MATLAB: How to use pipes with a system() call using ssh? Parsing issue

Question

Folks,

I am having difficulty, I believe with parsing, of a string that I am using to make a system call on my Windows 10 system.

I can run the exact following command from my Windows 10 command prompt:

ssh user@domain /bin/ps -aef | /bin/grep SearchString | /bin/awk "{print $2}"

It will send the command with all the pipes correctly to the domain computer and return the result.

When I do this, it does not work:

[a, b] = system('ssh user@domain /bin/ps -afe | /bin/grep SearchString | /bin/awk "{print $2}"')

It returns a = 255 (error)

If I reduce this to

[a, b] = system('ssh user@domain /bin/ps -afe | /bin/grep SearchString')

it still fails.

If I further reduce this to

[a, b] = system('ssh user@domain /bin/ps -afe')

it works.

So I expect this has something to do with parsing the pipe symbol. Any ideas on how to address this? I tried replacing the pipe with '|' and \|, but that did not fix the issue.

Thank you,

Kris

Answer 1

Folks,

I figured out my issue. This works.

system('ssh user@domain "/bin/ps -afe | /bin/grep SearchString | /bin/awk ''{print $2}''"')

Be careful reading the above line. The last series of quotes contain both single and double quotes.

Kris