Executing external commands

• Calling Shell commands
• Calling Shell commands with expansion
• Getting command output and redirections

The sample output shown in this chapter may be different based on your username, working directories, etc

Calling Shell commands

#!/usr/bin/python3

import subprocess

# Executing external command 'date'
subprocess.call('date')

# Passing options and arguments to command
print("\nToday is ", end="", flush=True)
subprocess.call(['date', '-u', '+%A'])

# another example
print("\nSearching for 'hello world'", flush=True)
subprocess.call(['grep', '-i', 'hello world', 'hello_world.py'])

• import statement here is used to load the subprocess module, which is part of the Python standard library
• the call function from subprocess module is one of the ways to execute external commands
• By passing True to flush argument (default is False) we ensure that our message is printed before subprocess.call
• For passing arguments, list of strings is passed instead of single string

$ ./calling_shell_commands.py 
Tue Jun 21 18:35:33 IST 2016

Today is Tuesday

Searching for 'hello world'
print("Hello World")

Further Reading

• Python docs - subprocess
• Python docs - os.system
  • difference between os.system and subprocess.call
• Python docs - import statement

Calling Shell commands with expansion

#!/usr/bin/python3

import subprocess

# Executing command without shell expansion
print("No shell expansion when shell=False", flush=True)
subprocess.call(['echo', 'Hello $USER'])

# Executing command with shell expansion
print("\nshell expansion when shell=True", flush=True)
subprocess.call('echo Hello $USER', shell=True)

# escape quotes if it is part of command
print("\nSearching for 'hello world'", flush=True)
subprocess.call('grep -i \'hello world\' hello_world.py', shell=True)

• By default, subprocess.call will not expand shell wildcards, perform command substitution, etc
• This can be overridden by passing True value for shell argument
• Note that the entire command is now passed as string and not as a list of strings
• Quotes need to be escaped if they clash between command string and quotes within the command itself
• Use shell=True only if you are sure of the command being executed, else it could be a security issue
  • Python docs - subprocess.Popen

$ ./shell_expansion.py 
No shell expansion when shell=False
Hello $USER

shell expansion when shell=True
Hello learnbyexample

Searching for 'hello world'
print("Hello World")

• In certain cases, escaping quotes can be avoided by using combination of single/double quotes as shown below

# use alternate quotes, like this
subprocess.call('grep -i "hello world" hello_world.py', shell=True)

# or this
subprocess.call("grep -i 'hello world' hello_world.py", shell=True)

• Shell command redirections can be used as usual

# use variables for clarity and to avoid long strings within call function
cmd = "grep -h 'test' report.log test_list.txt > grep_test.txt"
subprocess.call(cmd, shell=True)

Workaround to avoid using shell=True

>>> import subprocess, os
>>> subprocess.call(['echo', 'Hello', os.environ.get("USER")])
Hello learnbyexample
0

• os.environ.get("USER") gives back the value of environment variable USER
• 0 is the exit status, meaning success. It is a caveat of python interpreter which displays return value too

Getting command output and redirections

#!/usr/bin/python3

import subprocess

# Output includes any error messages also
print("Getting output of 'pwd' command", flush=True)
curr_working_dir = subprocess.getoutput('pwd')
print(curr_working_dir)

# Get status and output of command executed
# Exit status other than '0' is considered as something gone wrong
ls_command = 'ls hello_world.py xyz.py'
print("\nCalling command '{}'".format(ls_command), flush=True)
(ls_status, ls_output) = subprocess.getstatusoutput(ls_command)
print("status: {}\noutput: '{}'".format(ls_status, ls_output))

# Suppress error messages if preferred
# subprocess.call() returns status of command which can be used instead
print("\nCalling command with error msg suppressed", flush=True)
ls_status = subprocess.call(ls_command, shell=True, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
print("status: {}".format(ls_status))

• Output of getstatusoutput() is of tuple data type, more info and examples in later chapters
• getstatusoutput() and getoutput() are legacy functions
• Use newer functions for more features and secure options
  • Python docs - subprocess.check_output
  • Python docs - subprocess.run

$ ./shell_command_output_redirections.py 
Getting output of 'pwd' command
/home/learnbyexample/Python/python_programs

Calling command 'ls hello_world.py xyz.py'
status: 2
output: 'ls: cannot access xyz.py: No such file or directory
hello_world.py'

Calling command with error msg suppressed
hello_world.py
status: 2