Kick off a delete command from python and not wait

[loial]

I have a requirement to kick off a shell script from a python script
without waiting for it to complete. I am not bothered about any return
code from the script.

What is the easiest way to do this. I have looked at popen but cannot
see how to do it.

 

[Chris Rebert]

I have a requirement to kick off a shell script from a python script
without waiting for it to complete. I am not bothered about any return
code from the script.

What is the easiest way to do this. I have looked at popen but cannot
see how to do it.

Use the `subprocess` module.

import subprocess
proc = subprocess.Popen(["shell_script.sh", "arg1", "arg2"],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprcoess.PIPE)
# lots of code here doing other stuff
proc.wait()

I believe you need to /eventually/ call .wait() as shown to avoid the
child becoming a zombie process.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Nobody]

I believe you need to /eventually/ call .wait() as shown to avoid the
child becoming a zombie process.

Alternatively, you can call .poll() periodically. This is similar to
..wait() insofar as it will "reap" the process if it has terminated, but
unlike .wait(), .poll() won't block if the process is still running.

On Unix, you can use os.fork(), have the child execute the command in the
background, and have the parent wait for the child with os.wait(). The
child will terminate as soon as it has spawned the grandchild, and the
grandchild will be reaped automatically upon termination (so you can
forget about it).