vimdoc.diff

diff --git a/runtime/doc/builtin.txt b/runtime/doc/builtin.txt
index 250c07b62..30894b96d 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/builtin.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/builtin.txt
@@ -699,7 +699,8 @@ synconcealed({lnum}, {col})	List	info about concealing
 synstack({lnum}, {col})		List	stack of syntax IDs at {lnum} and
 					{col}
 system({expr} [, {input}])	String	output of shell command/filter {expr}
-systemlist({expr} [, {input}])	List	output of shell command/filter {expr}
+systemlist({expr} [, {input}])
+				List	output of shell command/filter {expr}
 tabpagebuflist([{arg}])		List	list of buffer numbers in tab page
 tabpagenr([{arg}])		Number	number of current or last tab page
 tabpagewinnr({tabarg} [, {arg}])
@@ -11694,6 +11695,30 @@ system({expr} [, {input}])				*system()* *E677*
 		Get the output of the shell command {expr} as a |String|.  See
 		|systemlist()| to get the output as a |List|.
 
+		{expr} can be a |String| or a |List|.
+		When {expr} is a |String|, the command is executed through the
+		shell (see below for how the command is constructed).
+
+								*E1575*
+		When {expr} is a |List|, the first item is the executable and
+		the remaining items are passed as arguments directly.  The
+		command is executed without using a shell, similar to
+		|job_start()|.  Since no shell is involved, shell features
+		such as redirection, piping, globbing, environment variable
+		expansion and backtick expansion will not work.  Characters
+		like ">" are passed as literal arguments to the command, not
+		interpreted as redirection.  Use this form when arguments may
+		contain special characters that should not be interpreted by
+		the shell.  Example: >
+		    :let out = system(['grep', '-r', 'pattern', '.'])
+<		With the String form ">" would be shell redirection, but
+		with a List it is passed as a literal argument: >
+		    :let out = system(['echo', 'hello', '>', 'world'])
+<		This outputs "hello > world", not redirect to a file.
+
+		To use the shell explicitly with a List: >
+		    :let out = system(['/bin/sh', '-c', 'echo $HOME'])
+<
 		When {input} is given and is a |String| this string is written
 		to a file and passed as stdin to the command.  The string is
 		written as-is, you need to take care of using the correct line
@@ -11719,11 +11744,11 @@ system({expr} [, {input}])				*system()* *E677*
 		being echoed on the screen. >
 			:silent let f = system('ls *.vim')
 <
-		Note: Use |shellescape()| or |::S| with |expand()| or
-		|fnamemodify()| to escape special characters in a command
-		argument.  Newlines in {expr} may cause the command to fail.
-		The characters in 'shellquote' and 'shellxquote' may also
-		cause trouble.
+		Note: When {expr} is a String, use |shellescape()| or |::S|
+		with |expand()| or |fnamemodify()| to escape special
+		characters in a command argument.  Newlines in {expr} may
+		cause the command to fail.  The characters in 'shellquote'
+		and 'shellxquote' may also cause trouble.
 		This is not to be used for interactive commands.
 
 		The result is a String.  Example: >
@@ -11736,7 +11761,8 @@ system({expr} [, {input}])				*system()* *E677*
 		To avoid the string being truncated at a NUL, all NUL
 		characters are replaced with SOH (0x01).
 
-		The command executed is constructed using several options:
+		When {expr} is a String, the command executed is constructed
+		using several options:
 	'shell' 'shellcmdflag' 'shellxquote' {expr} 'shellredir' {tmp} 'shellxquote'
 		({tmp} is an automatically generated file name).
 		For Unix, braces are put around {expr} to allow for
@@ -11763,6 +11789,9 @@ system({expr} [, {input}])				*system()* *E677*
 systemlist({expr} [, {input}])				*systemlist()*
 		Same as |system()|, but returns a |List| with lines (parts of
 		output separated by NL) with NULs transformed into NLs.
+		Like |system()|, {expr} can be a |String| (executed through
+		the shell) or a |List| (executed directly without a shell).
+		See |system()| for details.
 		Output is the same as |readfile()| will output with {binary}
 		argument set to "b", except that there is no extra empty item
 		when the result ends in a NL.
diff --git a/runtime/doc/version9.txt b/runtime/doc/version9.txt
index ed58dae14..8045698a3 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/version9.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/version9.txt
@@ -52611,6 +52611,8 @@ Other ~
 - New "leadtab" value for the 'listchars' setting.
 - Improved |:set+=|, |:set^=| and |:set-=| handling of comma-separated "key:value"
   pairs individually (e.g. 'listchars', 'fillchars', 'diffopt').
+- |system()| and |systemlist()| functions accept a list as first argument,
+  bypassing the shell completely.
 
 xxd ~
 ---