Ruby <-> cmd command line: How to get return value?

[Aerilius]

Hello,
I'm just beginning with ruby and have not much practice with it. My aim is to launch a command on Windows cmd (actually later a bash shell) and get a return value into the ruby console. I have found how to launch external programs or for example a batch file, however I didn't find if it's possible to receive a result from the batch script.
Is there another command or parameter necessary in ruby or do I have an error in the batch script (exit %a%)?

ruby:
x="E:/new_batch.bat" UI.openURL(x)
returns only true

batch file:

@echo off
set a="Hello World"
ECHO %a%
exit %a%

[Dan Rathbun]

In the console... you can use backquoted strings to run shell commands.
**dir**

An aleternate to using backquotes, is to use %x dilimiters. The delimiter character is your choice, or you can choose one of the bracket sets ( ), [ ] or { }, ex:
listing = %x[dir]

So a backquoted shell string will return the STDOUT from the shell command (in the example above I store it in the string reference listing.)

---

And, before you ask, there's a bug / annoyance in Ruby where we can't suppress having the shell window pop up for a half-second or so.
~

[Dan Rathbun]

Also I see you are using Environment variables.

The set of Environment variables is accessed from Ruby via the ENV hash.

So on my system:
ENV['USERNAME']

Dan

There are differences between MAC and PC... on a MAC it would be:
ENV['USER']

To list the Enviroment variables from Ruby, you can do (cross-platform):
ENV.each {|k,v| puts "#{k} = #{v}" }
but it's simpler, to do (for PC):
set``
~

[TIG]

This might be clearer
ruby:

x="E;/new_batch.cmd"
UI.openURL(x)

returns true
batch file:

@echo off
echo "Hello World"
echo
pause
exit

Waits for you to close it...
x="file:/E:/new_batch.cmd"
will also work...
Writing the bat or cmd file to the root directory would probably be better if it were into a Temp folder ?