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Popen prepending path to executable

I am using popen to run the following command on a windows vm
'tf changeset ...'
however when I run it using
commandLine = 'tf changeset /noprompt /latest /loginType:OAuth /login:.,***'
process = Popen(commandLine, shell=True, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
I see the following being executed in the logs
'C:\Azure\Agent-1/externals/tf/tf changeset ...'
Meaning that 'C:\Azure\Agent-1/externals/tf/' has been prepended to my command. I was just expecting to see
'tf changeset ...'
Unfortunately adding the path to the execution breaks the command, is there any way to stop python from doing this?

Try passing the commandLine to Popen as a list of arguments:
commandLine = ["tf", "changeset", "/noprompt", "/latest", "/loginType:OAuth", "/login:.,***'"]
process = Popen(commandLine, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)

Python by itself does no such thing. Perhaps the shell=True is doing more than you hoped or bargained for? But we would need access to your shell's configuration to get beyond mere speculation around this.
Calling Popen on the result from Popen is obviously not well-defined; but perhaps this is just an error in your transcription of your real code?
Removing the first process =Popen( would fix this with minimal changes. As per the above, I would also remove shell=True as at least superfluous and at worst directly harmful.
commandLine = 'tf changeset /noprompt /latest /loginType:OAuth /login:.,***'
process = Popen(commandLine, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
Like the subprocess documentation tells you, shell=True is only useful on Windows when your command is a cmd built-in.
For proper portability, you should break the command into tokens, manually or by way of shlex.split() if you are lazy or need the user to pass in a string to execute.
commandLine = ['tf ', 'changeset', '/noprompt', '/latest', '/loginType:OAuth', '/login:.,***']
process = Popen(commandLine, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
This avoids the other dangers of shell=True and will be portable to non-Windows platforms (assuming of course that the command you are trying to run is available on the target platform).

How to insert os.system output into a text file? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Running shell command and capturing the output
(21 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
I want to get the stdout in a variable after running the os.system call.
Lets take this line as an example:
batcmd="dir"
result = os.system(batcmd)
result will contain the error code (stderr 0 under Windows or 1 under some linux for the above example).
How can I get the stdout for the above command without using redirection in the executed command?

If all you need is the stdout output, then take a look at subprocess.check_output():
import subprocess
batcmd="dir"
result = subprocess.check_output(batcmd, shell=True)
Because you were using os.system(), you'd have to set shell=True to get the same behaviour. You do want to heed the security concerns about passing untrusted arguments to your shell.
If you need to capture stderr as well, simply add stderr=subprocess.STDOUT to the call:
result = subprocess.check_output([batcmd], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
to redirect the error output to the default output stream.
If you know that the output is text, add text=True to decode the returned bytes value with the platform default encoding; use encoding="..." instead if that codec is not correct for the data you receive.

These answers didn't work for me. I had to use the following:
import subprocess
p = subprocess.Popen(["pwd"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
out = p.stdout.read()
print out
Or as a function (using shell=True was required for me on Python 2.6.7 and check_output was not added until 2.7, making it unusable here):
def system_call(command):
p = subprocess.Popen([command], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
return p.stdout.read()

import subprocess
string="echo Hello world"
result=subprocess.getoutput(string)
print("result::: ",result)

I had to use os.system, since subprocess was giving me a memory error for larger tasks. Reference for this problem here. So, in order to get the output of the os.system command I used this workaround:
import os
batcmd = 'dir'
result_code = os.system(batcmd + ' > output.txt')
if os.path.exists('output.txt'):
fp = open('output.txt', "r")
output = fp.read()
fp.close()
os.remove('output.txt')
print(output)

