Login | Register For Free | Help
Search for: (Advanced)

Mailing List Archive: Python: Python

How to print stdout before writing stdin using subprocess module in Python?

 

 

Python python RSS feed   Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded


sarbjit1987 at gmail

Jul 23, 2012, 6:01 AM

Post #1 of 3 (187 views)
Permalink
How to print stdout before writing stdin using subprocess module in Python?

I am writing a script in which in the external system command may sometimes require user input. I am not able to handle that properly. I have tried using os.popen4 and subprocess module but could not achieve the desired behavior.

Below mentioned example would show this problem using "cp" command. ("cp" command is used to show this problem, i am calling some different exe which may similarly prompt for user response in some scenarios). In this example there are two files present on disk and when user tries to copy file1 to file2, an conformer message comes up.

proc = subprocess.Popen("cp -i a.txt b.txt", shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,) stdout_val, stderr_val = proc.communicate() print stdout_val b.txt?

proc.communicate("y")

Now in this example if i read only stdout/stderr and prints it, later on if i try to write "y" or "n" based on user's input, i got an error that channel is closed. Can some one please help me on achieving this behavior in python such that i can print stdout first, then should take user input and write stdin later on.

--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list


__peter__ at web

Jul 23, 2012, 8:21 AM

Post #2 of 3 (177 views)
Permalink
Re: How to print stdout before writing stdin using subprocess module in Python? [In reply to]

Sarbjit singh wrote:

> I am writing a script in which in the external system command may
> sometimes require user input. I am not able to handle that properly. I
> have tried using os.popen4 and subprocess module but could not achieve the
> desired behavior.
>
> Below mentioned example would show this problem using "cp" command. ("cp"
> command is used to show this problem, i am calling some different exe
> which may similarly prompt for user response in some scenarios). In this
> example there are two files present on disk and when user tries to copy
> file1 to file2, an conformer message comes up.
>
> proc = subprocess.Popen("cp -i a.txt b.txt", shell=True,
> stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,)
> stdout_val, stderr_val = proc.communicate() print stdout_val b.txt?
>
> proc.communicate("y")
>
> Now in this example if i read only stdout/stderr and prints it, later on
> if i try to write "y" or "n" based on user's input, i got an error that
> channel is closed. Can some one please help me on achieving this behavior
> in python such that i can print stdout first, then should take user input
> and write stdin later on.

I think you need something like expect:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pexpect

--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list


nobody at nowhere

Jul 23, 2012, 11:29 AM

Post #3 of 3 (172 views)
Permalink
Re: How to print stdout before writing stdin using subprocess module in Python? [In reply to]

On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 06:01:23 -0700, Sarbjit singh wrote:

> proc = subprocess.Popen("cp -i a.txt b.txt", shell=True,
> stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
> stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,)
> stdout_val, stderr_val = proc.communicate()
> print stdout_val b.txt?
>
> proc.communicate("y")
>
> Now in this example if i read only stdout/stderr and prints it, later on
> if i try to write "y" or "n" based on user's input, i got an error that
> channel is closed. Can some one please help me on achieving this
> behavior in python such that i can print stdout first, then should take
> user input and write stdin later on.

You can't use .communicate() if you want an interact with the child
process. Any text given as an argument is sent to the child, then the
child's stdin is closed. Then it reads the child's stdout and/or stderr
until the child terminates.

If you want to interact with the child, you need to write to proc.stdin
and read from proc.stdout and/or proc.stderr. And you need to do this
asynchronously, i.e. you either need to use non-blocking I/O or multiple
threads, otherwise you risk deadlock. Look at the source code for the
.communicate() method in subprocess.py for examples (the Unix version uses
non-blocking I/O, the Windows version uses threads).

Even that may not be enough, as the child process may behave differently
if std{in,out,err} are pipes rather than a tty. Typically, stdin and
stdout are line-buffered when associated with a tty but block-buffered
otherwise (e.g. when associated with a pipe).

If pipes don't work, the only solution may be to run the child process on
a pseudo-tty (pty); see the pty module or the os.openpty() function.

--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

Python python RSS feed   Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded
 
 


Interested in having your list archived? Contact Gossamer Threads
 
  Web Applications & Managed Hosting Powered by Gossamer Threads Inc.