How can I run a terminal command in my swift menu bar app?

Question

I have made a menu bar app and I want this command to be run on press

rm -rf ~/.Trash/*

The code I currently have is this:

@IBAction func toggleClicked(sender: NSMenuItem) {

    let task = NSTask()
    task.launchPath = "/bin/sh"
    task.arguments = ["rm", "-rf", "~/.Trash/*"]
    task.launch()
    task.waitUntilExit()

}

But when I run this, I get the following error:

/bin/rm: /bin/rm: cannot execute binary file

I dont really understand why I'm getting this error since I can open terminal and run /bin/sh, then enter in rm -rf ~/.Trash/* and it works as expected.

EDIT

I have tried to change the commands to this but nothing happens:

    task.launchPath = "/bin/rm"
    task.arguments = ["-rf", "~/.Trash/*"]

task.arguments = ["-rf", ("~/.Trash/*" as NSString).stringByStandardizingPath] doesn't work — bandoy123, Sep 21 '15 at 07:50
is the app sandboxed? If yes, you might add appropriate entitlements — vadian, Sep 21 '15 at 07:58
You can't easily. For sudo you need a helper process with elevated privileges. — vadian, Sep 21 '15 at 08:03

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 21 '15 at 08:03

1

To make /bin/sh read from the command line string you need to pass the -c argument.

Your code needs to be changed as follows:

    let task = NSTask()
    task.launchPath = "/bin/sh"
    task.arguments = ["-c", "rm -rf ~/.Trash/*"]
    task.launch()
    task.waitUntilExit()

answered Sep 21 '15 at 08:03

Tomas Camin

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Amazing! Thanks :) Is there an easy way to run this as sudo if needed? – bandoy123 Sep 21 '15 at 08:05
Looks like I don't need it with this command even if the file is in use which is great! – bandoy123 Sep 21 '15 at 08:07

How can I run a terminal command in my swift menu bar app?

1 Answers1

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