<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>36.16. commands — Utilities for running commands — Python v2.6.5 documentation</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/default.css" type="text/css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" />
<script type="text/javascript">
var DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS = {
URL_ROOT: '../',
VERSION: '2.6.5',
COLLAPSE_MODINDEX: false,
FILE_SUFFIX: '.html',
HAS_SOURCE: true
};
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script>
<link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml"
title="Search within Python v2.6.5 documentation"
href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/>
<link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" />
<link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" />
<link rel="top" title="Python v2.6.5 documentation" href="../index.html" />
<link rel="up" title="36. Unix Specific Services" href="unix.html" />
<link rel="next" title="37. Mac OS X specific services" href="mac.html" />
<link rel="prev" title="36.15. syslog — Unix syslog library routines" href="syslog.html" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" />
</head>
<body>
<div class="related">
<h3>Navigation</h3>
<ul>
<li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
<a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
accesskey="I">index</a></li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="../modindex.html" title="Global Module Index"
accesskey="M">modules</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="mac.html" title="37. Mac OS X specific services"
accesskey="N">next</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="syslog.html" title="36.15. syslog — Unix syslog library routines"
accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li>
<li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt=""
style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
<li><a href="../index.html">Python v2.6.5 documentation</a> »</li>
<li><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li>
<li><a href="unix.html" accesskey="U">36. Unix Specific Services</a> »</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="document">
<div class="documentwrapper">
<div class="bodywrapper">
<div class="body">
<div class="section" id="module-commands">
<h1>36.16. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">commands</span></tt> — Utilities for running commands<a class="headerlink" href="#module-commands" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p><em>Platforms: </em>Unix</p>
<p>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">commands</span></tt> module contains wrapper functions for <a title="os.popen" class="reference external" href="os.html#os.popen"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.popen()</span></tt></a> which
take a system command as a string and return any output generated by the command
and, optionally, the exit status.</p>
<p>The <a title="Subprocess management." class="reference external" href="subprocess.html#module-subprocess"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">subprocess</span></tt></a> module provides more powerful facilities for spawning new
processes and retrieving their results. Using the <a title="Subprocess management." class="reference external" href="subprocess.html#module-subprocess"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">subprocess</span></tt></a> module is
preferable to using the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">commands</span></tt> module.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">In Python 3.x, <a title="commands.getstatus" class="reference internal" href="#commands.getstatus"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getstatus()</span></tt></a> and two undocumented functions
(<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">mk2arg()</span></tt> and <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">mkarg()</span></tt>) have been removed. Also,
<a title="commands.getstatusoutput" class="reference internal" href="#commands.getstatusoutput"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getstatusoutput()</span></tt></a> and <a title="commands.getoutput" class="reference internal" href="#commands.getoutput"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getoutput()</span></tt></a> have been moved to the
<a title="Subprocess management." class="reference external" href="subprocess.html#module-subprocess"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">subprocess</span></tt></a> module.</p>
</div>
<p>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">commands</span></tt> module defines the following functions:</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="commands.getstatusoutput">
<tt class="descclassname">commands.</tt><tt class="descname">getstatusoutput</tt><big>(</big><em>cmd</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#commands.getstatusoutput" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Execute the string <em>cmd</em> in a shell with <a title="os.popen" class="reference external" href="os.html#os.popen"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.popen()</span></tt></a> and return a 2-tuple
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(status,</span> <span class="pre">output)</span></tt>. <em>cmd</em> is actually run as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">{</span> <span class="pre">cmd</span> <span class="pre">;</span> <span class="pre">}</span> <span class="pre">2>&1</span></tt>, so that the
returned output will contain output or error messages. A trailing newline is
stripped from the output. The exit status for the command can be interpreted
according to the rules for the C function <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">wait()</span></tt>.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="commands.getoutput">
<tt class="descclassname">commands.</tt><tt class="descname">getoutput</tt><big>(</big><em>cmd</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#commands.getoutput" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Like <a title="commands.getstatusoutput" class="reference internal" href="#commands.getstatusoutput"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getstatusoutput()</span></tt></a>, except the exit status is ignored and the return
value is a string containing the command’s output.</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="commands.getstatus">
<tt class="descclassname">commands.</tt><tt class="descname">getstatus</tt><big>(</big><em>file</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#commands.getstatus" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return the output of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ls</span> <span class="pre">-ld</span> <span class="pre">file</span></tt> as a string. This function uses the
<a title="commands.getoutput" class="reference internal" href="#commands.getoutput"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getoutput()</span></tt></a> function, and properly escapes backslashes and dollar signs in
the argument.</p>
<p class="deprecated">
<span class="versionmodified">Deprecated since version 2.6: </span>This function is nonobvious and useless. The name is also misleading in the
presence of <a title="commands.getstatusoutput" class="reference internal" href="#commands.getstatusoutput"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getstatusoutput()</span></tt></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>Example:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">commands</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">commands</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getstatusoutput</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'ls /bin/ls'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">(0, '/bin/ls')</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">commands</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getstatusoutput</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'cat /bin/junk'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">(256, 'cat: /bin/junk: No such file or directory')</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">commands</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getstatusoutput</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'/bin/junk'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">(256, 'sh: /bin/junk: not found')</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">commands</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getoutput</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'ls /bin/ls'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">'/bin/ls'</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">commands</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getstatus</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'/bin/ls'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">'-rwxr-xr-x 1 root 13352 Oct 14 1994 /bin/ls'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="last docutils">
<dt>Module <a title="Subprocess management." class="reference external" href="subprocess.html#module-subprocess"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">subprocess</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>Module for spawning and managing subprocesses.</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sphinxsidebar">
<div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
<h4>Previous topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="syslog.html"
title="previous chapter">36.15. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">syslog</span></tt> — Unix syslog library routines</a></p>
<h4>Next topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="mac.html"
title="next chapter">37. Mac OS X specific services</a></p>
<h3>This Page</h3>
<ul class="this-page-menu">
<li><a href="../_sources/library/commands.txt"
rel="nofollow">Show Source</a></li>
</ul>
<div id="searchbox" style="display: none">
<h3>Quick search</h3>
<form class="search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<input type="text" name="q" size="18" />
<input type="submit" value="Go" />
<input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
</form>
<p class="searchtip" style="font-size: 90%">
Enter search terms or a module, class or function name.
</p>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">$('#searchbox').show(0);</script>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clearer"></div>
</div>
<div class="related">
<h3>Navigation</h3>
<ul>
<li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
<a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
>index</a></li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="../modindex.html" title="Global Module Index"
>modules</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="mac.html" title="37. Mac OS X specific services"
>next</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="syslog.html" title="36.15. syslog — Unix syslog library routines"
>previous</a> |</li>
<li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt=""
style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
<li><a href="../index.html">Python v2.6.5 documentation</a> »</li>
<li><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li>
<li><a href="unix.html" >36. Unix Specific Services</a> »</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="footer">
© <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 1990-2010, Python Software Foundation.
<br />
The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation.
<a href="http://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a>
<br />
Last updated on Mar 19, 2010.
Created using <a href="http://sphinx.pocoo.org/">Sphinx</a> 0.6.5.
</div>
</body>
</html>
distrib
>
Mandriva
>
current
>
i586
>
media
>
main-updates
>
by-pkgid
>
8f1462e52e1797a02c97073eed0b7f92
>
files
>
685
