Execing Processes in OpenSCAD

Here’s the translated version of the Go code to OpenSCAD, formatted in Markdown suitable for Hugo:

Our example will demonstrate how to execute external processes in OpenSCAD. While OpenSCAD doesn’t have a direct equivalent to the exec function, we can use the system() function to run external commands.

// For our example, we'll execute the 'ls' command
cmd = "ls -a -l -h";

// Execute the command and capture the output
output = system(cmd);

// Print the output
echo(output);

In this example:

1. We define the command we want to execute. In this case, it’s ls -a -l -h, which lists all files (including hidden ones) in long format with human-readable sizes.

2. We use the system() function to execute the command. This function runs the specified command and returns its output as a string.

3. We then use echo() to print the output of the command.

To run this script:

$ openscad -o output.txt script.scad

This will execute the OpenSCAD script and save the output to output.txt. The contents of output.txt will be similar to:

ECHO: "total 16K
drwxr-xr-x  2 user user 4.0K Jun 10 10:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 20 user user 4.0K Jun 10 09:55 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 user user  120 Jun 10 10:00 script.scad"

Note that OpenSCAD’s system() function is more limited compared to the exec function in some other languages. It doesn’t allow you to replace the current process or manipulate environment variables directly. It simply executes the command and returns the output.

Also, be cautious when using system() with user-provided input, as it can pose security risks if not properly sanitized.