How do I run this cmd command in python [duplicate] - python

My code is simply as follows:
file = 'C:\\Exe\\First Version\\filename.exe'
os.system(file)
When I run this program, a Windows error is raised: can't find the file specified.
I found out the problem has to with the whitespace in the middle of "First Version". How could I find a way to circumvent the problem?
P.S.: what if the variable 'file' is being passed as an argument into another function?

Putting quotes around the path will work:
file = 'C:\\Exe\\First Version\\filename.exe'
os.system('"' + file + '"')
but a better solution is to use the subprocess module instead:
import subprocess
file = 'C:\\Exe\\First Version\\filename.exe'
subprocess.call([file])

I used this:
import subprocess, shlex
mycmd='"C:\\Program Files\\7-Zip\\7z" x "D:\\my archive.7z" -o"D:\\extract folder" -aou'
subprocess.run(shlex.split(mycmd))

Try enclosing it with double quotes.
file = '"C:\\Exe\\First Version\\filename.exe"'
os.system(file)

It is true that os.system will launch a binary which has spaces in the path by wrapping that path in quotes. (That should be a pretty obvious solution if you are accustom to using a terminal.) By itself, however, that doesn't resolve the more painful problem with this function... Once you do that, you can then run into troubles adding arguments to your command! (Ahh!)
All current recommendations are to use the subprocess module now instead of this old, frowned upon function. One can also use shlx to convert flat strings into lists for those subprocess functions. I've encountered issues or pains with those methods too, which I won't ramble on about... Also, it's sometimes just easier use os.system when all you want is a thin wrapper over the shell, which implicitly displays the output streams on the console, works synchronously, etc. I sure wish there was a built-in function to execute a command on the shell like this, with absolutely 0 parsing, wrapping, abstracting...
Since there is no built-in without "filters", here's my solution patch for os.system. This is lifted from an open source library of mine. This has been tested on Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu Linux. I'm aware it's not 100% foolproof, and it's more involved than one would hop for, but it's not too bad.
When you call this _system() wrapper (passing a string to execute), just surround your long path in quotes and include any arguments that needs with or without quotes as well (i.e. exactly as you would enter the command in a terminal!). On the first "token" in the command, this will remove the quotes and escape spaces in the path on Mac or Linux. On Windows, it uses the "short name" by actually resolving what that is on the given environment. That part of the code is a bit tricky. Basically it uses a batch mechanism for the name resolution, and it sends the results back over stderr for the purpose of parsing what you'd get otherwise for the Popen() results on stdout.
I think I included all the imports and defines that you'll need. If I missed any (copying and pasting spinets of source), let me know.
from os import system, getcwd, chdir
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
import platform
__plat = platform.system()
IS_WINDOWS = __plat == "Windows"
IS_LINUX = __plat == "Linux"
