CMD cannot read input characters correctly - c++

Question

I tried to use system function to run a cmd command, but I can't get the command output, Because My Windows is Italian When I type / in my system() function to call cmd its getting actually - and not getting / I tried this in my cmd and is receiving this - instead / ,I tried to use chcp 437 for English cmd but , it didn't work
example :
system("net user xxx xxxx /add");
the command is getting :
net user xxx xxxx -add
I just do not want to do this to work in Italian Windows and work for other languages actually, how to solve this problem?

Answer 1

You should never use system(). You are programming in C++. There is no need to use system() since you have access to everything in the, well, system :D. system() was written in C after all.
And there is the security risk: someone could replace system() or the command you are trying to run using system() in your machine and make not-nice-things in your system.
you can change the code page in your code before calling system() using
SetConsoleOutputCP(); that lives in windows.h
1252 is the Latin codepage and should do ok in Italian. Also 65001 is the utf-8 codepage and should also work well
to run your program on the "new" Windows Terminal is also an option since it is Unicode
pass a string to system() and not a literal. this way you can be sure it has what you want, before the call.
it is a good practice to save the codepage in use before change and restore it on exit
A C++ Example
This program
takes an array of commands
const char* command[] =
{
"DIR .\\*.* /O:D",
"NET USER /Add /?"
};
and runs on the console. The commands uses slashes and backslashes and outputs text so you can test a bit more. And you can just edit the array and add new commands to test
You can try alternative codepages. Here I used 65001, the one for Unicode
int originalOCP = GetConsoleOutputCP();
std::cout << "Original CodePage: " << originalOCP << "\n";
SetConsoleOutputCP(65001);
std::cout << "CodePage now is " << GetConsoleOutputCP() << "\n";
The command is written on the console before being passed to system()
std::cout <<
"\n\n\t==> command " <<
i << " is '" <<
command[i] << "'\n\n";
system(command[i]);
The output in Portuguese Windows
Original CodePage: 850
CodePage now is 65001
==> command 0 is 'DIR .\*.* /O:D'
O volume na unidade C não tem nome.
O Número de Série do Volume é 7E52-1BF2
Pasta de C:\Users\toninho\source\repos\ConsoleApplication8\ConsoleApplication8
29/10/2020 10:21 168 ConsoleApplication8.vcxproj.user
29/10/2020 10:38 974 ConsoleApplication8.vcxproj.filters
29/10/2020 10:38 7.199 ConsoleApplication8.vcxproj
29/10/2020 10:59 676 a.cpp
29/10/2020 10:59 <DIR> ..
29/10/2020 10:59 <DIR> .
29/10/2020 10:59 <DIR> Debug
4 arquivo(s) 9.017 bytes
3 pasta(s) 128.838.795.264 bytes disponíveis
==> command 1 is 'NET USER /Add /?'
A sintaxe deste comando é:
NET USER
[nome de usuário [senha | *] [opções]] [/DOMAIN]
nome de usuário {senha | *} /ADD [opções] [/DOMAIN]
nome de usuário [/DELETE] [/DOMAIN]
nome de usuário [/TIMES:{horários | ALL}]
nome de usuário [/ACTIVE: {YES | NO}]
CodePage now is 850
The code
#include <iostream>
#include <windows.h>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
const char* command[] =
{
"DIR .\\*.* /O:D",
"NET USER /Add /?"
};
int originalOCP = GetConsoleOutputCP();
std::cout << "Original CodePage: " << originalOCP << "\n";
SetConsoleOutputCP(65001);
std::cout << "CodePage now is " << GetConsoleOutputCP() << "\n";
for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(command) / sizeof(char*); i += 1)
{
std::cout <<
"\n\n\t==> command " <<
i << " is '" <<
command[i] << "'\n\n";
system(command[i]);
};
SetConsoleOutputCP(originalOCP);
std::cout << "CodePage now is " << GetConsoleOutputCP() << "\n";
return 0;
}