Run external program and capture its output to stdout

Question

There is RunThrough which captures the output and evaluates it. However, I would like the output as String. Is there a direct way without redirecting to temporary files etc.? Here is the code:

pdftohtml = "pdftohtml.exe";
pdf = "test.pdf";
ans = RunThrough[pdftohtml <> " -stdout " <> pdf, ""];

This fails with the error message

Syntax::sntx: Invalid syntax in or before 
"<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">".

Is there a way to get to the output without evaluating it?

Does StringJoin@ReadList["!"<>pdftohtml <> " -stdout " <> pdf, Character] work? — yohbs, Apr 20 '17 at 14:10
Or RunProcess[pdftohtml <> " -stdout " <> pdf, "StandardOutput"]? — yohbs, Apr 20 '17 at 14:16
RunProcess may need the list form (see docs) RunProcess[{pdftohtml,"-stdout",pdf},"StandardOutput"] — george2079, Apr 20 '17 at 20:08
@yohbs: the first construct StringJoin... works perfectly. Please make that an answer, and I will gladly upvote & accept... — Karsten W., Apr 21 '17 at 12:49

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 21 '17 at 16:11

3

StringJoin@ReadList["!"<>pdftohtml <> " -stdout " <> pdf, Character]

Or

RunProcess[{pdftohtml," -stdout ",pdf}, "StandardOutput"]

answered Apr 21 '17 at 16:11

yohbs

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The second command did not work for me, but the first one is a life saver! – Karsten W. Apr 21 '17 at 17:34

Run external program and capture its output to stdout

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