IS_MACOS = __plat == "Darwin"
__SCRUB_CMD_TMPL = "{0}{1}"
__DBL_QUOTE = '"'
__SPACE = ' '
__ESC_SPACE = '\\ '
if IS_WINDOWS :
__BATCH_RUN_AND_RETURN_CMD = ["cmd","/K"] # simply assuming cmd is on the system path...
__BATCH_ONE_LINER_TMPLT = "{0} 1>&2\n" # the newline triggers execution when piped in via stdin
__BATCH_ESCAPE_PATH_TMPLT = 'for %A in ("{0}") do #echo %~sA'
from subprocess import STARTUPINFO, STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
__BATCH_ONE_LINER_STARTUPINFO = STARTUPINFO()
__BATCH_ONE_LINER_STARTUPINFO.dwFlags |= STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
def _system( cmd, wrkDir=None ):
if wrkDir is not None:
initWrkDir = getcwd()
print( 'cd "%s"' % (wrkDir,) )
chdir( wrkDir )
cmd = __scrubSystemCmd( cmd )
print( cmd )
system( cmd )
print('')
if wrkDir is not None: chdir( initWrkDir )
def __scrubSystemCmd( cmd ):
"""
os.system is more convenient than the newer subprocess functions
when the intention is to act as very thin wrapper over the shell.
There is just one MAJOR problem with it:
If the first character in the command is a quote (to escape a long path
to the binary you are executing), then the limited (undesirable) parsing
built into the function can all fall apart. So, this scrub function
solves that...
"""
if not cmd.startswith( __DBL_QUOTE ): return cmd
cmdParts = cmd[1:].split( __DBL_QUOTE )
safeBinPath = _escapePath( cmdParts[0] )
args = __DBL_QUOTE.join( cmdParts[1:] ) # (the leading space will remain)
return __SCRUB_CMD_TMPL.format( safeBinPath, args )
def _escapePath( path ):
if not IS_WINDOWS: return path.replace(__SPACE, __ESC_SPACE)
return( path if __SPACE not in path else
__batchOneLinerOutput( __BATCH_ESCAPE_PATH_TMPLT.format(path) ) )
def __batchOneLinerOutput( batch ):
cmd = __BATCH_ONE_LINER_TMPLT.format( batch )
p = Popen( __BATCH_RUN_AND_RETURN_CMD, shell=False,
startupinfo=__BATCH_ONE_LINER_STARTUPINFO,
stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE )
# pipe cmd to stdin, return stderr, minus a trailing newline
return p.communicate( cmd )[1].rstrip()
UPDATE
A better trick for the Windows context dawned on me recently. You don't need any of the conversion to short file name, or an escape sequence for a space. All you need to do is thwart the Python source which throws a monkey wrench into this by checking if the first character in the command is a double quote. Well, on Windows cmd / Batch, you can prefix any command with an # to indicate not to "echo" that line. So, if you simply slap that on the front of your command, there will no longer be a leading quote! You probably don't want the command echoed either, so it's an improvement in its self anyway.
Essentially, replace __scrubSystemCmd above with the following. If you want, you could drop all that code which gets the short file name (which is like half the code I orginally posted!)...
if IS_WINDOWS:
...
__NO_ECHO_PREFIX = "#"
def __scrubSystemCmd( cmd ):
if IS_WINDOWS:
if not cmd.startswith( __NO_ECHO_PREFIX ):
return __NO_ECHO_PREFIX + cmd
elif not cmd.startswith( __DBL_QUOTE ): return cmd
cmdParts = cmd[1:].split( __DBL_QUOTE )
safeBinPath = _escapePath( cmdParts[0] )
args = __DBL_QUOTE.join( cmdParts[1:] ) # (the leading space will remain)
return __SCRUB_CMD_TMPL.format( safeBinPath, args )

