How to create a linux pipeline example in c

Try this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
 int pipefd[2];
 int childpid,childpid2;
 char* cmd[3]={"ls",NULL,NULL};
 char* cmd2[3]={"grep",".c",NULL};
 pipe(pipefd);
 if(childpid=fork()){
   //parent
   close(pipefd[1]);
   dup2(pipefd[0],STDIN_FILENO);
   execvp("grep",cmd2);
 }else{  
   //child
   //write
   close(pipefd[0]);
   dup2(pipefd[1],STDOUT_FILENO);
   execvp("ls", cmd);
 }
 return 0;
}

Actually the program exits right away — in fact, the parent process exits before the children run, which is why there's a shell prompt before "test.c".

You can improve things a bit by adding this in your parent:

wait(childpid);
wait(childpid2);

which will make the parent exit after both children.