Execute cmd-like command in Python

Question

I want to make a Python code that will open a program like cmd would, then export a .txt file from the file menu. The code looks like this for cmd:

c:\ESG\Statsvis.exe \\192.168.100.222\c\ESG\S1-424\2012\06\29\S1-42420120629.dsf /output=C:\Users\jessica.macleod\Desktop\outfile.txt /param=RMS Amplitude

In cmd, the above line does exactly what I want. What would be the equivalent for Python?

defuz · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-30 16:16:38Z

3

See subprocess.Popen, like this:

subprocess.Popen(["/bin/ls", "-l"]

Or, depending on what you want to get as result (stdout, return code), use subprocess.call, subprocess.call_check, or other snippets in this module.

edited Aug 30, 2012 at 16:16

answered Aug 30, 2012 at 16:11

defuz

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4 Comments

user1620716 Over a year ago

Hi defuz, I looked into this particular command, but I'm still not quite sure how it works. How does that call the command I have above? edit: by that, I mean the /output:

defuz Over a year ago

try something like this:

["c:\\ESG\\Statsvis.exe", "\\\\192.16...29.dsf", "/output=C:\\Users\\jessica.macleod\\Desktop\\outfile.txt", "/param=RMS", "Amplitude"]

user1620716 Over a year ago

I have tried using the subprocess.call() command to open the program, but I'm still not quite sure how to tell it to execute the command. What would be the proper way to write the output path and the "param" that I want Python to execute?

defuz Over a year ago

Every \ must be escaped (replace to \\), and command line must be split to list by whitespace

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-30 16:39:00Z

1

Another way would be os.system().

import os
os.system("c:\\ESG\\Statsvis.exe \\192.16...0629.dsf /output=C:\\...\\outfile.txt ...")

edited Aug 30, 2012 at 16:39

answered Aug 30, 2012 at 16:23

Ansgar Wiechers

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1 Comment

defuz Over a year ago

Backslashes in path will not be correctly interpreted in this example.

Dr. Jan-Philip Gehrcke · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-30 16:18:01Z

0

If you want to have exact shell/cmd behavior, then set the shell argument to True in a suprocess.Popen() call. However, from the documentation:

Warning

Invoking the system shell with shell=True can be a security hazard if combined with untrusted input. See the warning under Frequently Used Arguments for details.

answered Aug 30, 2012 at 16:18

Dr. Jan-Philip Gehrcke

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Comments

Guy · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-12 22:34:55Z

0

If you need the output of the command use subprocess:

import subprocess
out = subprocess.check_output("dir c:\ /AD", shell = True)

answered Apr 12, 2013 at 22:34

Guy

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