You can use the short name of the file which has spaces in its name.
file = 'C:\\Exe\\FirstV~1\\filename.exe'
os.system(file)

Related

how to pass string path in subprocess command line?

So i have a code where i use the subprocess.popen method, i want to pass a string path on settings but i dont know how to do it.
there is my code :
screenCommand = rep_reference+"\osgedit\osgviewer.exe "
iterationsPath = str(path + "\sreplace.osg")
command = "{0} --screen 0 --window 0 0 1920 1080 path+\sreplace.osg {1} " .format(screenCommand, listFix[e])
process = subprocess.Popen(command)
time.sleep(3.0)
process.kill()
how to path the iterationsPath variable on my command settings ?
You pass the various arguments and options in a list along with the command.
For example, to open VSCode in the current directory, in the shell you would do:
$ code .
Using subprocess.Popen() (or subprocess.call()):
>>> import subprocess
>>> subprocess.Popen(['code', '.'])
>>>
Essentially you split the shell command by spaces.
From the docs
On POSIX, if args is a string, the string is interpreted as the name
or path of the program to execute. However, this can only be done if
not passing arguments to the program.
https://docs.python.org/3/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.Popen

ImageMagick Conversion from .ps to .png, run from python - invalid param

I have been looking through some similar posts and through the ImageMagick page, but I cannot seem to find a reason for my issue:
Note I am using a windows machine.
I have a .ps image in a folder and it works when running with the command to convert it from the cmd: convert saved.ps newsaved.png
However when I try to execute it from my python script with the following code:
args = ["convert","saved.ps newsave.png"]
subprocess.Popen(args)
#or this call(args)
os.system("start newsave.png")
The cmd window says that newsave.png is an invalid parameter. (The error message being: Invalid parameter - newsave.png in the cmd window, which then closes instantly)
Having the everything seperated by a comma in args has also not helped. os.getcwd() returns the current work directory as well, so I know I'm in the right dir. The error happens when the subprocess is called.
Make each command-line argument a separate element of args. Also, use subprocess.call to ensure that the convert function has completed before you call os.system("start newsave.png"):
args = ["convert", "saved.ps", "newsave.png"]
rc = subprocess.call(args)
if rc != 0:
print "rc =", rc
In the end I had to add shell=True in order for the conversion to work properly.
args = ["convert", "saved.ps", "newsave.png"]
subprocess.call(args, shell=True)
Thanks to Warren for the help.

How to use subprocess to fire and forget in python 2.7

I need to execute a command line in the bakground in python 2.7. I need to fire and forget.
Here is the command:
cmd = "/usr/local/bin/fab -H %s aws_bootstrap initial_chef_run:%s,%s,%s -w" % (...)
How do I use the subproccess module?
e.g. is it
subprocess.call([cmd])
or
subprocess.call(["/usr/local/bin/fab", "-H %s aws_bootstrap initial_chef_run:%s,%s,%s -w"])
I dont get how to use the list. Or is every element of the list what would be a white space.
Thanks
each thing that would be seperated by whitespace is a seperate entity of the list
subprocess.call is blocking however
subprocess.popen is non-blocking
cmd = ["/usr/local/bin/fab", "-H",var1,"aws_bootstrap initial_chef_run:%s,%s,%s"%(var2,var3,var4), "-w"]
subprocess.popen(cmd) # dopnt wait just keep going
#or
subprocess.call(cmd) # wait until the command returns
you may however alternatively pass the command as one big string
cmd = "/usr/local/bin/fab -H %s aws_bootstrap initial_chef_run:%s,%s,%s -w" % (...)
subprocess.call(cmd)
in general this method(passing a single string) is frowned upon for some reason that has never been explained sufficiently to me
I used this recently to fire a perl script, like so:
var = "C:\Users\user\Desktop"
retcode = subprocess.call(["perl", '.\hgncDL.pl',var])
Working code
Define hParam and runParams in following code and you're good to go:
hParam = 'hParam'
runParams = (a,b,c)
args = ('/usr/local/bin/fab', '-H', hParam, 'aws_bootstrap', 'initial_chef_run:%s,%s,%s' % runParams, '-w')
subprocess.Popen(args)
Details
How do I use <any python module> module?
https://docs.python.org is a good starting point.
In particular, docs for subprocess module available here.
I can't provide direct links for each case later in this answer due to restriction imposed by low reputation. Each time I will be referring to 'docs', look for a section in docs on the module.
I need to execute a command line in the background in python 2.7. I need to fire and forget
Consider subprocess.Popen(args). Note capital 'P'.
See docs for more details.
subprocess.call(args) works in similar way, but it would block until the command completes. As stated in docs:
Run the command described by args. Wait for command to complete, then return the returncode attribute.
How to use the sequence form of args parameter?
This is covered in "Frequently used arguments" section of docs:
args is required for all calls and should be a string, or a sequence of program arguments. Providing a sequence of arguments is generally preferred, as it allows the module to take care of any required escaping and quoting of arguments (e.g. to permit spaces in file names).
Also, passing an args in a string form has its limitation:
If passing a single string, either shell must be True or else the string must simply name the program to be executed without specifying any arguments.
Despite mentioned limitation, subprocess.Popen('cmd.exe /?') works for me. Win7, Python 2.7.8 64bit.
HTH, cheers.

