system() command on vista

ekw

Hello, ive searched many times and i cannot find a solution to my issue.
Im creating a program that starts on startup, launching programs after x seconds.
But i have an issue when i use system()

1 2

      system ("C:\\PROGRA~1\\vistaa~1\\val.exe"); //Works ok
      system ("C:\\PROGRA~1\\windows sidebar\\sidebar.exe"); //Fails to work

when i dont use shortnames,


      system("C:\\program files\\...")

i get an error message C:\PROGRAM' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

i cant use the shortname for windows sidebar because there are 8 other's that begin with window, and window~8 doesnt work goes up to ~4

any solution other than renaming things or launching shortcuts?
Thanks for the help!

Grey Wolf

you could try:


system("\"C:\\program files\\...\"")

ie put \" at each end of your string.

soldstatic

i think you need to escape the spaces. ie


system("C:\\program files\\...")

becomes


system("C:\\program\ files\\...")

rpgfan3233

Grey Wolf's suggestion should work. I don't think escaped spaces shouldn't work in Windows because of the fact that '\' is the directory separator in Windows, and using the single '\' like that in C makes it think it is an escape sequence, which it isn't. In fact, gcc prints a warning when I use


system("dir C:\\Program\ Files");

Output:


test.c:5:10: warning: unknown escape sequence: '\040'

040 is the octal representation of the decimal number 32, which corresponds to the space character. Obviously that means it won't work either.

Grey Wolf's suggestion works though:


system("dir \"C:\\Program Files\"");

Output:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 42E9-9C76

 Directory of C:\Program Files

2008-04-27  14:47    <DIR>          .
2008-04-27  14:47    <DIR>          ..
2008-02-20  01:56    <DIR>          CCleaner
2008-01-04  19:08    <DIR>          Java
2008-04-22  21:47    <DIR>          Microsoft Office
2008-03-04  10:51    <DIR>          Notepad++
2008-03-18  19:46    <DIR>          Safari
2008-01-01  21:50    <DIR>          Skype
2008-04-20  23:49    <DIR>          The World
2008-01-02  03:27    <DIR>          Unlocker
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
              15 Dir(s)   2,040,344,576 bytes free

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