How to run 'less' command for command line application

[logansquirel]

I'm trying to execute a 'less' command in my rust command line application.

Example

In fact, I want the same behavior as git-diff. For instance:

The command...

$ git diff file.ext

... opens less (or pager configured in environment variables) ...

diff --git ...
# the actual diff

.. All pager commands are usable (vim-like moves for example),
and pressing q quit the pager and returns to terminal prompt ...

$ git diff file.ext
$ █

... git-diff command ends (return code 0).

Code

This is what I tried for my cla (Command Line Application):

Rust Playground: Playground

source:

use std::path::Path;

pub fn main() {
    let path = Path::new("/proc/cpuinfo");
    std::process::Command::new("less")
        .arg(path.as_os_str())
        .spawn()
        .expect("command failed");
}

run:

$ cargo build --release
$ target/release/cla
$ █

The program just runs and returns exit code 0 but less is not opened.
How am I supposed to spawn a less command in my terminal ?
Thanks

Solution

The code needs to wait for child process otherwise the program won't wait until less command exits:

use std::path::Path;

pub fn main() {
    let path = Path::new("/proc/cpuinfo");
    std::process::Command::new("less")
        .arg(path.as_os_str())
        .spawn()
        .expect("command failed")
        .wait()
        .expect("wait failed");
}

[bjorn3]

Does it work if you add a .wait().expect("wait failed") to your code? Otherwise your program won't wait until less exits.

[logansquirel]

this is exactly what I missed.
The code works as expected if I had .wait().expect("wait failed").
Thank you !