running a shell command from a python program

[Sandman]

Hi,
I'm a newbie, so please be gentle

How would I run a shell command in Python?

Here is what I want to do:
I want to run a shell command that outputs some stuff, save it into a
list and do stuff with the contents of that list.

I started with a BASH script actually, until I realized I really needed
better data structures

Is popen the answer? Also, where online would I get access to good
sample code that I could peruse?

I'm running 2.2.3 on Linux, and going strictly by online doc so far.

Thanks!
S C

 

[Sandman]

Doh, use the search Luke:

http://www.wellho.net/forum/Programming-in-Python-and-Ruby/Running-shell-commands-from-Python.html

Seems like popen is the way to go.

S

 

[Thomas Guettler]

Am Wed, 23 Feb 2005 07:00:31 -0800 schrieb Sandman:

Hi,
I'm a newbie, so please be gentle

How would I run a shell command in Python? [cut]
Is popen the answer? Also, where online would I get access to good
sample code that I could peruse?

Yes, popen is the answer. I recommend popen4 because it avoids
deadlocks if there is output on stdout and stderr.

Example:
stdout, stdin = popen2.popen4("tidy -q -errors '%s'" % htmlfile)

HTH,
Thomas

 

[Leif B. Kristensen]

How would I run a shell command in Python?

Here is what I want to do:
I want to run a shell command that outputs some stuff, save it into a
list and do stuff with the contents of that list.

There's a Python Cookbook example that should fit nicely with what
you're trying to do here:

<http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/52296>

 

[aurora]

In Python 2.4, use the new subprocess module for this. It subsume the
popen* methods.