From: Justin Collins <collinsj@...>
Date: 2006-08-10T04:35:58+09:00
Subject: Re: access built-in shell commands like 'history' or 'fc'

bwv549 wrote:
> How do I access built-in shell commands (like 'history' or 'fc') with a
> system call?
>
> Not what I was expecting:
>   % ruby -e 'puts `history`'
>       -e:1: command not found: history
>
> But this works fine:
>
>   % ruby -e 'puts `pwd`'
>       /home/john
>
> I've tried this:
>
>   % ruby -e 'system "history >tmp.tmp"; puts IO.read("tmp.tmp")'
>
> And no errors are generated, but there is nothing in tmp.tmp, either.
>
> Thanks
Could it be that Ruby is using a different shell than you are used to?
I think it uses /bin/sh by default (not sure).

-Justin