# Executing a shell command from within a ruby script?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-a-shell-command-from-within-a-ruby-script/61763>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 26, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-a-shell-command-from-within-a-ruby-script/61763 "2006-05-26T23:33:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PaatschS\_Bernd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@PaatschS\_Bernd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/PaatschS_Bernd)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-a-shell-command-from-within-a-ruby-script/61763/1 "2006-05-26T23:33:45Z")

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Hello,

I am fairly new to ruby and I like to have a script that can Executing a  
shell command from within a ruby script like “gem list --local”  
How would I do that?

Thanks,  
Bernd

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PaatschS\_Bernd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@PaatschS\_Bernd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/PaatschS_Bernd)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-a-shell-command-from-within-a-ruby-script/61763/2 "2006-05-26T23:43:09Z")

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On May 26, 2006, at 5:32 PM, Paatsch, Bernd wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I am fairly new to ruby and I like to have a script that can  
> Executing a  
> shell command from within a ruby script like “gem list --local”  
> How would I do that?

Check out the system method, and back ticks (x = `gem list --local`).  
If you need somethin more complicated, look into IO.popen.