Python : Execute several commands in CMD in single instance

Question

I am trying to call several "blocking" .bat files from my python program. First thing I need to do is change the directory that the CMD is opened. After I have the CMD pointing to the desired location I will call two bat files. I want them to execute sequentially.

def launchAdminConsole():    
    print('Going to launch admin console')
    changeDir = 'cd dir1\\dir2\\bin \n 1.bat \n 2.bat'
    os.system("start /wait cmd /c {"+changeDir+"}")
    print("Admin Console launced")

According to this question using the /wait should make the command prompt wait but for me, it just pops up and goes away so I am not sure if the bat file is executed or not.

Also I am not sure if I have formed the command line code correctly. I googled about how to execute several commands in a single instance of cmd from python but none of the results helped me much so I took a guess on my own and did the above code.

I need the command prompt to open and run the two bat files and then give the control back to python. I do not need to fetch the output of the bat files or something I just need to know if the two files are executed or not. As I said before they are all blocking bat files so if run correctly the command prompt will not be able to close so quickly. I hope you guys got my requirement else comment below I will explain more.

Edit : Updated my code as follows

def launchAdminConsole2():
    print('Going to launch admin console')
    changeDir = 'cd dir1\\dir2\\bin'
    runOnce1 = '1.bat'
    runOnce2 = '2.bat'
    p = subprocess.Popen(changeDir,shell=True)
    p.wait()
    print(p.returncode)
    p = subprocess.call([changeDir, runOnce, runOnce1])
    p.wait()
    print("Admin Console launced")

The return code for the change directory returns 0 but it is saying that 1.bat is not found. I am sure that if the directory has changed that file will be present in the given location.

The error is

 File "C:\Users\nirma\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\subprocess.py", line 304, in call
    with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as p:
  File "C:\Users\nirma\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\subprocess.py", line 756, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "C:\Users\nirma\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\subprocess.py", line 1155, in _execute_child
    startupinfo)
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified

anoopknr · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-28 22:53:00Z

1

You can run several commands using cmd.exe /c if you separate them with ampersands:

cmd.exe /c "cd \dir & 1.bat & 2.bat"

Try passing that to subprocess.call and see how it goes.

edited Jul 28, 2018 at 22:53

anoopknr

3,3852 gold badges27 silver badges34 bronze badges

answered Jul 28, 2018 at 20:12

Michael Sunderland

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5 Comments

Compo Over a year ago

Considering that \ effectively means root, cd \dir suggests you're changing directory to one named dir in the root of the current drive. Is that what you intended?

Michael Sunderland Over a year ago

Fair point. The cd command should be given the real path, either relative or absolute.

Nirmal Raj Over a year ago

@Compo The user will be giving the location of dir. It is not mandatory that it should be in the same drive. However I am using the command combination mentioned above and some simple if statements to decide which drive I am currently in and which drive to choose to. If there is any other way to do this more efficiently then do let me know

Compo Over a year ago

@NirmalRaj, the directory appears to be hard coded within your 'python program', not provided by the user. If the user is providing it somewhere in the process then there should be some form of coding to verify it as a genuine and existing path, preferably at some stage early on, read as in your python program. For that reason you should be concentrating on getting your python code correct, the [batch-file] and [cmd] tags are currently irrelevant to your question, and their addition makes your question too broad.

Nirmal Raj Over a year ago

@Compo In the sample I have posted above the directory is hardcoded. In my actual code I have modified it to work with user given inputs. As you suggested this is making the question broad so I will start another thread with this question. The current is what I came looking for and I found it. Thanks

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