Execute shell command and retrieve stdout in Python

Question

In Perl, if I want to execute a shell command such as foo, I'll do this:

#!/usr/bin/perl
$stdout = `foo`

In Python I found this very complex solution:

#!/usr/bin/python
import subprocess
p = subprocess.Popen('foo', shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
stdout = p.stdout.readlines()
retval = p.wait()

Is there any better solution ?

Notice that I don't want to use call or os.system. I would like to place stdout on a variable

OK fair enough, in which case you're up against questions like http://stackoverflow.com/q/89228/2088135 — Tom Fenech, Oct 29 '15 at 12:35
Python and Perl are both high level scripting language but with different philosophies. Perl intends to let programmer do as less typing as possible, while Python forces neat structure to have easy to read code. You won't find `expression unless condition` either for same reason. — Serge Ballesta, Oct 29 '15 at 12:42
@TomFenech: I don't see how this question is related to the one you link to, which is about converting a path string — Borodin, Oct 29 '15 at 12:54

Hooting · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-29T13:05:22.337

4

An easy way is to use sh package. some examples:

import sh
print(sh.ls("/"))

# same thing as above
from sh import ls
print(ls("/"))

edited Oct 29 '15 at 13:05

answered Oct 29 '15 at 12:44

Hooting

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 29 '15 at 12:45

0

Read more of the subprocess docs. It has a lot of simplifying helper functions:

output = subprocess.check_output('foo', shell=True, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)

answered Oct 29 '15 at 12:45

ShadowRanger

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Also, you probably don't need `shell=True` in most cases and should avoid it for performance and security reasons in general (similarly, in Perl, it's best to avoid backticks for the same reason, in favor of solutions like 3+ arg `open` and reading the resulting file handle). – ShadowRanger Oct 29 '15 at 12:47

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 29 '15 at 12:56

0

You can try this

import os
print os.popen('ipconfig').read()
#'ipconfig' is an example of command

answered Oct 29 '15 at 12:56

H Neb

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Execute shell command and retrieve stdout in Python

3 Answers3