Python 3 Programming Tutorial - Subprocess module

TL;DR

Learn how to use the subprocess module in Python 3 to communicate with the system's shell and execute commands.

Transcript

hello everybody and welcome to another Python 3 tutorial video in this video we're going to be talking about a subprocess and the idea of sub process is it's in a way does replace other modules and in another way it's its own thing entirely but it replaces things like um like os. system OS uh piping all that kind of stuff as well as like some comma... Read More

Key Insights

• 👻 The subprocess module in Python allows communication between Python scripts and the system shell.
• 😚 It replaces modules like os, system, and piping, offering more flexibility and control.
• 🐚 Subprocess can execute commands in both Windows and Linux shells using the shell=True argument.
• ❓ The check_output method captures the output of a command, while the do_call method executes a command without capturing the output.
• 🐚 Subprocess enables passing arguments from a Python script to the shell for command execution.
• 🤨 The module supports running commands with administrative privileges using sudo or su.
• 🧡 Subprocess provides a wide range of possibilities for interacting with the system and controlling shell commands.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the purpose of the subprocess module in Python?

The subprocess module allows Python scripts to communicate with the system's shell and execute commands, replacing modules like os and system.

Q: How do you execute a command in the Windows shell using subprocess?

In Windows, you can use subprocess.do_call(command, shell=True) to execute a command in the shell. For example, subprocess.do_call('dir', shell=True) will list the files and directories in the current directory.

Q: How do you capture and print the output of a command in Python?

To capture and print the output of a command, you can use subprocess.check_output(command, shell=True) and assign it to a variable. For example, output = subprocess.check_output('ls -l', shell=True) will save the output of the 'ls -l' command in Linux, and you can print it using print(output).

Q: Can you execute commands and pass arguments from a Python script to the shell?

Yes, you can execute commands and pass arguments from a Python script to the shell using the subprocess module. For example, subprocess.check_output(['python', 'script.py', 'arg1', 'arg2'], shell=True) will execute the 'script.py' Python script in the shell with 'arg1' and 'arg2' as arguments.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The tutorial introduces the subprocess module, which replaces other modules like os, system, and piping in Python.

• It demonstrates how to execute commands in the Windows and Linux shells using subprocess and the shell=True argument.

• The tutorial also shows how to capture and print the output of the executed commands using the subprocess check_output and do_call methods.