RunCommands
{
#region Outputs Property
private static object _outputsLockObject;
private static object OutputsLockObject
{
get
{
if (_outputsLockObject == null)
Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref _outputsLockObject, new object(), null);
return _outputsLockObject;
}
}
private static Dictionary<object, CommandOutput> _outputs;
private static Dictionary<object, CommandOutput> Outputs
{
get
{
if (_outputs != null)
return _outputs;
lock (OutputsLockObject)
{
_outputs = new Dictionary<object, CommandOutput>();
}
return _outputs;
}
}
#endregion
public static string GetCommandOutputSimple(ProcessStartInfo info, bool returnErrorIfPopulated = true)
{
// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.RedirectStandardError = true;
var process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = info;
process.ErrorDataReceived += ErrorDataHandler;
process.OutputDataReceived += OutputDataHandler;
var output = new CommandOutput();
Outputs.Add(process, output);
process.Start();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
// Wait for the process to finish reading from error and output before it is finished
process.WaitForExit();
Outputs.Remove(process);
if (returnErrorIfPopulated && (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(output.Error)))
{
return output.Error.TrimEnd('\n');
}
return output.Output.TrimEnd('\n');
}
private static void ErrorDataHandler(object sendingProcess, DataReceivedEventArgs errLine)
{
if (errLine.Data == null)
return;
if (!Outputs.ContainsKey(sendingProcess))
return;
var commandOutput = Outputs[sendingProcess];
commandOutput.Error = commandOutput.Error + errLine.Data + "\n";
}
private static void OutputDataHandler(object sendingProcess, DataReceivedEventArgs outputLine)
{
if (outputLine.Data == null)
return;
if (!Outputs.ContainsKey(sendingProcess))
return;
var commandOutput = Outputs[sendingProcess];
commandOutput.Output = commandOutput.Output + outputLine.Data + "\n";
}
}
public class CommandOutput
{
public string Error { get; set; }
public string Output { get; set; }
public CommandOutput()
{
Error = "";
Output = "";
}
}
This worked for me and allowed me to not have to use a timeout for the read.

Just in case someone stumbles upon this question while wiling to use Windows Forms and TextBox (or RichTextBox) to show the errors and outputs the process returns in real time (as they are written to process.StandardOutput / process.StandardError).
You need to use OutputDataReceived() / ErrorDataReceived() in order to read both streams without deadlocks, there is no way (as far as I know) to avoid deadlocks otherwise, even Fedor's answer, which now holds the "Answer" tag and the most likes up to date, does not do the trick for me.
However, when you use the RichTextBox (or TextBox) to output the data, another problem you encounter is how to actually write the data into the textbox in real time (once it arrives). You receive the access to the data inside one of the background threads OutputDataReceived() / ErrorDataReceived() and you can only AppendText() from the main thread.
What I first tried doing was calling process.Start() from a background thread and then calling BeginInvoke() => AppendText() in OutputDataReceived() / ErrorDataReceived() threads while the main thread was process.WaitForExit().
However, this led to my form freezing and ultimately hanging for eternity. After a few days of trying I ended up with the solution below, that seems to work pretty well.
Shortly speaking, you need to add the messages into a concurrent collection inside OutputDataReceived() / ErrorDataReceived() threads while the main thread should constantly try to extract messages from that collection and append them into the textbox:
ProcessStartInfo startInfo
= new ProcessStartInfo(File, mysqldumpCommand);
process.StartInfo.FileName = File;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = mysqldumpCommand;
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.StandardErrorEncoding = Encoding.UTF8;
process.StartInfo.StandardOutputEncoding = Encoding.UTF8;
process.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
ConcurrentQueue<string> messages = new ConcurrentQueue<string>();
process.ErrorDataReceived += (object se, DataReceivedEventArgs ar) =>
{
string data = ar.Data;
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(data))
messages.Enqueue(data);
};
process.OutputDataReceived += (object se, DataReceivedEventArgs ar) =>
{
string data = ar.Data;
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(data))
messages.Enqueue(data);
};
process.Start();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
while (!process.HasExited)
{
string data = null;
if (messages.TryDequeue(out data))
UpdateOutputText(data, tbOutput);
Thread.Sleep(5);
}
process.WaitForExit();
The only downside of this approach is the fact that you can loose messages in a quite rare case, when process starts writing them between process.Start() and process.BeginErrorReadLine() / process.BeginOutputReadLine(), just keep that in mind. The only way to avoid that is to read the full streams and (or) gain access to them only when the process finishes.

