c++ - How do I redirect output to a file with CreateProcess?

Question

I tried using CreateProcess to run a simple command like hg > test.txt. I tried running the string as a whole (as opposed to separating it into an application name and its parameters). Why does CreateProcess(0, "notepad.exe test.txt", ...) work but CreateProcess(0, "hg > test.txt", ...) does not?

Answer 1

The code below creates a console-less process with stdout and stderr redirected to the specified file.

#include <windows.h>


int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES sa;
    sa.nLength = sizeof(sa);
    sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
    sa.bInheritHandle = TRUE;       

    HANDLE h = CreateFile(_T("out.log"),
        FILE_APPEND_DATA,
        FILE_SHARE_WRITE | FILE_SHARE_READ,
        &sa,
        OPEN_ALWAYS,
        FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
        NULL );

    PROCESS_INFORMATION pi; 
    STARTUPINFO si;
    BOOL ret = FALSE; 
    DWORD flags = CREATE_NO_WINDOW;

    ZeroMemory( &pi, sizeof(PROCESS_INFORMATION) );
    ZeroMemory( &si, sizeof(STARTUPINFO) );
    si.cb = sizeof(STARTUPINFO); 
    si.dwFlags |= STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
    si.hStdInput = NULL;
    si.hStdError = h;
    si.hStdOutput = h;

    TCHAR cmd[]= TEXT("Test.exe 30");
    ret = CreateProcess(NULL, cmd, NULL, NULL, TRUE, flags, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi);

    if ( ret ) 
    {
        CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
        CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
        return 0;
    }

    return -1;
}