Run vsim from dmenu — it only works when directly invoked in the terminal

- Works: vsim, sh -c vsim - Doesn't work: echo "vsim" | sh, echo "vsim" | xargs -I {} sh -c "{}" I want to run ModelSim (vsim) with dmenu , which is triggered using xbindkeys. --- ### Details vsim is a executable for ModelSim, installed in /opt/altera/modelsim_ase/bin. When I run it directly, it runs. But when I run it with xargs (eg. from dmenu), it does not work at all - the script itself launches, but probably in the wrong directory or something, I'm really clueless what's wrong. My path (I added newlines for clarity): [ondra@x201 ~]$ echo $PATH /usr/local/sbin: /usr/local/bin: /usr/bin: /usr/lib/jvm/default/bin: /usr/bin/site_perl: /usr/bin/vendor_perl: /usr/bin/core_perl: /opt/altera/quartus/bin: /opt/altera/modelsim_ase/bin: /home/ondra/bin: /home/ondra/.gem/ruby/2.1.0/bin: /opt/altera/University_Program/Monitor_Program/bin/bin Where is vsim? [ondra@x201 ~]$ which vsim /opt/altera/modelsim_ase/bin/vsim Run it with xargs: [ondra@x201 ~]$ echo "vsim" | xargs -I {} sh -c '{} &' [ondra@x201 ~]$ Reading /opt/altera/modelsim_ase/tcl/vsim/pref.tcl # 10.1d # # ^C Run it directly: [ondra@x201 ~]$ vsim Reading /opt/altera/modelsim_ase/tcl/vsim/pref.tcl # --- and modelsim starts fine now --- Any ideas welcome.