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Writing to console and log file for extended amount of time (Python)

I am using this code to log stdout to console and file. This code works and will output "test" to my console.log file. But , if i run my entire script/program and move the writer.close() to the end of my program termination, all the prints that occur in my other code (which could take mins to run) are never written to the log file? is there some time limit on this method? what can i do so that i can run my script/program that might run for 20 mins and log both to the console and to a log file. Again my example below works fine on a quick print then close the writer . but if i print several lines for minutes at time then go to close the writer i don't get any errors but yet the console.log file it empty?
Import sys
class MyWriter:
def __init__(self, stdout, filename):
self.stdout = stdout
self.logfile = open(filename, 'a')
def write(self, text):
self.stdout.write(text)
self.logfile.write(text)
def close(self):
self.stdout.close()
self.logfile.close()
def flush(self):
pass
writer = MyWriter(sys.stdout, os.getcwd() + '\\logs\\console.log')
sys.stdout = writer
print("test")
writer.close()
sys.exit()

You'll need to flush your streams once you write to them. You can do that using f.flush() inside write:
self.stdout.flush()
self.logfile.flush()

Python os.dup2 redirect enables output buffering on windows python consoles

I'm using a strategy based around os.dup2 (similar to examples on this site) to redirect C/fortran level output into a temporary file for capturing.
The only problem I've noticed is, if you use this code from an interactive shell in windows (either python.exe or ipython) it has the strange side effect of enabling output buffering in the console.
Before capture sys.stdout is some kind of file object that returns True for istty(). Typing print('hi') causes hi to be output directly.
After capture sys.stdout points to exactly the same file object but print('hi') no longer shows anything until sys.stdout.flush() is called.
Below is a minimal example script "test.py"
import os, sys, tempfile
class Capture(object):
def __init__(self):
super(Capture, self).__init__()
self._org = None # Original stdout stream
self._dup = None # Original system stdout descriptor
self._file = None # Temporary file to write stdout to
def start(self):
self._org = sys.stdout
sys.stdout = sys.__stdout__
fdout = sys.stdout.fileno()
self._file = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
self._dup = None
if fdout >= 0:
self._dup = os.dup(fdout)
os.dup2(self._file.fileno(), fdout)
def stop(self):
sys.stdout.flush()
if self._dup is not None:
os.dup2(self._dup, sys.stdout.fileno())
os.close(self._dup)
sys.stdout = self._org
self._file.seek(0)
out = self._file.readlines()
self._file.close()
return out
def run():
c = Capture()
c.start()
os.system('echo 10')
print('20')
x = c.stop()
print(x)
if __name__ == '__main__':
run()
Opening a command prompt and running the script works fine. This produces the expected output:
python.exe test.py
Running it from a python shell does not:
python.exe
>>> import test.py
>>> test.run()
>>> print('hello?')
No output is shown until stdout is flushed:
>>> import sys
>>> sys.stdout.flush()
Does anybody have any idea what's going on?
Quick info:
The issue appears on Windows, not on linux (so probably not on mac).
Same behaviour in both Python 2.7.6 and Python 2.7.9
The script should capture C/fortran output, not just python output
It runs without errors on windows, but afterwards print() no longer flushes

I could confirm a related problem with Python 2 in Linux, but not with Python 3
The basic problem is
>>> sys.stdout is sys.__stdout__
True
Thus you are using the original sys.stdout object all the time. And when you do the first output, in Python 2 it executes the isatty() system call once for the underlying file, and stores the result.
You should open an altogether new file and replace sys.stdout with it.
Thus the proper way to write the Capture class would be
import sys
import tempfile
import time
import os
class Capture(object):
def __init__(self):
super(Capture, self).__init__()
def start(self):
self._old_stdout = sys.stdout
self._stdout_fd = self._old_stdout.fileno()
self._saved_stdout_fd = os.dup(self._stdout_fd)
self._file = sys.stdout = tempfile.TemporaryFile(mode='w+t')
os.dup2(self._file.fileno(), self._stdout_fd)
def stop(self):
os.dup2(self._saved_stdout_fd, self._stdout_fd)
os.close(self._saved_stdout_fd)
sys.stdout = self._old_stdout
self._file.seek(0)
out = self._file.readlines()
self._file.close()
return out
def run():
c = Capture()
c.start()
os.system('echo 10')
x = c.stop()
print(x)
time.sleep(1)
print("finished")
run()
With this program, in both Python 2 and Python 3, the output will be:
['10\n']
finished
with the first line appearing on the terminal instantaneously, and the second after one second delay.
This would fail for code that import stdout from sys, however. Luckily not much code does that.