first
// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();
// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "Write500Lines.exe";
p.Start();
// Do not wait for the child process to exit before
// reading to the end of its redirected stream.
// p.WaitForExit();
// Read the output stream first and then wait.
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
second
// Do not perform a synchronous read to the end of both
// redirected streams.
// string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
// string error = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
// p.WaitForExit();
// Use asynchronous read operations on at least one of the streams.
p.BeginOutputReadLine();
string error = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
This is from MSDN

ProcessInfo and RedirectStandardOutput

I have an app which calls another process in a command window and that process has updating stats that output to the console window. I thought this was a fairly simple operation but I can't seem to get it to work. Am I missing something?
string assemblyLocation = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
Process process = new Process
{
ProcessStart =
{
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
UseShellExecute = false,
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
Arguments = arg,
FileName = assemblyLocation.Substring(0, assemblyLocation.LastIndexOf("\\")) + "\\ffmpeg.exe",
CreateNoWindow = true
}
};
process.Start();
Console.WriteLine(process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd());
process.WaitForExit();
Ideally what I would like is as the output changes within that process I hit or data comes into the reader that I get events off it.
Any help would be great, I feel like this is a newbie question but seem to be missing something.

I've experienced this before. Sometimes, the way in which the process you're calling outputs to the console is not compatible with this sort of output redirection. I've been fortunate enough in this case to be able to modify the external process to get around this.
You might try running your code on another process that outputs to the console, and see if it works properly. It reads about right to me right now.
EDIT:
I went and pulled a code block I've used to do this. This is in a WPF app which redirects the process output to the window. Notice the event binding. Since this is WPF I have to invoke my call to write the data out. Since you aren't worried about blocking, ou should be able to simply replace that with:
Console.WriteLine(e.Data);
Hopefully it helps!
private static void LaunchProcess()
{
Process build = new Process();
build.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = #"dir";
build.StartInfo.Arguments = "";
build.StartInfo.FileName = "my.exe";
build.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
build.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
build.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
build.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
build.ErrorDataReceived += build_ErrorDataReceived;
build.OutputDataReceived += build_ErrorDataReceived;
build.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
build.Start();
build.BeginOutputReadLine();
build.BeginErrorReadLine();
build.WaitForExit();
}
// write out info to the display window
static void build_ErrorDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
string strMessage = e.Data;
if (richTextBox != null && !String.Empty(strMessage))
{
App.Instance.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Send, (ThreadStart)delegate()
{
Paragraph para = new Paragraph(new Run(strMessage));
para.Margin = new Thickness(0);
para.Background = brushErrorBrush;
box.Document.Blocks.Add(para);
});
}
}

I'm not sure exactly what problem you're running into, but if you're looking to act on output as soon as it's generated, try hooking into the process's OutputDataReceived event. You can specify handlers to receive output asynchronously from the process. I've used this approach successfully.
Process p = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo info = p.info;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.RedirectStandardError = true;
p.OutputDataReceived += p_OutputDataReceived;
p.ErrorDataReceived += p_ErrorDataReceived;
p.Start();
p.BeginOutputReadLine();
p.BeginErrorReadLine();
p.WaitForExit();
..
void p_OutputDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Received from standard out: " + e.Data);
}
void p_ErrorDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Received from standard error: " + e.Data);
}
See the OutputDataReceived event off Process for more information.

