Parsing Python subprocess.check_output()

Question

I am trying to use and manipulate output from subprocess.check_output() in python but since it is returned byte-by-byte

for line in output:
    # Do stuff

Does not work. Is there a way that I can reconstruct the output to the line formatting that it has when it is printed to stdout? Or what is the best way to search through and use this output?

Thanks in advance!

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-03T22:21:44.333

13

subprocess.check_output() returns a single string. Use the str.splitlines() method to iterate over individual lines in that string:

for line in output.splitlines():

edited Mar 03 '15 at 22:21

answered Mar 03 '15 at 21:58

Martijn Pieters

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You're the man! Thanks. Knew there had to be a simple function like splitlines() for this :D – DJMcCarthy12 Mar 03 '15 at 22:01

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 27 '23 at 10:50

For anyone following along:

output = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True)

for line in output.splitlines():
   print(line)

will output:

b'first line'
b'second line'
b'third line'

doing:

output = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True)

output = output.decode("utf-8")
for line in output.splitlines():
   print(line)

will output:

first line
second line
third line

Parsing Python subprocess.check_output()

2 Answers2