How do i write the output to a file and to the stdout using pexpect module

I'm a newbie to python and have been reading and surfing the net to accomplish my task.
I'm writing a function which will do a ssh to my device, execute few commands and display the result both in terminal and into a log file.
i have written something like this:
class logger(object):
def __init__(self, filename="Default.log"):
print 'Inside Logger Class'
self.terminal = sys.stdout
self.log = open(filename, "a")
class simpleTelnet(logger):
def __init__(self):
print 'Inside simpleTelnt Constructor'
logger.__init__(self,"myfilename.txt")
self.log.write = 'Writing into the log file'
def telnetSession(self):
p=pexpect.spawn('ssh admin#<ip address>')
p.logfile = sys.stdout
p.expect('Password:')
p.sendline('password')
time.sleep(2)
p.sendline('show version | no-more')
expect(pexpect.EOF, timeout = None)
out = p.before()
self.log.write(p.logfile)
p.close()
return out
if __name__ == "__main__":
output = simpleTelnet()
cmd = output.telnetSession()
Here i'm trying to login to a device and print the output on both stdout and also write to a file. I'm able to print in the stdout and log to a file but after executing the command, although i close the spawn class with p.close(), it does not close and end the script execution. the program stays there for ever. How do i close the program after executing these commands.

.write is a method, not an attribute, so you should do variable.write("anything you want") and not `variable.write = "anything you want". Python wouldn't be able to change the content if you do not call a function.
So instead of doing:
class simpleTelnet(logger):
def __init__(self):
print 'Inside simpleTelnt Constructor'
logger.__init__(self,"myfilename.txt")
self.log.write = 'Writing into the log file
You'd do:
class simpleTelnet(logger):
def __init__(self):
print 'Inside simpleTelnt Constructor'
logger.__init__(self,"myfilename.txt")
self.log.write('Writing into the log file')
As the other user pointed out, you have the same line of code but with the correct syntax up there 6 lines above. You have to revise your code before posting a question. Try to do so next time.

Redirecting stdout to "nothing" in python

I have a large project consisting of sufficiently large number of modules, each printing something to the standard output. Now as the project has grown in size, there are large no. of print statements printing a lot on the std out which has made the program considerably slower.
So, I now want to decide at runtime whether or not to print anything to the stdout. I cannot make changes in the modules as there are plenty of them. (I know I can redirect the stdout to a file but even this is considerably slow.)
So my question is how do I redirect the stdout to nothing ie how do I make the print statement do nothing?
# I want to do something like this.
sys.stdout = None # this obviously will give an error as Nonetype object does not have any write method.
Currently the only idea I have is to make a class which has a write method (which does nothing) and redirect the stdout to an instance of this class.
class DontPrint(object):
def write(*args): pass
dp = DontPrint()
sys.stdout = dp
Is there an inbuilt mechanism in python for this? Or is there something better than this?

Cross-platform:
import os
import sys
f = open(os.devnull, 'w')
sys.stdout = f
On Windows:
f = open('nul', 'w')
sys.stdout = f
On Linux:
f = open('/dev/null', 'w')
sys.stdout = f

A nice way to do this is to create a small context processor that you wrap your prints in. You then just use is in a with-statement to silence all output.
Python 2:
import os
import sys
from contextlib import contextmanager
#contextmanager
def silence_stdout():
old_target = sys.stdout
try:
with open(os.devnull, "w") as new_target:
sys.stdout = new_target
yield new_target
finally:
sys.stdout = old_target
with silence_stdout():
print("will not print")
print("this will print")
Python 3.4+:
Python 3.4 has a context processor like this built-in, so you can simply use contextlib like this:
import contextlib
with contextlib.redirect_stdout(None):
print("will not print")
print("this will print")
If the code you want to surpress writes directly to sys.stdout using None as redirect target won't work. Instead you can use:
import contextlib
import sys
import os
with contextlib.redirect_stdout(open(os.devnull, 'w')):
sys.stdout.write("will not print")
sys.stdout.write("this will print")
If your code writes to stderr instead of stdout, you can use contextlib.redirect_stderr instead of redirect_stdout.
Running this code only prints the second line of output, not the first:
$ python test.py
this will print
This works cross-platform (Windows + Linux + Mac OSX), and is cleaner than the ones other answers imho.

