341 lines
11 KiB
ReStructuredText
341 lines
11 KiB
ReStructuredText
|
|
||
|
:mod:`subprocess` --- Subprocess management
|
||
|
===========================================
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. module:: subprocess
|
||
|
:synopsis: Subprocess management.
|
||
|
.. moduleauthor:: Peter Åstrand <astrand@lysator.liu.se>
|
||
|
.. sectionauthor:: Peter Åstrand <astrand@lysator.liu.se>
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. versionadded:: 2.4
|
||
|
|
||
|
The :mod:`subprocess` module allows you to spawn new processes, connect to their
|
||
|
input/output/error pipes, and obtain their return codes. This module intends to
|
||
|
replace several other, older modules and functions, such as::
|
||
|
|
||
|
os.system
|
||
|
os.spawn*
|
||
|
commands.*
|
||
|
|
||
|
Information about how the :mod:`subprocess` module can be used to replace these
|
||
|
modules and functions can be found in the following sections.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Using the subprocess Module
|
||
|
---------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
This module defines one class called :class:`Popen`:
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. class:: Popen(args, bufsize=0, executable=None, stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None, preexec_fn=None, close_fds=False, shell=False, cwd=None, env=None, universal_newlines=False, startupinfo=None, creationflags=0)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Arguments are:
|
||
|
|
||
|
*args* should be a string, or a sequence of program arguments. The program to
|
||
|
execute is normally the first item in the args sequence or string, but can be
|
||
|
explicitly set by using the executable argument.
|
||
|
|
||
|
On Unix, with *shell=False* (default): In this case, the Popen class uses
|
||
|
:meth:`os.execvp` to execute the child program. *args* should normally be a
|
||
|
sequence. A string will be treated as a sequence with the string as the only
|
||
|
item (the program to execute).
|
||
|
|
||
|
On Unix, with *shell=True*: If args is a string, it specifies the command string
|
||
|
to execute through the shell. If *args* is a sequence, the first item specifies
|
||
|
the command string, and any additional items will be treated as additional shell
|
||
|
arguments.
|
||
|
|
||
|
On Windows: the :class:`Popen` class uses CreateProcess() to execute the child
|
||
|
program, which operates on strings. If *args* is a sequence, it will be
|
||
|
converted to a string using the :meth:`list2cmdline` method. Please note that
|
||
|
not all MS Windows applications interpret the command line the same way:
|
||
|
:meth:`list2cmdline` is designed for applications using the same rules as the MS
|
||
|
C runtime.
|
||
|
|
||
|
*bufsize*, if given, has the same meaning as the corresponding argument to the
|
||
|
built-in open() function: :const:`0` means unbuffered, :const:`1` means line
|
||
|
buffered, any other positive value means use a buffer of (approximately) that
|
||
|
size. A negative *bufsize* means to use the system default, which usually means
|
||
|
fully buffered. The default value for *bufsize* is :const:`0` (unbuffered).
|
||
|
|
||
|
The *executable* argument specifies the program to execute. It is very seldom
|
||
|
needed: Usually, the program to execute is defined by the *args* argument. If
|
||
|
``shell=True``, the *executable* argument specifies which shell to use. On Unix,
|
||
|
the default shell is :file:`/bin/sh`. On Windows, the default shell is
|
||
|
specified by the :envvar:`COMSPEC` environment variable.
|
||
|
|
||
|
*stdin*, *stdout* and *stderr* specify the executed programs' standard input,
|
||
|
standard output and standard error file handles, respectively. Valid values are
|
||
|
``PIPE``, an existing file descriptor (a positive integer), an existing file
|
||
|
object, and ``None``. ``PIPE`` indicates that a new pipe to the child should be
|
||
|
created. With ``None``, no redirection will occur; the child's file handles
|
||
|
will be inherited from the parent. Additionally, *stderr* can be ``STDOUT``,
|
||
|
which indicates that the stderr data from the applications should be captured
|
||
|
into the same file handle as for stdout.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If *preexec_fn* is set to a callable object, this object will be called in the
|
||
|
child process just before the child is executed. (Unix only)
|
||
|
|
||
|
If *close_fds* is true, all file descriptors except :const:`0`, :const:`1` and
|
||
|
:const:`2` will be closed before the child process is executed. (Unix only).
