What if I want to include a single batch command that isn't already in a file in python?
for instance:
REN *.TXT *.BAT
Could I put that in a python file somehow?
4 Answers
The "old school" answer was to use os.system. I'm not familiar with Windows but something like that would do the trick:
import os
os.system('ren *.txt *.bat')
Or (maybe)
import os
os.system('cmd /c ren *.txt *.bat')
But now, as noticed by Ashwini Chaudhary, the "recommended" replacement for os.system is subprocess.call
If REN is a Windows shell internal command:
import subprocess
subprocess.call('ren *.txt *.bat', shell=True)
If it is an external command:
import subprocess
subprocess.call('ren *.txt *.bat')
7 Comments
Ashwini Chaudhary
Prefer
subprocess module for such tasks and this is mentioned in the os.system's docs as well.
Sylvain Leroux
@AshwiniChaudhary For "advanced" use (like capturing output) you are right. For basic usage, system does a decent job ;) Anyway, I'm not sure how will behave "subprocess" while invoking internal shell commands. You have to invoke
subprocess.call with shell=True, right? I edit my answer accordingly. Thanks to pointing that out!Ashwini Chaudhary
shell = True can be dangerous and is not recommended generally, use shlex.split : subprocess.call(shlex.split('ren *.txt *.bat'))Sylvain Leroux
@AshwiniChaudhary I agree that
shell=True could be dangerous when invoking user-provided commands (shell command injection) -- but I don't think we are in that situation here. The "shell command" seems to be provided by the programmer. And (I'm not sure about that) if 'REN' is actually an internal Windows shell command -- you will need a shell.Ashwini Chaudhary
shell = True doesn't means the command has to be a shell command, it is required when you're passing a single string to subprocess. docs.python.org/2/library/… |
try this:
cmd /c ren *.txt *.bat
or
cmd /c "ren *.txt *.bat"
Comments
I created a test.py containing this, and it worked....
from subprocess import Popen # now we can reference Popen
process = Popen(['cmd.exe','/c ren *.txt *.tx2'])
.txtfiles to.bat?