Python command execution output [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Running shell command from python and capturing the output

I want to capture the output of a command into a variable, so later that variable can be used again. I need to change this script so it does that:

#!/usr/bin/python
import os
command = raw_input("Enter command: ")
os.system(command)

If I enter "ls" when I run this script, I get this output:

Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos

I want to capture that string (the output of the ls command) into a variable so I can use it again later. How do I do this?

agf · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 17:19:09Z

9

import subprocess
command = raw_input("Enter command: ")
p = subprocess.Popen(command, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
output, error = p.communicate()

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 17:19

agf

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Sean Vieira · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 17:18:22Z

2

The output of the command can be captured with the subprocess module, specifically, the check_output function..

output = subprocess.check_output("ls")

See also the documentation for subprocess.Popen for the argument list that check_output takes.

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 17:18

Sean Vieira

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ironchefpython · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 17:20:25Z

0

This is the way I've done it in the past.

>>> import popen2
__main__:1: DeprecationWarning: The popen2 module is deprecated.  Use the subprocess module.
>>> exec_cmd = popen2.popen4("echo shell test")
>>> output = exec_cmd[0].read()
>>> output
'shell test\n'

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 17:20

ironchefpython

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7 Comments

Chris Eberle Over a year ago

All of the old popen interfaces are deprecated in favor of subprocess.

ironchefpython Over a year ago

@Chris I was wondering what "DeprecationWarning: The popen2 module is deprecated. Use the subprocess module." meant...

Chris Eberle Over a year ago

Sarcasm. Yes I've heard tell of such things.

ironchefpython Over a year ago

On a serious note, his sha-bang is #!/usr/bin/python, which means he's using a 2.x rather than a 3.x, and subprocess.check_output didn't come along until 2.7, so I figured giving him the old way of doing it had the most likely chance of success. I left the deprecation warning in the console output so it would be clear there's a newer way to do it, if he has the latest version of Python.

Chris Eberle Over a year ago

A shebang of /usr/bin/python means whatever it means. I run arch linux and /usr/bin/python is version 3. Version 2 is located at /usr/bin/python2.

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