How Can I Execute a Non-Lua File From a Lua Script?

Question

I have a Lua script and I want to execute a batch file from within this file; how can I do this?

I've seen examples as follows that I thought could do this but in retrospect I am probably misunderstanding their purpose:

os.execute('C:\\tmp\\MyFile.bat')

or

local handle = io.open('C:\\tmp\\MyFile.bat')
handle:close()

I believe this question has been asked and answered before: How do I run an executable using Lua?

However my code is failing; I'm not sure why. Is there a library I need to load for 'os' for example?

When I try and run this code I get the following error:

"attempt to index a nil value"

What about those examples is not working for you? If you are getting errors from either of them please include those. — Etan Reisner, Sep 11 '14 at 17:51
I assume that's for the second (`io.open`) case? That just means `io.open` didn't return a handle, which means something failed. In that case `io.open` returns a second error value. `local handle, err = io.open(...)` if not handle then print(err) else handle:close() end`. — Etan Reisner, Sep 11 '14 at 17:57
Also `io.open` opens the file for reading/writing. It doesn't execute anything. Use `os.execute` or `io.popen` for executing processes. — Colonel Thirty Two, Sep 11 '14 at 18:06
I have tried io.popen and os.execute and it's as if io/os are not visible; is there a library I must load? — Gedalya, Sep 11 '14 at 18:12
Not if you're using the command line. How are you running the code? — Colonel Thirty Two, Sep 11 '14 at 18:38

Jonathan · Answer 1 · 2014-09-12T17:48:26.523

1

You have to use os.execute[[yourFile.bat]] when opening a batch file.
More information for this here

edited Sep 12 '14 at 17:48

answered Sep 12 '14 at 13:45

Jonathan

1 Answers1