subprocess wildcard usage

import os
import subprocess
proc = subprocess.Popen(['ls','*.bc'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
out,err = proc.communicate()
print out
This script should print all the files with .bc suffix however it returns an empty list. If I do ls *.bc manually in the command line it works. Doing ['ls','test.bc'] inside the script works as well but for some reason the star symbol doesnt work.. Any ideas ?
You need to supply shell=True to execute the command through a shell interpreter.
If you do that however, you can no longer supply a list as the first argument, because the arguments will get quoted then. Instead, specify the raw commandline as you want it to be passed to the shell:
proc = subprocess.Popen('ls *.bc', shell=True,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
Expanding the * glob is part of the shell, but by default subprocess does not send your commands via a shell, so the command (first argument, ls) is executed, then a literal * is used as an argument.
This is a good thing, see the warning block in the "Frequently Used Arguments" section, of the subprocess docs. It mainly discusses security implications, but can also helps avoid silly programming errors (as there are no magic shell characters to worry about)
My main complaint with shell=True is it usually implies there is a better way to go about the problem - with your example, you should use the glob module:
import glob
files = glob.glob("*.bc")
print files # ['file1.bc', 'file2.bc']
This will be quicker (no process startup overhead), more reliable and cross platform (not dependent on the platform having an ls command)
Besides doing shell=True, also make sure that your path is not quoted. Otherwise it will not be expanded by shell.
If your path may have special characters, you will have to escape them manually.

How to determine if Python script was run via command line?

