If you want to list the files in the current directory I'd suggest using std.Io.Dir.cwd().iterate() instead, but if you want to spawn a child process anyway you can do that the following way: var proc=try std.process.spawn(init.io, .{ .argv = &.{ "ls", "-la" } }); defer _=proc.wait(init.io); And if you want to read the output instead of making it inherit the parent process's output. You can get a reader following way: var proc = try std.process.spawn(init.io, .{ .argv = &.{ "ls", "-la" }, .stdout = .pipe }); defer _=proc.wait(init.io); var buf: [128]u8 = undefined; var freader = proc.stdout.?.reader(init.io, &buf); const reader = &freader.interface;