Using lambda expressions, etc:
var info = new ProcessStartInfo(path)
{
RedirectStandardError = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
UseShellExecute = false,
Verb = "runas",
};
var process = new Process
{
EnableRaisingEvents = true,
StartInfo = info
};
Action<object, DataReceivedEventArgs> actionWrite = (sender, e) =>
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Data);
};
process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) => actionWrite(sender, e);
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) => actionWrite(sender, e);
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
process.WaitForExit();

Interestingly you can't read from standard output and standard error at the same time:
if you redirect both standard output and standard error and then try to read both, for
example using the following C# code.
[C#]
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string error = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
In this case, if the child process writes any text to standard error it will block the
process, because the parent process cannot read from standard error until it has finished
reading from standard output. However, the parent process will not read from standard
output until the process ends. A recommended solution to this situation is to create two
threads so that your application can read the output of each stream on a separate thread.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.processstartinfo.redirectstandardoutput(v=vs.71).aspx

flowing code worked in VS2010
void OnOutputDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(e.Data) == false)
{
new Thread(() =>
{
this.Dispatcher.Invoke(new Action(() =>
{
// Add you code here
}));
}).Start();
}
}

Check that the output you are expecting is not being sent to the StandardError output instead of the StandardOutput output

How To: Execute command line in C#, get STD OUT results

How do I execute a command-line program from C# and get back the STD OUT results? Specifically, I want to execute DIFF on two files that are programmatically selected and write the results to a text box.

// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();
// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "YOURBATCHFILE.bat";
p.Start();
// Do not wait for the child process to exit before
// reading to the end of its redirected stream.
// p.WaitForExit();
// Read the output stream first and then wait.
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
Code is from MSDN.

Here's a quick sample:
//Create process
System.Diagnostics.Process pProcess = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
//strCommand is path and file name of command to run
pProcess.StartInfo.FileName = strCommand;
//strCommandParameters are parameters to pass to program
pProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = strCommandParameters;
pProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
//Set output of program to be written to process output stream
pProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
//Optional
pProcess.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = strWorkingDirectory;
//Start the process
pProcess.Start();
//Get program output
string strOutput = pProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
//Wait for process to finish
pProcess.WaitForExit();

There one other parameter I found useful, which I use to eliminate the process window
pProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
this helps to hide the black console window from user completely, if that is what you desire.

// usage
const string ToolFileName = "example.exe";
string output = RunExternalExe(ToolFileName);
public string RunExternalExe(string filename, string arguments = null)
{
var process = new Process();
process.StartInfo.FileName = filename;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(arguments))
{
process.StartInfo.Arguments = arguments;
}
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
var stdOutput = new StringBuilder();
process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, args) => stdOutput.AppendLine(args.Data); // Use AppendLine rather than Append since args.Data is one line of output, not including the newline character.
string stdError = null;
try
{
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
stdError = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
process.WaitForExit();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
throw new Exception("OS error while executing " + Format(filename, arguments)+ ": " + e.Message, e);
}
if (process.ExitCode == 0)
{
return stdOutput.ToString();
}
else
{
var message = new StringBuilder();
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(stdError))
{
message.AppendLine(stdError);
}
if (stdOutput.Length != 0)
{
message.AppendLine("Std output:");
message.AppendLine(stdOutput.ToString());
}
throw new Exception(Format(filename, arguments) + " finished with exit code = " + process.ExitCode + ": " + message);
}
}
private string Format(string filename, string arguments)
{
return "'" + filename +
((string.IsNullOrEmpty(arguments)) ? string.Empty : " " + arguments) +
"'";
}

The accepted answer on this page has a weakness that is troublesome in rare situations. There are two file handles which programs write to by convention, stdout, and stderr.
If you just read a single file handle such as the answer from Ray, and the program you are starting writes enough output to stderr, it will fill up the output stderr buffer and block. Then your two processes are deadlocked. The buffer size may be 4K.
This is extremely rare on short-lived programs, but if you have a long running program which repeatedly outputs to stderr, it will happen eventually. This is tricky to debug and track down.
There are a couple good ways to deal with this.
One way is to execute cmd.exe instead of your program and use the /c argument to cmd.exe to invoke your program along with the "2>&1" argument to cmd.exe to tell it to merge stdout and stderr.
var p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c mycmd.exe 2>&1";
Another way is to use a programming model which reads both handles at the same time.
var p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = #"/c dir \windows";
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = false;
p.OutputDataReceived += (a, b) => Console.WriteLine(b.Data);
p.ErrorDataReceived += (a, b) => Console.WriteLine(b.Data);
p.Start();
p.BeginErrorReadLine();
p.BeginOutputReadLine();
p.WaitForExit();

