<!-- Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2013 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNIVERSITY OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. --> <html> <head> <title>execvp</title> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <h2 align=center>execvp</h2> <h4 align=center>OS/161 Reference Manual</h4> <h3>Name</h3> <p> execvp - execute a program found on the search path </p> <h3>Library</h3> <p> Standard C Library (libc, -lc) </p> <h3>Synopsis</h3> <p> <tt>#include <unistd.h></tt><br> <br> <tt>int</tt><br> <tt>execvp(const char *</tt><em>program</em><tt>, char **</tt><em>args</em><tt>);</tt> </p> <h3>Description</h3> <p> <tt>execvp</tt> searches for <em>program</em> on the program search path and execs it with <A HREF=../syscall/execv.html>execv</A> if found. If <em>program</em> is not found or a serious error occurs, it returns. </p> <p> If <em>program</em> contains a slash, no search is done; the specified string is passed directly to <tt>execv</tt>. </p> <p> The <em>args</em> argument should be prepared exactly as for <tt>execv</tt>. </p> <p> The search path is a colon-delimited list of directories retrieved by calling <A HREF=getenv.html>getenv</A> to retrieve the <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable. Unless you implement <tt>execve</tt> and environment variable passing, the value used is from a default environment compiled into libc. This path searches the <tt>/bin</tt>, <tt>/sbin</tt>, and <tt>/testbin</tt> directories. </p> <h3>Return Values</h3> <p> On success, <tt>execvp</tt> does not return; instead, the new program begins executing. On failure, <tt>execvp</tt> returns -1, and sets <A HREF=errno.html>errno</A> to a suitable error code for the error condition encountered. </p> <h3>Errors</h3> <p> <tt>execvp</tt> can fail for any of the reasons <tt>execv</tt> can. In addition, it produces ENOENT if the requested program is not found. </p> </body> </html>