If you're in python 3.4 or higher, there's a simple and safe solution using the standard library:
import contextlib
with contextlib.redirect_stdout(None):
print("This won't print!")

(at least on my system) it appears that writing to os.devnull is about 5x faster than writing to a DontPrint class, i.e.
#!/usr/bin/python
import os
import sys
import datetime
ITER = 10000000
def printlots(out, it, st="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890"):
temp = sys.stdout
sys.stdout = out
i = 0
start_t = datetime.datetime.now()
while i < it:
print st
i = i+1
end_t = datetime.datetime.now()
sys.stdout = temp
print out, "\n took", end_t - start_t, "for", it, "iterations"
class devnull():
def write(*args):
pass
printlots(open(os.devnull, 'wb'), ITER)
printlots(devnull(), ITER)
gave the following output:
<open file '/dev/null', mode 'wb' at 0x7f2b747044b0>
took 0:00:02.074853 for 10000000 iterations
<__main__.devnull instance at 0x7f2b746bae18>
took 0:00:09.933056 for 10000000 iterations

If you're in a Unix environment (Linux included), you can redirect output to /dev/null:
python myprogram.py > /dev/null
And for Windows:
python myprogram.py > nul

You can just mock it.
import mock
sys.stdout = mock.MagicMock()

Your class will work just fine (with the exception of the write() method name -- it needs to be called write(), lowercase). Just make sure you save a copy of sys.stdout in another variable.
If you're on a *NIX, you can do sys.stdout = open('/dev/null'), but this is less portable than rolling your own class.

How about this:
from contextlib import ExitStack, redirect_stdout
import os
with ExitStack() as stack:
if should_hide_output():
null_stream = open(os.devnull, "w")
stack.enter_context(null_stream)
stack.enter_context(redirect_stdout(null_stream))
noisy_function()
This uses the features in the contextlib module to hide the output of whatever command you are trying to run, depending on the result of should_hide_output(), and then restores the output behavior after that function is done running.
If you want to hide standard error output, then import redirect_stderr from contextlib and add a line saying stack.enter_context(redirect_stderr(null_stream)).
The main downside it that this only works in Python 3.4 and later versions.

sys.stdout = None
It is OK for print() case. But it can cause an error if you call any method of sys.stdout, e.g. sys.stdout.write().
There is a note in docs:
Under some conditions stdin, stdout and stderr as well as the original
values stdin, stdout and stderr can be None. It is usually
the case for Windows GUI apps that aren’t connected to a console and
Python apps started with pythonw.

Supplement to iFreilicht's answer - it works for both python 2 & 3.
import sys
class NonWritable:
def write(self, *args, **kwargs):
pass
class StdoutIgnore:
def __enter__(self):
self.stdout_saved = sys.stdout
sys.stdout = NonWritable()
return self
def __exit__(self, *args):
sys.stdout = self.stdout_saved
with StdoutIgnore():
print("This won't print!")

If you don't want to deal with resource-allocation nor rolling your own class, you may want to use TextIO from Python typing. It has all required methods stubbed for you by default.
import sys
from typing import TextIO
sys.stdout = TextIO()

There are a number of good answers in the flow, but here is my Python 3 answer (when sys.stdout.fileno() isn't supported anymore) :
import os
import sys
oldstdout = os.dup(1)
oldstderr = os.dup(2)
oldsysstdout = sys.stdout
oldsysstderr = sys.stderr
# Cancel all stdout outputs (will be lost) - optionally also cancel stderr
def cancel_stdout(stderr=False):
sys.stdout.flush()
devnull = open('/dev/null', 'w')
os.dup2(devnull.fileno(), 1)
sys.stdout = devnull
if stderr:
os.dup2(devnull.fileno(), 2)
sys.stderr = devnull
# Redirect all stdout outputs to a file - optionally also redirect stderr
def reroute_stdout(filepath, stderr=False):
sys.stdout.flush()
file = open(filepath, 'w')
os.dup2(file.fileno(), 1)
sys.stdout = file
if stderr:
os.dup2(file.fileno(), 2)
sys.stderr = file
# Restores stdout to default - and stderr
def restore_stdout():
sys.stdout.flush()
sys.stdout.close()
os.dup2(oldstdout, 1)
os.dup2(oldstderr, 2)
sys.stdout = oldsysstdout
sys.stderr = oldsysstderr
To use it:
Cancel all stdout and stderr outputs with:
cancel_stdout(stderr=True)
Route all stdout (but not stderr) to a file:
reroute_stdout('output.txt')
To restore stdout and stderr:
restore_stdout()

