exec_program — CMake 4.4.1 Documentation

# exec_program

Changed in version 3.28: This command is available only if policy `CMP0153` is not set to `NEW`. Port projects to the `execute_process()` command.

Deprecated since version 3.0: Use the `execute_process()` command instead.

Runs an executable program during the processing of a CMake file or script:

    exec_program(
      <executable>
      [<working-dir>]
      [ARGS <arguments-to-executable>...]
      [OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
      [RETURN_VALUE <var>]
    )

The `<executable>` is run in the optionally specified directory `<working-dir>`. The executable can include arguments if it is double quoted, but it is better to use the optional `ARGS` argument to specify arguments to the executable program. This is because CMake will then be able to escape spaces in the executable path. An optional argument `OUTPUT_VARIABLE` specifies a variable in which to store the output. To capture the return value of the execution, provide a `RETURN_VALUE`. If `OUTPUT_VARIABLE` is specified, then no output will go to the stdout/stderr of the console running CMake.

## Examples

Example of the legacy `exec_program()` command used in earlier versions of CMake:

    exec_program(
      some_command
      ${dir}
      ARGS arg_1 arg_2 args "\"<quoted-arg>\""
      OUTPUT_VARIABLE output
      RETURN_VALUE result
    )

A direct equivalent replacement of the previous example using the `execute_process()` command in new code:

    execute_process(
      COMMAND some_command arg_1 arg_2 args "<quoted-arg>"
      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${dir}
      RESULT_VARIABLE result
      OUTPUT_VARIABLE output
      ERROR_VARIABLE output
      OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
    )