[R-SIG-Mac] system command in OS X failed when ampersand was added to command

[Dennis Fisher]

Colleagues

I just encountered an odd problem with the system command; perhaps someone can provide some insight.
At some point in the past (~ 6 months ago; I was using the latest version of R and Snow Leopard available at the time), the command:
	system("open -a /complete/path/to/app /complete/path/to/file &")
ran successfully.  

I am using R 2.12.0 and OS X.6.6 and the command failed.  To my surprise, removed the ampersand fixed the problem.  I don't know if the problem lies with OS X or R's interaction with OS X.  Does anyone have any insights into this?

Dennis


Dennis Fisher MD
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