Why don't you try this?
sys.stdout.close()
sys.stderr.close()

Will add some example to the numerous answers here:
import argparse
import contextlib
class NonWritable:
def write(self, *args, **kwargs):
pass
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='my program')
parser.add_argument("-p", "--param", help="my parameter", type=str, required=True)
#with contextlib.redirect_stdout(None): # No effect as `argparse` will output to `stderr`
#with contextlib.redirect_stderr(None): # AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'write'
with contextlib.redirect_stderr(NonWritable): # this works!
args = parser.parse_args()
The normal output would be:
>python TEST.py
usage: TEST.py [-h] -p PARAM
TEST.py: error: the following arguments are required: -p/--param

I use this. Redirect stdout to a string, which you subsequently ignore. I use a context manager to save and restore the original setting for stdout.
from io import StringIO
...
with StringIO() as out:
with stdout_redirected(out):
# Do your thing
where stdout_redirected is defined as:
from contextlib import contextmanager
#contextmanager
def stdout_redirected(new_stdout):
save_stdout = sys.stdout
sys.stdout = new_stdout
try:
yield None
finally:
sys.stdout = save_stdout

Redirect stdout to a file in Python?

How do I redirect stdout to an arbitrary file in Python?
When a long-running Python script (e.g, web application) is started from within the ssh session and backgounded, and the ssh session is closed, the application will raise IOError and fail the moment it tries to write to stdout. I needed to find a way to make the application and modules output to a file rather than stdout to prevent failure due to IOError. Currently, I employ nohup to redirect output to a file, and that gets the job done, but I was wondering if there was a way to do it without using nohup, out of curiosity.
I have already tried sys.stdout = open('somefile', 'w'), but this does not seem to prevent some external modules from still outputting to terminal (or maybe the sys.stdout = ... line did not fire at all). I know it should work from simpler scripts I've tested on, but I also didn't have time yet to test on a web application yet.

If you want to do the redirection within the Python script, setting sys.stdout to a file object does the trick:
# for python3
import sys
with open('file', 'w') as sys.stdout:
print('test')
A far more common method is to use shell redirection when executing (same on Windows and Linux):
$ python3 foo.py > file

