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I want the output of the jobs command run in the shell as a string in python.

I have this code

import subprocess
p1 = subprocess.Popen(['jobs'], shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
print p1.communicate()

But this doesnt seem to work. The output I get is -

('', None)

How do I fix this?

asked Sep 19, 2012 at 9:52
4
  • 2
    Which Python version and OS are you on? It works fine on Linux, Python 2.5.2. Commented Sep 19, 2012 at 9:58
  • 1
    What is the value of p1.returncode? (Btw., you don't need shell=True.) Commented Sep 19, 2012 at 9:58
  • 1
    I believe you are testing different code (the print statement as shown will output a string, not a tuple). Maybe there are other differences besides the print statement, which cause trouble. The code as shown works for me (Linux, Python 2.7.3). Commented Sep 19, 2012 at 10:03
  • i copied out the wrong block of code :P.... changed it now though! Commented Sep 19, 2012 at 13:08

1 Answer 1

1

You can use subprocess.check_output:

In [5]: import subprocess
In [6]: output = subprocess.check_output("ps")
In [7]: print output
 PID TTY TIME CMD
 2314 pts/2 00:00:06 bash
 4084 pts/2 00:00:03 mpdas
 7315 pts/2 00:00:02 python
 7399 pts/2 00:00:00 ps
In [8]:

Your code works fine for me.

In [11]: import subprocess
In [12]: p1 = subprocess.Popen(['ps'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
In [13]: print p1.communicate()[0]
 PID TTY TIME CMD
 2314 pts/2 00:00:06 bash
 4084 pts/2 00:00:03 mpdas
 7315 pts/2 00:00:02 python
 7682 pts/2 00:00:00 ps
In [14]:
answered Sep 19, 2012 at 10:00
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