You can use the backtick (or backquote) operator ` which is ASCII character
96:

e.g.

a = `dir`

which will give you a string with the stdout of the executed shell. Not that
I would recommend using it with dir mind you. :)


On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 1:28 PM, born in USSR <psixxx@[...].ru>  wrote:

>  i want to execute Windows shell commands in my script so that the result
>  came back in a variable and the new window of a Windows command line
>  (MS-DOS-session) didn't open.
>  i write:
>  > a='dir'
>  > system(a)
>  and i see out of 'dir' in window of command line, but i need to get it
>  into local variable.
>  And another question:
>  every time when rubyscript was run command line window is opening, even
>  if i compile script by exerb. Is it possible to hide window or run
>  script/rubyexefile without command line window and how if yes?
>  --
>  Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> 
>