Python exec command

last modified January 29, 2024

Python exec tutorial shows how to execute shell commands and programs in Python.

In Python, there are several ways to execute shell commands or programs. We can use the os module or the subprocess module.

The subprocess module has the most powerful tools for executing commands.

Python exec command with os.system

The os.system is a simple tool for executing a program.

simple.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import os

os.system(‘firefox’)

The example launches firefox.

Python exec command with os.popen

The os.popen allows us to receive input from the executed command. It opens a pipe to or from a command. The return value is an open file object connected to the pipe, which can be read or written depending on whether mode is ‘r’ (default) or ‘w’.

read_output.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import os

output = os.popen(’ls -la’).read() print(output)

In the example, we read the output of the ls command and print it to the console.

$ ./read_output.py total 28 drwxr-xr-x 2 janbodnar janbodnar 4096 Oct 11 14:30 . drwxr-xr-x 113 janbodnar janbodnar 4096 Oct 11 13:35 .. -rwxr-xr-x 1 janbodnar janbodnar 202 Oct 11 14:02 listing.py -rwxr-xr-x 1 janbodnar janbodnar 218 Oct 11 13:54 node_version.py -rwxr-xr-x 1 janbodnar janbodnar 547 Oct 11 14:04 pinging.py -rwxr-xr-x 1 janbodnar janbodnar 78 Oct 11 13:39 read_output.py -rwxr-xr-x 1 janbodnar janbodnar 50 Oct 11 13:37 simple.py

Python exec command with subprocess

The subprocess module allows us to spawn new processes, connect to their input/output/error pipes, and obtain their return codes. This module intends to replace several older modules and functions.

node_version.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import subprocess

output = subprocess.run([’node’, ‘–version’], text=True, capture_output=True)

print(f’Node version: {output.stdout.strip()}’)

The example uses subprocess module to get the version of Node.

output = subprocess.run([’node’, ‘–version’], text=True, capture_output=True)

The run executes the command, waits for command to complete, and returns a CompletedProcess instance. To capture output to standard output and standard error output, we set the capture_output to true. By default, the output is returned in bytes string. By setting the text option to True, we get a normal string.

$ ./node_version.py Node version: v12.18.4

Python list contents with subprocess

In the following example, we list the contents of a user’s home directory.

listing.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import subprocess from pathlib import Path

output = subprocess.Popen([’ls’, ‘-l’, Path.home()], text=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)

stdout, _ = output.communicate() print(stdout)

The underlying process creation and management in this module is handled by the Popen class. It offers more flexibility than the convenience functions.

stdout, _ = output.communicate()

We interact with the process with the communicate method. It sends data to stdin and reads data from stdout and stderr, until EOF is reached.

Source

Python Subprocess management

In this article we have executed shell commands and programs.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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