Can not call `vim` within go code

Question

I try to call vim within go program, which code similar to this:

package main

import (
        "fmt"
        "os"
        "os/exec"
)

func main() {
        err := exec.Command("vim", "a.txt").Run()
        if err != nil {
                fmt.Println(err)
        }
        os.Exit(0)
}

I ran go run mycode.go then got:

exit status 1

I have tried several ways to succeed this e.g. replace Run() by Start(), Output(), ..., but it seems not work. Finally, What I try to do is I try to call vim and stop my current go program. I just want to see vim appear, that's all.

What happens when you put the absolute path to vim?

Patrick Wolf
– Patrick Wolf

2016-01-12 13:20:52 +00:00
Commented Jan 12, 2016 at 13:20 — Patrick Wolf
– Patrick Wolf, Commented Jan 12, 2016 at 13:20
Just nothing changes.

fronthem
– fronthem

2016-01-12 13:23:16 +00:00
Commented Jan 12, 2016 at 13:23 — fronthem
– fronthem, Commented Jan 12, 2016 at 13:23

user142162 · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-12 13:36:26Z

7

In order for vim to render its interface, you need to attach the standard input/output streams to the process:

package main

import (
        "fmt"
        "os"
        "os/exec"
)

func main() {
        cmd := exec.Command("vim", "a.txt")
        cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
        cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
        cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
        err := cmd.Run()
        if err != nil {
                fmt.Println(err)
        }
        os.Exit(0)
}

Not attaching the streams is similar to running the following command from your shell:

vim < /dev/null > /dev/null 2> /dev/null

answered Jan 12, 2016 at 13:36

user142162

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2 Comments

kostix Over a year ago

To be more precise, Vim, being a full-screen text editor expects at least its standard input and output streams to be connected to a device having capabilities of a terminal. That is, if you'd run your program which spawns Vim with its stdin/strout redirected to /dev/null vim would seize to work in exactly the same way. So the key reason Vim failed to work is that it can only sensibly work on a terminal.

kostix Over a year ago

To make my comment complete, sometimes one might need to run a program wich expects to be connected to a terminal device in an unattended way (one example is running something asking for a password interactively, such as a stock OpenSSH client). For this, pseudo terminal subsystem might be used, via a package such as github.com/kr/pty. JFTR, terminal emulators, like xterm, and terminal multiplexers such as screen and tmux use PTYs to run their client programs.

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