|
||
|
Or, on Windows, if *close_fds* is true then no handles will be inherited by the
|
||
|
child process. Note that on Windows, you cannot set *close_fds* to true and
|
||
|
also redirect the standard handles by setting *stdin*, *stdout* or *stderr*.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If *shell* is :const:`True`, the specified command will be executed through the
|
||
|
shell.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If *cwd* is not ``None``, the child's current directory will be changed to *cwd*
|
||
|
before it is executed. Note that this directory is not considered when
|
||
|
searching the executable, so you can't specify the program's path relative to
|
||
|
*cwd*.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If *env* is not ``None``, it defines the environment variables for the new
|
||
|
process.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If *universal_newlines* is :const:`True`, the file objects stdout and stderr are
|
||
|
opened as text files, but lines may be terminated by any of ``'\n'``, the Unix
|
||
|
end-of-line convention, ``'\r'``, the Macintosh convention or ``'\r\n'``, the
|
||
|
Windows convention. All of these external representations are seen as ``'\n'``
|
||
|
by the Python program.
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. note::
|
||
|
|
||
|
This feature is only available if Python is built with universal newline support
|
||
|
(the default). Also, the newlines attribute of the file objects :attr:`stdout`,
|
||
|
:attr:`stdin` and :attr:`stderr` are not updated by the communicate() method.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The *startupinfo* and *creationflags*, if given, will be passed to the
|
||
|
underlying CreateProcess() function. They can specify things such as appearance
|
||
|
of the main window and priority for the new process. (Windows only)
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Convenience Functions
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
This module also defines two shortcut functions:
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. function:: call(*popenargs, **kwargs)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Run command with arguments. Wait for command to complete, then return the
|
||
|
:attr:`returncode` attribute.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The arguments are the same as for the Popen constructor. Example::
|
||
|
|
||
|
retcode = call(["ls", "-l"])
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. function:: check_call(*popenargs, **kwargs)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Run command with arguments. Wait for command to complete. If the exit code was
|
||
|
zero then return, otherwise raise :exc:`CalledProcessError.` The
|
||
|
:exc:`CalledProcessError` object will have the return code in the
|
||
|
:attr:`returncode` attribute.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The arguments are the same as for the Popen constructor. Example::
|
||
|
|
||
|
check_call(["ls", "-l"])
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. versionadded:: 2.5
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Exceptions
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
Exceptions raised in the child process, before the new program has started to
|
||
|
execute, will be re-raised in the parent. Additionally, the exception object
|
||
|
will have one extra attribute called :attr:`child_traceback`, which is a string
|
||
|
containing traceback information from the childs point of view.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The most common exception raised is :exc:`OSError`. This occurs, for example,
|
||
|
when trying to execute a non-existent file. Applications should prepare for
|
||
|
:exc:`OSError` exceptions.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A :exc:`ValueError` will be raised if :class:`Popen` is called with invalid
|
||
|
arguments.
|
||
|
|
||
|
check_call() will raise :exc:`CalledProcessError`, if the called process returns
|
||
|
a non-zero return code.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Security
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
Unlike some other popen functions, this implementation will never call /bin/sh
|
||
|
implicitly. This means that all characters, including shell metacharacters, can
|
||
|
safely be passed to child processes.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Popen Objects
|
||
|
-------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Instances of the :class:`Popen` class have the following methods:
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. method:: Popen.poll()
|
||
|
|
||
|
Check if child process has terminated. Returns returncode attribute.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. method:: Popen.wait()
|
||
|
|
||
|
Wait for child process to terminate. Returns returncode attribute.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. method:: Popen.communicate(input=None)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Interact with process: Send data to stdin. Read data from stdout and stderr,
|
||
|
until end-of-file is reached. Wait for process to terminate. The optional
|
||
|
*input* argument should be a string to be sent to the child process, or
|
||
|
``None``, if no data should be sent to the child.
|
||
|
|
||
|
communicate() returns a tuple (stdout, stderr).