There is contextlib.redirect_stdout() function in Python 3.4+:
from contextlib import redirect_stdout
with open('help.txt', 'w') as f:
with redirect_stdout(f):
print('it now prints to `help.text`')
It is similar to:
import sys
from contextlib import contextmanager
#contextmanager
def redirect_stdout(new_target):
old_target, sys.stdout = sys.stdout, new_target # replace sys.stdout
try:
yield new_target # run some code with the replaced stdout
finally:
sys.stdout = old_target # restore to the previous value
that can be used on earlier Python versions. The latter version is not reusable. It can be made one if desired.
It doesn't redirect the stdout at the file descriptors level e.g.:
import os
from contextlib import redirect_stdout
stdout_fd = sys.stdout.fileno()
with open('output.txt', 'w') as f, redirect_stdout(f):
print('redirected to a file')
os.write(stdout_fd, b'not redirected')
os.system('echo this also is not redirected')
b'not redirected' and 'echo this also is not redirected' are not redirected to the output.txt file.
To redirect at the file descriptor level, os.dup2() could be used:
import os
import sys
from contextlib import contextmanager
def fileno(file_or_fd):
fd = getattr(file_or_fd, 'fileno', lambda: file_or_fd)()
if not isinstance(fd, int):
raise ValueError("Expected a file (`.fileno()`) or a file descriptor")
return fd
#contextmanager
def stdout_redirected(to=os.devnull, stdout=None):
if stdout is None:
stdout = sys.stdout
stdout_fd = fileno(stdout)
# copy stdout_fd before it is overwritten
#NOTE: `copied` is inheritable on Windows when duplicating a standard stream
with os.fdopen(os.dup(stdout_fd), 'wb') as copied:
stdout.flush() # flush library buffers that dup2 knows nothing about
try:
os.dup2(fileno(to), stdout_fd) # $ exec >&to
except ValueError: # filename
with open(to, 'wb') as to_file:
os.dup2(to_file.fileno(), stdout_fd) # $ exec > to
try:
yield stdout # allow code to be run with the redirected stdout
finally:
# restore stdout to its previous value
#NOTE: dup2 makes stdout_fd inheritable unconditionally
stdout.flush()
os.dup2(copied.fileno(), stdout_fd) # $ exec >&copied
The same example works now if stdout_redirected() is used instead of redirect_stdout():
import os
import sys
stdout_fd = sys.stdout.fileno()
with open('output.txt', 'w') as f, stdout_redirected(f):
print('redirected to a file')
os.write(stdout_fd, b'it is redirected now\n')
os.system('echo this is also redirected')
print('this is goes back to stdout')
The output that previously was printed on stdout now goes to output.txt as long as stdout_redirected() context manager is active.
Note: stdout.flush() does not flush
C stdio buffers on Python 3 where I/O is implemented directly on read()/write() system calls. To flush all open C stdio output streams, you could call libc.fflush(None) explicitly if some C extension uses stdio-based I/O:
try:
import ctypes
from ctypes.util import find_library
except ImportError:
libc = None
else:
try:
libc = ctypes.cdll.msvcrt # Windows
except OSError:
libc = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(find_library('c'))
def flush(stream):
try:
libc.fflush(None)
stream.flush()
except (AttributeError, ValueError, IOError):
pass # unsupported
You could use stdout parameter to redirect other streams, not only sys.stdout e.g., to merge sys.stderr and sys.stdout:
def merged_stderr_stdout(): # $ exec 2>&1
return stdout_redirected(to=sys.stdout, stdout=sys.stderr)
Example:
from __future__ import print_function
import sys
with merged_stderr_stdout():
print('this is printed on stdout')
print('this is also printed on stdout', file=sys.stderr)
Note: stdout_redirected() mixes buffered I/O (sys.stdout usually) and unbuffered I/O (operations on file descriptors directly). Beware, there could be buffering issues.
To answer, your edit: you could use python-daemon to daemonize your script and use logging module (as #erikb85 suggested) instead of print statements and merely redirecting stdout for your long-running Python script that you run using nohup now.

you can try this too much better
import sys
class Logger(object):
def __init__(self, filename="Default.log"):
self.terminal = sys.stdout
self.log = open(filename, "a")
def write(self, message):
self.terminal.write(message)
self.log.write(message)
sys.stdout = Logger("yourlogfilename.txt")
print "Hello world !" # this is should be saved in yourlogfilename.txt

The other answers didn't cover the case where you want forked processes to share your new stdout.
To do that:
from os import open, close, dup, O_WRONLY
old = dup(1)
close(1)
open("file", O_WRONLY) # should open on 1
..... do stuff and then restore
close(1)
dup(old) # should dup to 1
close(old) # get rid of left overs

Quoted from PEP 343 -- The "with" Statement (added import statement):
Redirect stdout temporarily:
import sys
from contextlib import contextmanager
#contextmanager
def stdout_redirected(new_stdout):
save_stdout = sys.stdout
sys.stdout = new_stdout
try:
yield None
finally:
sys.stdout = save_stdout
Used as follows:
with open(filename, "w") as f:
with stdout_redirected(f):
print "Hello world"
This isn't thread-safe, of course, but neither is doing this same dance manually. In single-threaded programs (for example in scripts) it is a popular way of doing things.

import sys
sys.stdout = open('stdout.txt', 'w')

Here is a variation of Yuda Prawira answer:
implement flush() and all the file attributes
write it as a contextmanager
capture stderr also
.
import contextlib, sys
#contextlib.contextmanager
def log_print(file):
# capture all outputs to a log file while still printing it
class Logger:
def __init__(self, file):
self.terminal = sys.stdout
self.log = file
def write(self, message):
self.terminal.write(message)
self.log.write(message)
def __getattr__(self, attr):
return getattr(self.terminal, attr)
logger = Logger(file)
_stdout = sys.stdout
_stderr = sys.stderr
sys.stdout = logger
sys.stderr = logger
try:
yield logger.log
finally:
sys.stdout = _stdout
sys.stderr = _stderr
with log_print(open('mylogfile.log', 'w')):
print('hello world')
print('hello world on stderr', file=sys.stderr)
# you can capture the output to a string with:
# with log_print(io.StringIO()) as log:
# ....
# print('[captured output]', log.getvalue())

