How Can I Efficiently Capture and Store the Output of a subprocess.Popen Call in Python?

Storing Output of subprocess.Popen Call in a String

When attempting to make a system call using Python, it can be necessary to store the output for later manipulation. However, using subprocess.Popen alone does not provide a straightforward method for capturing the output within a string.

Alternative Approaches

To address this issue, consider the following options:

Python 2.7 or Python 3

Utilize the subprocess.check_output() function, which simplifies command execution and output capture:

from subprocess import check_output
out = check_output(["ntpq", "-p"])

Python 2.4-2.6

Employ the communicate method of the Popen object:

import subprocess
p = subprocess.Popen(["ntpq", "-p"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
out, err = p.communicate()

In this case, out will contain the desired output.

Note on Command Invocation

When using Popen, specify the command as a list containing the command and options, e.g., ["ntpq", "-p"]. This ensures the command is interpreted correctly, as Popen does not utilize the shell for command execution.

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