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, Feb 25 '12 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, Feb 25 '12 at 11:43
Possible duplicate of [In Python, how I do use subprocess instead of os.system?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/421206/in-python-how-i-do-use-subprocess-instead-of-os-system) — Tom Myddeltyn, Feb 07 '17 at 14:44

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 25 '12 at 11:37

3

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

answered Feb 25 '12 at 11:37

Marcelo Cantos

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Is there an equivalent for os.startfile() also? – Eden Crow Feb 25 '12 at 11:51
1

No. `os.startfile()` is a Windows-specific wrapper around the `ShellExecute()`. – Marcelo Cantos Feb 25 '12 at 11:56

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 25 '12 at 11:40

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

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 26 '12 at 08:39

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.

Python 3: Using subprocess Instead Of os.system

3 Answers3