You need a terminal multiplexer like either tmux or GNU screen
I'm surprised that a small comment by Ryan Amos' to the original question is the only mention of a solution far preferable to all the others on offer, no matter how clever the python trickery may be and how many upvotes they've received. Further to Ryan's comment, tmux is a nice alternative to GNU screen.
But the principle is the same: if you ever find yourself wanting to leave a terminal job running while you log-out, head to the cafe for a sandwich, pop to the bathroom, go home (etc) and then later, reconnect to your terminal session from anywhere or any computer as though you'd never been away, terminal multiplexers are the answer. Think of them as VNC or remote desktop for terminal sessions. Anything else is a workaround. As a bonus, when the boss and/or partner comes in and you inadvertently ctrl-w / cmd-w your terminal window instead of your browser window with its dodgy content, you won't have lost the last 18 hours-worth of processing!

Based on this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5916874/1060344, here is another way I figured out which I use in one of my projects. For whatever you replace sys.stderr or sys.stdout with, you have to make sure that the replacement complies with file interface, especially if this is something you are doing because stderr/stdout are used in some other library that is not under your control. That library may be using other methods of file object.
Check out this way where I still let everything go do stderr/stdout (or any file for that matter) and also send the message to a log file using Python's logging facility (but you can really do anything with this):
class FileToLogInterface(file):
'''
Interface to make sure that everytime anything is written to stderr, it is
also forwarded to a file.
'''
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
if 'cfg' not in kwargs:
raise TypeError('argument cfg is required.')
else:
if not isinstance(kwargs['cfg'], config.Config):
raise TypeError(
'argument cfg should be a valid '
'PostSegmentation configuration object i.e. '
'postsegmentation.config.Config')
self._cfg = kwargs['cfg']
kwargs.pop('cfg')
self._logger = logging.getlogger('access_log')
super(FileToLogInterface, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
def write(self, msg):
super(FileToLogInterface, self).write(msg)
self._logger.info(msg)

Programs written in other languages (e.g. C) have to do special magic (called double-forking) expressly to detach from the terminal (and to prevent zombie processes). So, I think the best solution is to emulate them.
A plus of re-executing your program is, you can choose redirections on the command-line, e.g. /usr/bin/python mycoolscript.py 2>&1 1>/dev/null
See this post for more info: What is the reason for performing a double fork when creating a daemon?

I know this question is answered (using python abc.py > output.log 2>&1 ), but I still have to say:
When writing your program, don't write to stdout. Always use logging to output whatever you want. That would give you a lot of freedom in the future when you want to redirect, filter, rotate the output files.

As mentioned by #jfs, most solutions will not properly handle some types of stdout output such as that from C extensions. There is a module that takes care of all this on PyPI called wurlitzer. You just need its sys_pipes context manager. It's as easy as using:
from contextlib import redirect_stdout
import os
from wurlitzer import sys_pipes
log = open("test.log", "a")
with redirect_stdout(log), sys_pipes():
print("print statement")
os.system("echo echo call")

Based on previous answers on this post I wrote this class for myself as a more compact and flexible way of redirecting the output of pieces of code - here just to a list - and ensure that the output is normalized afterwards.
class out_to_lt():
def __init__(self, lt):
if type(lt) == list:
self.lt = lt
else:
raise Exception("Need to pass a list")
def __enter__(self):
import sys
self._sys = sys
self._stdout = sys.stdout
sys.stdout = self
return self
def write(self,txt):
self.lt.append(txt)
def __exit__(self, type, value, traceback):
self._sys.stdout = self._stdout
Used as:
lt = []
with out_to_lt(lt) as o:
print("Test 123\n\n")
print(help(str))
Updating. Just found a scenario where I had to add two extra methods, but was easy to adapt:
class out_to_lt():
...
def isatty(self):
return True #True: You're running in a real terminal, False:You're being piped, redirected, cron
def flush(self):
pass

There are other versions using context but nothing this simple. I actually just googled to double check it would work and was surprised not to see it, so for other people looking for a quick solution that is safe and directed at only the code within the context block, here it is:
import sys
with open('test_file', 'w') as sys.stdout:
print('Testing 1 2 3')
Tested like so:
$ cat redirect_stdout.py
import sys
with open('test_file', 'w') as sys.stdout:
print('Testing 1 2 3')
$ python redirect_stdout.py
$ cat test_file
Testing 1 2 3