passing multiple inputs to .exe via system or dos

I'm trying to pass a series of inputs to an executable via the system command, but in every way I've tried to run it, I'm prompted to manually input values in the command window. I need to run this program several hundred times, so I'd rather not enter parameters manually. The program is called solid.exe and is available here if you're feeling compelled to give it a shot.

To get solid earth tide estimates for March 12, 2005 at (65°N,123°E), I've tried

system('solid.exe 2005 3 12 65 123')

and

s =  sprintf('solid.exe %s \r %s \r %s \r %s \r %s','2005', '3','12','65','123');
system(s);

and a whole host of other ways to concatenate strings. No matter what I try, the command window still wants manual data entry. I can simply type

system('solid.exe')

and when I enter parameters, it takes a fraction of a second for the program to run. How can I automate this to compute a series of lat, lon and times?

[per isakson]

"host of other ways" &nbsp Did you try /r instead of \r? Option in "DOS" are typically preceded by /

Answer 1

[per isakson]

My system don't want me to download solid.exe.

I guess you are on Windows, since you mention dos. Furthermore, I guess the problem is with solid.exe. Is there a manual?

The input argument of system is just a string value. I usually

• experiment in the "dos-window" to figure out how to call the external program, solid in your case
• copy&paste the successful command string, cmd_str, to Matlab
• run system(cmd_str) from Matlab

If the external program doesn't ask for arguments in the dos-window it should not do it when run from Matlab.

If successful so far I generate cmd_str automatically.

If not successful, I would write the arguments to responsefile.txt and try something like

    cmd_str = 'solid.exe < responsefile.txt';

However, I didn't try that for a very long time. See Using command redirection operators

[Chad Greene]

Brilliant; tremendous thanks, Per! The working solution:

parameters = [2007 10 10 25 33]'; 
dlmwrite('parameters.txt',parameters)
system('solid.exe < parameters.txt');

Thank you very much!