statusItem = [[[NSStatusBar systemStatusBar] statusItemWithLength:NSVariableStatusItemLength]retain]; [statusItem setHighlightMode:YES]; [statusItem setTitle:[NSString stringWithString:@"updating..."]]; [statusItem setMenu:Menu]; [statusItem setEnabled:YES]; FILE *f; char buf[6]; NSString *data; f=popen("/test","r"); while (!feof(f)) { if (fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), f)) { } } NSString *string = [NSString stringWithCString: buf]; [statusItem setTitle:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",string]];