Python 3: Using subprocess Instead Of os.system

Question

I have a string called variable and need to do the subprocess equivalent of os.system. I've tried to find a way to do this but have only found:

variable2 = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
print variable2.communicate()[0]

However, I'm having trouble understanding how to use it. How do I achieve my goal?

What are the args here? In Py3, print is a function, not a statement. — Zaur Nasibov
– Zaur Nasibov, Commented Feb 25, 2012 at 11:36
The code block is copy/pasted because I can't find a way of doing what I need myself, hence the question. — Eden Crow
– Eden Crow, Commented Feb 25, 2012 at 11:43
Possible duplicate of In Python, how I do use subprocess instead of os.system? — Tom Myddeltyn
– Tom Myddeltyn, Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 14:44

Marcelo Cantos · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-25 11:37:58Z

3

The documentation provides equivalents for several old-style sub-process creation functions. os.system() is explained here.

answered Feb 25, 2012 at 11:37

Marcelo Cantos

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2 Comments

Eden Crow Over a year ago

Is there an equivalent for os.startfile() also?

Marcelo Cantos Over a year ago

No. os.startfile() is a Windows-specific wrapper around the ShellExecute().

Diego Navarro · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-25 11:40:14Z

1

In [4]: os.system('uname -a')
Linux diego-workstation 3.0.0-16-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 27 17:44:39 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Out[4]: 0

In [8]: subprocess.call(['uname', '-a'])
Linux diego-workstation 3.0.0-16-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 27 17:44:39 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Out[8]: 0

answered Feb 25, 2012 at 11:40

Diego Navarro

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Comments

gps · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-26 08:39:54Z

0

Look at the subprocess.call, subprocess.check_call and subprocess.check_output functions. You may need to pass shell=True if you are executing a shell command (as would be given to os.system) rather than explicitly specifying the executable and a sequence of arguments.

answered Feb 26, 2012 at 8:39

gps

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