Background
I would like my Python script to pause before exiting using something similar to:
raw_input("Press enter to close.")
but only if it is NOT run via command line. Command line programs shouldn't behave this way.
Question
Is there a way to determine if my Python script was invoked from the command line:
$ python myscript.py
verses double-clicking myscript.py to open it with the default interpreter in the OS?
If you're running it without a terminal, as when you click on "Run" in Nautilus, you can just check if it's attached to a tty:
import sys
if sys.stdin and sys.stdin.isatty():
# running interactively
print("running interactively")
else:
with open('output','w') as f:
f.write("running in the background!\n")
But, as ThomasK points out, you seem to be referring to running it in a terminal that closes just after the program finishes. I think there's no way to do what you want without a workaround; the program is running in a regular shell and attached to a terminal. The decision of exiting immediately is done just after it finishes with information it doesn't have readily available (the parameters passed to the executing shell or terminal).
You could go about examining the parent process information and detecting differences between the two kinds of invocations, but it's probably not worth it in most cases. Have you considered adding a command line parameter to your script (think --interactive)?
What I wanted was answered here: Determine if the program is called from a script in Python
You can just determine between "python" and "bash". This was already answered I think, but you can keep it short as well.
#!/usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import psutil
import os
ppid = os.getppid() # Get parent process id
print(psutil.Process(ppid).name())
I don't think there's any reliable way to detect this (especially in a cross-platform manner). For example on OS X, when you double-click a .py file and it tuns with "Python Launcher", it runs in a terminal, identically to if you execute it manually.
Although it may have other issues, you could package the script up with something like py2exe or Platypus, then you can have the double-clickable icon run a specific bit of code to differentiate (import mycode; mycode.main(gui = True) for example)
If you run python IDLE then "pythonw.exe" is being used to run coding while when you run the command line "python.exe" is used to run coding. The python folder path can vary so you have to revert the path to the python folder. m = '\\' and m = m[0] is to get m to be '\' because of escaping.
import sys
a = sys.executable
m = '\\'
m = m[0]
while True:
b = len(a)
c = a[(b - 1)]
if c == m:
break
a = a[:(b - 1)]
if sys.executable == a + 'pythonw.exe':
print('Running in Python IDLE')
else:
print('Running in Command line')
Update for later versions (e.g. Python 3.6 on Ubuntu 16.04): The statement to get the name has changed to psutil.Process(os.getpid()).parent().name()
I believe this CAN be done. At least, here is how I got it working in Python 2.7 under Ubuntu 14.04:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os, psutil
# do stuff here
if psutil.Process(os.getpid()).parent.name == 'gnome-terminal':
raw_input("Press enter to close...")
Note that -- in Ubuntu 14 with the Gnome desktop (aka Nautilus) -- you might need to do this:
from a Nautilus window (the file browser), select Edit(menu)->Preferences(item) then Behavior(tab)->Executable Text Files(section)->Ask Each Time(radio).
chmod your script to be executable, or -- from a Nautilus window (the file browser) -- right click on the file->Properties(item) then Permissions(tab)->Execute:Allow executing file as program(checkbox)
double-click your file. If you select "Run in Terminal", you should see the "Type enter to close..." prompt.
now try from a bash prompt; you should NOT see the prompt.
To see how this works, you can fiddle with this (based on the answer by from #EduardoIvanec):
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
import sys
import psutil
def parent_list(proc=None, indent=0):
if not proc:
proc = psutil.Process(os.getpid())
pid = proc.pid
name = proc.name
pad = " " * indent
s = "{0}{1:5d} {2:s}".format(pad, pid, name)
parent = proc.parent
if parent:
s += "\n" + parent_list(parent, indent+1)
return s
def invoked_from_bash_cmdline():
return psutil.Process(os.getpid()).parent.name == "bash"
def invoked_as_run_in_terminal():
return psutil.Process(os.getpid()).parent.name == "gnome-terminal"
def invoked_as_run():
return psutil.Process(os.getpid()).parent.name == "init"
if sys.stdin.isatty():
print "running interactively"
print parent_list()
if invoked_as_run_in_terminal():
raw_input("Type enter to close...")
else:
with open('output','w') as f:
f.write("running in the background!\n")
f.write("parent list:\n")
f.write(parent_list())
From the idea behind this answer, adding for Win10 compatibility (Ripped from Python 2.7 script; modify as needed):
import os, psutil
status = 1
if __name__ =="__main__":
status = MainFunc(args)
args = sys.argv
running_windowed = False
running_from = psutil.Process(os.getpid()).parent().name()
if running_from == 'explorer.exe':
args.append([DEFAULT OR DOUBLE CLICK ARGS HERE])
running_windowed = True
if running_windowed:
print('Completed. Exit status of {}'.format(status))
ready = raw_input('Press Enter To Close')
sys.exit(status)
There is a number of switch like statements you could add to be more universal or handle different defaults.
This is typically done manually/, I don't think there is an automatic way to do it that works for every case.
You should add a --pause argument to your script that does the prompt for a key at the end.
When the script is invoked from a command line by hand, then the user can add --pause if desired, but by default there won't be any wait.