I would like to expand on the Windows solution. Using IDLE with Python 2.7.5, When I run this code from file Expts.py:
import subprocess
r = subprocess.check_output('cmd.exe dir',shell=False)
print r
...in the Python Shell, I ONLY get the output corresponding to "cmd.exe"; the "dir" part is ignored. HOWEVER, when I add a switch such as /K or /C ...
import subprocess
r = subprocess.check_output('cmd.exe /K dir',shell=False)
print r
...then in the Python Shell, I get all that I expect including the directory listing. Woohoo !
Now, if I try any of those same things in DOS Python command window, without the switch, or with the /K switch, it appears to make the window hang because it is running a subprocess cmd.exe and it awaiting further input - type 'exit' then hit [enter] to release. But with the /K switch it works perfectly and returns you to the python prompt. Allrightee then.
Went a step further...I thought this was cool...When I instead do this in Expts.py:
import subprocess
r = subprocess.call("cmd.exe dir",shell=False)
print r
...a new DOS window pops open and remains there displaying only the results of "cmd.exe" not of "dir". When I add the /C switch, the DOS window opens and closes very fast before I can see anything (as expected, because /C terminates when done). When I instead add the /K switch, the DOS window pops open and remain, AND I get all the output I expect including the directory listing.
If I try the same thing (subprocess.call instead of subprocess.check_output) from a DOS Python command window; all output is within the same window, there are no popup windows. Without the switch, again the "dir" part is ignored, AND the prompt changes from the python prompt to the DOS prompt (since a cmd.exe subprocess is running in python; again type 'exit' and you will revert to the python prompt). Adding the /K switch prints out the directory listing and changes the prompt from python to DOS since /K does not terminate the subprocess. Changing the switch to /C gives us all the output expected AND returns to the python prompt since the subprocess terminates in accordance with /C.
Sorry for the long-winded response, but I am frustrated on this board with the many terse 'answers' which at best don't work (seems because they are not tested - like Eduard F's response above mine which is missing the switch) or worse, are so terse that they don't help much at all (e.g., 'try subprocess instead of os.system' ... yeah, OK, now what ??). In contrast, I have provided solutions which I tested, and showed how there are subtle differences between them. Took a lot of time but...
Hope this helps.

commands also works.
import commands
batcmd = "dir"
result = commands.getoutput(batcmd)
print result
It works on linux, python 2.7.

How to use Popen with an interactive command? nslookup, ftp

Is there any way to use Popen with interactive commands? I mean nslookup, ftp, powershell... I read the whole subprocess documentation several times but I can't find the way.
What I have (removing the parts of the project which aren't of interest here) is:
from subprocess import call, PIPE, Popen
command = raw_input('>>> ')
command = command.split(' ')
process = Popen(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, shell=True)
execution = process.stdout.read()
error = process.stderr.read()
output = execution + error
process.stderr.close()
process.stdout.close()
print(output)
Basically, when I try to print the output with a command like dir, the output is a string, so I can work with the .read() on it. But when I try to use nslookup for example, the output isn't a string, so it can't be read, and the script enters in a deadlock.
I know that I can invoke nslookup in non-interactive mode, but that's not the point. I want to remove all the chances of a deadlock, and make it works with every command you can run in a normal cmd.
The real way the project works is through sockets, so the raw_input is a s.recv() and the output is sending back the output, but I have simplified it to focus on the problem.

Can Powershell read code from stdin?

I'm trying to run a Powershell subprocess from Python. I need to send Powershell code from Python to the child process. I've got this far:
import subprocess
import time
args = ["powershell", "-NoProfile", "-InputFormat None", "-NonInteractive"]
startTime = time.time()
process = subprocess.Popen(args, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
process.stdin.write("Write-Host 'FINISHED';".encode("utf-8"))
result = ''
while 'FINISHED' not in result:
result += process.stdout.read(32).decode('utf-8')
if time.time() > startTime + 5:
raise TimeoutError(result)
print(result)
This times out, because nothing ever gets written to stdout. I think the Write-Host cmdlet never gets executed. Even the simple bash/Cygwin code echo "Write-Host 'FINISHED';" | powershell doesn't seem to do the job.
For comparison, sending the code block using the -Command flag works correctly.
How can I convince Powershell to run the code which I'm sending to stdin?

There a couple of things you can consider:
Invoke PowerShell in a mode where you provide it with a script file which it should execute. Write this script file prior to calling the subprocess. Use the -File <FilePath> parameter for PowerShell (cf. the docs)
If you really want to go with the stdin technique, you might be missing a newline character after the command. If this does not help, you might need to send another control character that tells PowerShell that input EOF is reached. You definitely need to consult the PowerShell docs for finding out how to 'terminate' commands on stdin. One thing you definitely need is the -Command - arguments: The value of Command can be "-", a string. or a script block. If the value of Command is "-", the command text is read from standard input. You may also want to look at this little hack: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13877874/145400
If you only want to execute one command, you can simplify your code by using out, err = subprocess.communicate(in)

I had trouble with a similar task, but I was able to solve it.
First my example code:
import subprocess
args = ["powershell.exe", "-Command", r"-"]
process = subprocess.Popen(args, stdin = subprocess.PIPE, stdout = subprocess.PIPE)
process.stdin.write(b"$data = Get-ChildItem C:\\temp\r\n")
process.stdin.write(b"Write-Host 'Finished 1st command'\r\n")
process.stdin.write(b"$data | Export-Clixml -Path c:\\temp\state.xml\r\n")
process.stdin.write(b"Write-Host 'Finished 2nd command'\r\n")
output = process.communicate()[0]
print(output.decode("utf-8"))
print("done")
The main issue was the correct argument list args. It is required to start the powershell with the -Command-flag, followed by "-" as indicated by Jan-Philipp.
Another mystery was the end-of-line character that is required to get the stuff executed. \r\n works quite well.
Getting the output of the Powershell is still an issue. But if you don't care about realtime, you can collect the output after finishing all executions by calling
output = process.communicate()[0]
However, the active Powershell will be terminated afterwards.