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. note::
|
||
|
|
||
|
The data read is buffered in memory, so do not use this method if the data size
|
||
|
is large or unlimited.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The following attributes are also available:
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. attribute:: Popen.stdin
|
||
|
|
||
|
If the *stdin* argument is ``PIPE``, this attribute is a file object that
|
||
|
provides input to the child process. Otherwise, it is ``None``.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. attribute:: Popen.stdout
|
||
|
|
||
|
If the *stdout* argument is ``PIPE``, this attribute is a file object that
|
||
|
provides output from the child process. Otherwise, it is ``None``.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. attribute:: Popen.stderr
|
||
|
|
||
|
If the *stderr* argument is ``PIPE``, this attribute is file object that
|
||
|
provides error output from the child process. Otherwise, it is ``None``.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. attribute:: Popen.pid
|
||
|
|
||
|
The process ID of the child process.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. attribute:: Popen.returncode
|
||
|
|
||
|
The child return code. A ``None`` value indicates that the process hasn't
|
||
|
terminated yet. A negative value -N indicates that the child was terminated by
|
||
|
signal N (Unix only).
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Replacing Older Functions with the subprocess Module
|
||
|
----------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
In this section, "a ==> b" means that b can be used as a replacement for a.
|
||
|
|
||
|
.. note::
|
||
|
|
||
|
All functions in this section fail (more or less) silently if the executed
|
||
|
program cannot be found; this module raises an :exc:`OSError` exception.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In the following examples, we assume that the subprocess module is imported with
|
||
|
"from subprocess import \*".
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Replacing /bin/sh shell backquote
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
::
|
||
|
|
||
|
output=`mycmd myarg`
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
output = Popen(["mycmd", "myarg"], stdout=PIPE).communicate()[0]
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Replacing shell pipe line
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
::
|
||
|
|
||
|
output=`dmesg | grep hda`
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
p1 = Popen(["dmesg"], stdout=PIPE)
|
||
|
p2 = Popen(["grep", "hda"], stdin=p1.stdout, stdout=PIPE)
|
||
|
output = p2.communicate()[0]
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Replacing os.system()
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
::
|
||
|
|
||
|
sts = os.system("mycmd" + " myarg")
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
p = Popen("mycmd" + " myarg", shell=True)
|
||
|
sts = os.waitpid(p.pid, 0)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Notes:
|
||
|
|
||
|
* Calling the program through the shell is usually not required.
|
||
|
|
||
|
* It's easier to look at the :attr:`returncode` attribute than the exit status.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A more realistic example would look like this::
|
||
|
|
||
|
try:
|
||
|
retcode = call("mycmd" + " myarg", shell=True)
|
||
|
if retcode < 0:
|
||
|
print >>sys.stderr, "Child was terminated by signal", -retcode
|
||
|
else:
|
||
|
print >>sys.stderr, "Child returned", retcode
|
||
|
except OSError as e:
|
||
|
print >>sys.stderr, "Execution failed:", e
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Replacing os.spawn\*
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
P_NOWAIT example::
|
||
|
|
||
|
pid = os.spawnlp(os.P_NOWAIT, "/bin/mycmd", "mycmd", "myarg")
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
pid = Popen(["/bin/mycmd", "myarg"]).pid
|
||
|
|
||
|
P_WAIT example::
|
||
|
|
||
|
retcode = os.spawnlp(os.P_WAIT, "/bin/mycmd", "mycmd", "myarg")
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
retcode = call(["/bin/mycmd", "myarg"])
|
||
|
|
||
|
Vector example::
|
||
|
|
||
|
os.spawnvp(os.P_NOWAIT, path, args)
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
Popen([path] + args[1:])
|
||
|
|
||
|
Environment example::
|
||
|
|
||
|
os.spawnlpe(os.P_NOWAIT, "/bin/mycmd", "mycmd", "myarg", env)
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
Popen(["/bin/mycmd", "myarg"], env={"PATH": "/usr/bin"})
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Replacing os.popen\*
|
||
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
|
||
|
::
|
||
|
|
||
|
pipe = os.popen(cmd, mode='r', bufsize)
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
pipe = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize, stdout=PIPE).stdout
|
||
|
|
||
|
::
|
||
|
|
||
|
pipe = os.popen(cmd, mode='w', bufsize)
|
||
|
==>
|
||
|
pipe = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize, stdin=PIPE).stdin
|
||
|
|