When the script is launched from an icon, the arguments in the icon should include the --pause, so that there is a wait. Unfortunately you will need to either document the use of this option so that the user knows that it needs to be added when creating an icon, or else, provide an icon creation function in your script that works for your target OS.
My solution was to create command line scripts using setuptools. Here are a the relevant parts of myScript.py:
def main(pause_on_error=False):
if run():
print("we're good!")
else:
print("an error occurred!")
if pause_on_error:
raw_input("\nPress Enter to close.")
sys.exit(1)
def run():
pass # run the program here
return False # or True if program runs successfully
if __name__ == '__main__':
main(pause_on_error=True)
And the relevant parts of setup.py:
setup(
entry_points={
'console_scripts': [
'myScript = main:main',
]
},
)
Now if I open myScript.py with the Python interpreter (on Windows), the console window waits for the user to press enter if an error occurs. On the command line, if I run 'myScript', the program will never wait for user input before closing.
Although this isn't a very good solution, it does work (in windows at least).
You could create a batch file with the following contents:
#echo off
for %%x in (%cmdcmdline%) do if /i "%%~x"=="/c" set DOUBLECLICKED=1
start <location of python script>
if defined DOUBLECLICKED pause
If you want to be able to do this with a single file, you could try the following:
#echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set LF=^
:: The 2 empty lines are necessary
for %%x in (%cmdcmdline%) do if /i "%%~x"=="/c" set DOUBLECLICKED=1
echo print("first line of python script") %LF% print("second and so on") > %temp%/pyscript.py
start /wait console_title pyscript.py
del %temp%/pyscript.py
if defined DOUBLECLICKED pause
Batch code from: Pausing a batch file when double-clicked but not when run from a console window?
Multi-line in batch from: DOS: Working with multi-line strings
Okay, the easiest way I found and made was to simply run the program in the command line, even if it was ran in the Python IDLE.
exist = lambda x: os.path.exists(x) ## Doesn't matter
if __name__ == '__main__':
fname = "SomeRandomFileName" ## Random default file name
if exist(fname)==False: ## exist() is a pre-defined lambda function
jot(fname) ## jot() is a function that creates a blank file
os.system('start YourProgram.py') ## << Insert your program name here
os.system('exit'); sys.exit() ## Exits current shell (Either IDLE or CMD)
os.system('color a') ## Makes it look cool! :p
main() ## Runs your code
os.system("del %s" % fname) ## Deletes file name for next time
Add this to the bottom of your script and once ran from either IDLE or Command Prompt, it will create a file, re-run the program in the CMD, and exits the first instance.
Hope that helps! :)
I also had that question and, for me, the best solution is to set an environment variable in my IDE (PyCharm) and check if that variable exists to know if the script is being executed either via the command line or via the IDE.
To set an environment variable in PyCharm check:
How to set environment variables in PyCharm?
Example code (environment variable: RUNNING_PYCHARM = True):
import os
# The script is being executed via the command line
if not("RUNNING_PYCHARM" in os.environ):
raw_input("Press enter to close.")
I hope it works for you.
Based on existing solutions and using sets:
import psutil
def running_interactively():
"""Return True if any of our parent processes is a known shell."""
shells = {"cmd.exe", "bash.exe", "powershell.exe", "WindowsTerminal.exe"}
parent_names = {parent.name() for parent in psutil.Process().parents()}
# print(parent_names)
# print(f"Shell in parents? {shells & parent_names}")
return bool(shells & parent_names)
if not running_interactively():
input("\nPress ENTER to continue.")
This answer is currently specific to Windows, but it can be reconfigured to work with other operating systems in theory. Rather than installing psutil module like most of these answers recommend, you can make use of the subprocess module and the Windows tasklist command to explicitly get the name of the parent process of your Python program.
import os
import subprocess
shells = {"bash.exe", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "WindowsTerminal.exe"}
# These are standard examples, but it can also be used to detect:
# - Nested python.exe processes (IDLE, etc.)
# - IDEs used to develop your program (IPython, Eclipse, PyCharm, etc.)
# - Other operating system dependent shells
s = subprocess.check_output(["tasklist", "/v", "/fo", "csv", "/nh", "/fi", f"PID eq {os.getppid()}"])
# Execute tasklist command to get the verbose info without the header (/nh) of a single process in CSV format (/fo csv)
# Such that its PID is equal to os.getppid()
entry = s.decode("utf-8").strip().strip('"').split('","')
# Decode from bytes to str, remove end whitespace and quotations from CSV format
# And split along the quote delimited commas
# This process may differ and require adjustment when used for an OS other than Windows
condition = entry and entry[0] in shells
# Check first that entry is not an empty sequence, meaning the process has already ended
# If it still exists, check if the first element -- the executable -- exists as an element of the set of executables you're looking for
I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for an answer to this problem while minimizing the number of dependencies you'd need.
This was tested in Python 3.8 and uses an f-string in the subprocess.check_output line of the code, so please be sure to convert the f-string to a compatible syntax if you're working with a version of Python before f-strings were introduced.

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