c - Display all process using a posix function

Question

I am trying to display currently running process in Ubuntu.

Right now I am using system() function to print running process in the terminal. Code:

system("ps -A");

This function displays all running process in the terminal.

But I want to this functionality using a POSIX function. I am not looking for a ready made code.

Can some one point me to the function name or any manual ?

Answer 1

ps is a POSIX command.

popen is a POSIX API for reading output from a command.

If you want a pure POSIX approach (maybe you want it portable to some OS that does not provide /proc), you should run ps with POSIX-only options and fetch the output from popen.

So, for example, maybe you want to call popen("ps -A -o pid=", "r"); and then read through the list of PIDs.