System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi =
new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(#"program_to_call.exe");
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
psi.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
System.Diagnostics.Process proc = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(psi); ////
System.IO.StreamReader myOutput = proc.StandardOutput;
proc.WaitForExit(2000);
if (proc.HasExited)
{
string output = myOutput.ReadToEnd();
}

You will need to use ProcessStartInfo with RedirectStandardOutput enabled - then you can read the output stream. You might find it easier to use ">" to redirect the output to a file (via the OS), and then simply read the file.
[edit: like what Ray did: +1]

One-liner run command:
new Process() { StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("echo", "Hello, World") }.Start();
Read output of command in shortest amount of reable code:
var cliProcess = new Process() {
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("echo", "Hello, World") {
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true
}
};
cliProcess.Start();
string cliOut = cliProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
cliProcess.WaitForExit();
cliProcess.Close();

In case you also need to execute some command in the cmd.exe, you can do the following:
// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();
// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/C vol";
p.Start();
// Read the output stream first and then wait.
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
Console.WriteLine(output);
This returns just the output of the command itself:
You can also use StandardInput instead of StartInfo.Arguments:
// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();
// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.Start();
// Read the output stream first and then wait.
p.StandardInput.WriteLine("vol");
p.StandardInput.WriteLine("exit");
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
Console.WriteLine(output);
The result looks like this:

Since the most answers here dont implement the using statemant for IDisposable and some other stuff wich I think could be nessecary I will add this answer.
For C# 8.0
// Start a process with the filename or path with filename e.g. "cmd". Please note the
//using statemant
using myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd";
// add the arguments - Note add "/c" if you want to carry out tge argument in cmd and
// terminate
myProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c dir";
// Allows to raise events
myProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
//hosted by the application itself to not open a black cmd window
myProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
// Eventhander for data
myProcess.Exited += OnOutputDataRecived;
// Eventhandler for error
myProcess.ErrorDataReceived += OnErrorDataReceived;
// Eventhandler wich fires when exited
myProcess.Exited += OnExited;
// Starts the process
myProcess.Start();
//read the output before you wait for exit
myProcess.BeginOutputReadLine();
// wait for the finish - this will block (leave this out if you dont want to wait for
// it, so it runs without blocking)
process.WaitForExit();
// Handle the dataevent
private void OnOutputDataRecived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
//do something with your data
Trace.WriteLine(e.Data);
}
//Handle the error
private void OnErrorDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
Trace.WriteLine(e.Data);
//do something with your exception
throw new Exception();
}
// Handle Exited event and display process information.
private void OnExited(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Trace.WriteLine("Process exited");
}

Here is small example:
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var p = Process.Start(
new ProcessStartInfo("git", "branch --show-current")
{
CreateNoWindow = true,
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardError = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory
}
);
p.WaitForExit();
string branchName =p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd().TrimEnd();
string errorInfoIfAny =p.StandardError.ReadToEnd().TrimEnd();
if (errorInfoIfAny.Length != 0)
{
Console.WriteLine($"error: {errorInfoIfAny}");
}
else {
Console.WriteLine($"branch: {branchName}");
}
}
}
I believe this is shortest form.
Please notice that most of command line tools easily confuse standard output and standard error, sometimes it makes sense just to clue those together into single string.
Also p.ExitCode might be sometimes useful.
Example above serves for purpose of writing command line utility like tools if you want to do it by yourself. Please note that for cli automation it's also possible to use Cake Frosten and Cake Git extension.

You can launch any command line program using the Process class, and set the StandardOutput property of the Process instance with a stream reader you create (either based on a string or a memory location). After the process completes, you can then do whatever diff you need to on that stream.

