exec Family: execve

/* Exec/execve.c */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main(int argc,char *argv[]){ 
    char *env[] = {"LS_COLORS=fi=04;33;44",NULL}; 
    char *arg[] = {"ls","-l","--color",NULL}; 
    printf("Using *execve* to exec ls -l\n");  
    execve("/bin/ls",arg,env); 
    printf("Program Terminated\n");
    return 0;
}

execve() uses filename, argument array and provided ENV to execute the program.

execve("/bin/ls",arg,env);

It only takes a filename to invoke the program, and it is searched in paths specified in $PATH in sequence.

The arguments are listed in an array of char* and passed to the function.

The new sets of environment variables are declared in an array of char* and passed to the program in the function. They can be used to change the behaviour of the new program, for example, ls in this example.