Python - pipelining subprocess in Windows

I'm using Windows 7, and I've tried this under Python 2.6.6 and Python 3.2.
So I'm trying to call this command line from Python:
netstat -ano | find ":80"
under Windows cmd, this line works perfectly fine.
So,
1st attempt:
output = subprocess.Popen(
[r'netstat -ano | find ":80"'],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
shell=True
).communicate()
An error is raised that 'find' actually didn't receive correct parameter (e.g. 'find ":80" \'):
Access denied - \
2nd attempt:
#calling netstat
cmd_netstat = subprocess.Popen(
['netstat','-ano'],
stdout = subprocess.PIPE
)
#pipelining netstat result into find
cmd_find = subprocess.Popen(
['find','":80"'],
stdin = cmd_netstat.stdout,
stdout = subprocess.PIPE
)
Again, the same error is raised.
Access denied - \
What did I do wrong? :(
EDIT:
3rd attempt (As #Pavel Repin suggested):
cmd_netstat = subprocess.Popen(
['cmd.exe', '-c', 'netstat -ano | find ":80"'],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE
).communicate()
Unfortunately, subprocess with ['cmd.exe','-c'] results in something resembling deadlock or a blank cmd window. I assume '-c' is ignored by cmd, resulting in communicate() waiting indefinitely for cmd termination. Since this is Windows, my bet bet is cmd only accepts parameter starting with slash (/). So I substituted '-c' with '/c':
cmd_netstat = subprocess.Popen(
['cmd.exe', '/c', 'netstat -ano | find ":80"'],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE
).communicate()
And...back to the same error:
Access denied - \
EDIT:
I gave up, I'll just process the string returned by 'netstat -ano' in Python. Might this be a bug?

What I suggest is that you do the maximum inside Python code. So, you can execute the following command:
# executing the command
import subprocess
output = subprocess.Popen(['netstat', '-ano'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()
and then by parsing the output:
# filtering the output
valid_lines = [ line for line in output[0].split('\r\n') if ':80' in line ]
You will get a list of lines. On my computer, the output looks like this for port number 1900 (no html connexion active):
[' UDP 127.0.0.1:1900 *:* 1388', ' UDP 192.xxx.xxx.233:1900 *:* 1388']
In my opinion, this is easier to work with.
Note that :
option shell=True is not mandatory, but a command-line window is opened-closed quickly. See what suits you the most, but take care of command injection;
list of Popen arguments shall be a list of string. Quoting of the list parts is not necessary, subprocess will take care of it for you.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: oops, I missed the last line of the edit. Seems you've already got the idea on your own.

So I revisited this question, and found two solutions (I switched to Python 2.7 sometime ago, so I'm not sure about Python 2.6, but it should be the same.):
Replace find with findstr, and remove doublequotes
output = subprocess.Popen(['netstat','-ano','|','findstr',':80'],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
shell=True)
.communicate()
But this doesn't explain why "find" cannot be used, so:
Use string parameter instead of list
output = subprocess.Popen('netstat -ano | find ":80"',
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
shell=True)
.communicate()
or
pipeout = subprocess.Popen(['netstat', '-ano'],
stdout = subprocess.PIPE)
output = subprocess.Popen('find ":80"',
stdin = pipeout.stdout,
stdout = subprocess.PIPE)
.communicate()
The problem arise from the fact that: ['find','":80"'] is actually translated into ['find,'\":80\"'].
Thus the following command is executed in Windows command shell:
>find \":80\"
Access denied - \
Proof:
Running:
output = subprocess.Popen(['echo','find','":80"'],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
shell=True)
.communicate()
print output[0]
returns:
find \":80\"
Running:
output = subprocess.Popen('echo find ":80"',
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
shell=True)
.communicate()
print output[0]
returns:
find ":80"

New answer, after reading this old question again: this may be due to the two following facts:
The pipe operator executes the following commands in a sub-shell; see for instance this interesting consequence).
Python itself uses the pipe as a way to get the results back:
Note that (...) to get anything other than None in the result tuple, you need to give stdout=PIPE and/or stderr=PIPE too.
Not sure if this 'conflict' is kind of a bug, or a design choice though.