This might be useful for someone if your attempting to query the local ARP cache on a PC/Server.
List<string[]> results = new List<string[]>();
using (Process p = new Process())
{
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c arp -a";
p.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe";
p.Start();
string line;
while ((line = p.StandardOutput.ReadLine()) != null)
{
if (line != "" && !line.Contains("Interface") && !line.Contains("Physical Address"))
{
var lineArr = line.Trim().Split(' ').Select(n => n).Where(n => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(n)).ToArray();
var arrResult = new string[]
{
lineArr[0],
lineArr[1],
lineArr[2]
};
results.Add(arrResult);
}
}
p.WaitForExit();
}

This may not be the best/easiest way, but may be an option:
When you execute from your code, add " > output.txt" and then read in the output.txt file.

There is a ProcessHelper Class in PublicDomain open source code which might interest you.

Julian's solution is tested working with some minor corrections. The following is an example that also used https://sourceforge.net/projects/bat-to-exe/ GenericConsole.cs and https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/19225/Bat-file-compiler program.txt for args part:
using System;
using System.Text; //StringBuilder
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
class Program
{
private static bool redirectStandardOutput = true;
private static string buildargument(string[] args)
{
StringBuilder arg = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = 0; i < args.Length; i++)
{
arg.Append("\"" + args[i] + "\" ");
}
return arg.ToString();
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Process prc = new Process();
prc.StartInfo = //new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", String.Format("/c \"\"{0}\" {1}", Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "mapTargetIDToTargetNameA3.bat"), buildargument(args)));
//new ProcessStartInfo(Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "mapTargetIDToTargetNameA3.bat"), buildargument(args));
new ProcessStartInfo("mapTargetIDToTargetNameA3.bat");
prc.StartInfo.Arguments = buildargument(args);
prc.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
if (redirectStandardOutput == true)
{
prc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
}
else
{
prc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
}
prc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
prc.OutputDataReceived += OnOutputDataRecived;
prc.ErrorDataReceived += OnErrorDataReceived;
//prc.Exited += OnExited;
prc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = redirectStandardOutput;
prc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = redirectStandardOutput;
try
{
prc.Start();
prc.BeginOutputReadLine();
prc.BeginErrorReadLine();
prc.WaitForExit();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("OS error: " + e.Message);
}
prc.Close();
}
// Handle the dataevent
private static void OnOutputDataRecived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
//do something with your data
Console.WriteLine(e.Data);
}
//Handle the error
private static void OnErrorDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Data);
}
// Handle Exited event and display process information.
//private static void OnExited(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
//{
// var process = sender as Process;
// if (process != null)
// {
// Console.WriteLine("ExitCode: " + process.ExitCode);
// }
// else
// {
// Console.WriteLine("Process exited");
// }
//}
}
The code need to compile inside VS2007, using commandline csc.exe generated executable will not show console output correctly, or even crash with CLR20r3 error. Comment out the OnExited event process, the console output of the bat to exe will be more like the original bat console output.

Just for fun, here's my completed solution for getting PYTHON output - under a button click - with error reporting. Just add a button called "butPython" and a label called "llHello"...
private void butPython(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
llHello.Text = "Calling Python...";
this.Refresh();
Tuple<String,String> python = GoPython(#"C:\Users\BLAH\Desktop\Code\Python\BLAH.py");
llHello.Text = python.Item1; // Show result.
if (python.Item2.Length > 0) MessageBox.Show("Sorry, there was an error:" + Environment.NewLine + python.Item2);
}
public Tuple<String,String> GoPython(string pythonFile, string moreArgs = "")
{
ProcessStartInfo PSI = new ProcessStartInfo();
PSI.FileName = "py.exe";
PSI.Arguments = string.Format("\"{0}\" {1}", pythonFile, moreArgs);
PSI.CreateNoWindow = true;
PSI.UseShellExecute = false;
PSI.RedirectStandardError = true;
PSI.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
using (Process process = Process.Start(PSI))
using (StreamReader reader = process.StandardOutput)
{
string stderr = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd(); // Error(s)!!
string result = reader.ReadToEnd(); // What we want.
return new Tuple<String,String> (result,stderr);
}
}