NSTask Sample for Swift

nstask.swift

import Cocoa
import Foundation

var str = "Hello, playground"

var task:NSTask = NSTask()
var pipe:NSPipe = NSPipe()

task.launchPath = "/bin/ls"
task.arguments = ["-la"]
task.standardOutput = pipe
task.launch()

var handle = pipe.fileHandleForReading
var data = handle.readDataToEndOfFile()
var result_s = NSString(data: data, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
print(result_s)

save this file.
chmod +x nstask.swift
xcrun swift a.swift -f /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks

for what it's worth, pipe and task are immutable and should be let

that is to say:

                let task = NSTask()
                let pipe = NSPipe()

                task.launchPath = "/bin/ls"
                task.arguments = ["-la"]
                task.standardOutput = pipe
                task.launch()

the other variables might also need to be declared let.

for swift 3.0:

    // Create a Task instance (was NSTask on swift pre 3.0)
    let task = Process()

    // Set the task parameters
    task.launchPath = "/bin/ls"
    task.arguments = ["-laF@" , filePath]

    // Create a Pipe and make the task
    // put all the output there
    let pipe = Pipe()
    task.standardOutput = pipe

    // Launch the task
    task.launch()

    // Get the data
    let data = pipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
    let output = NSString(data: data, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue)

    print(output!)

thanks! @ingconti

@ingconti: Do you have any sample how to interact with standardInput? And why Process is Task on Swift 3 for Linux? Thank you.

is it possible to run multiple commands?

Updated for Swift 4

//: Playground - noun: a place where people can play

import Cocoa
import Foundation

var task = Process()
var pipe = Pipe()

task.executableURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/bin/ls")
task.arguments = ["-la","/Users/"] //multiple options
task.standardOutput = pipe
try task.run()

var handle = pipe.fileHandleForReading
var data = handle.readDataToEndOfFile()
var printing = String (data: data, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)
print(printing!)

I'm using this method for running app but I got "Message from debugger: Terminated due to signal 9".Any idea?

 let path=("\(FileManager.default.currentDirectoryPath)/data/app/setup.pkg")
            
            let buildTask: Process = Process()
            
            //Path for open
            buildTask.launchPath = "/usr/bin/open"
            buildTask.arguments = [path]
            buildTask.launch()

Message from debugger: Terminated due to signal 9

buildTask.launch() is not up to date anymore. Since High Sierra, Process().lauch() is deprecated. Use Process().run instead and catch the error that may be thrown.
See Apple Developer Documentation for launch()

This Tutorial goes a bit more into detail regarding NSTasks.