[python] Running an outside program (executable) in Python?

I just started working on Python, and I have been trying to run an outside executable from Python.

I have an executable for a program written in Fortran. Let’s say the name for the executable is flow.exe. And my executable is located in C:\Documents and Settings\flow_model. I tried both os.system and popen commands, but so far I couldn't make it work. The following code seems like it opens the command window, but it wouldn't execute the model.

# Import system modules
import sys, string, os, arcgisscripting
os.system("C:/Documents and Settings/flow_model/flow.exe")

How can I fix this?

By using os.system:

import os
os.system(r'"C:/Documents and Settings/flow_model/flow.exe"')

There are loads of different solutions, and the results will strongly depend on:

• the OS you are using: Windows, Cygwin, Linux, MacOS
• the python version you are using: Python2 or Python3x

As I have discovered some things that are claimed to work only in Windows, doesn't, probably because I happen to use Cygwin which is outsmarting the OS way to deal with Windows paths. Other things only work in pure *nix based OS's or in Python2 or 3.

Here are my findings:

• Generally speaking, os.system() is the most forgiving method.
• os.startfile() is the least forgiving. (Windows only && if you're lucky)
• subprocess.Popen([...]) not recommended
• subprocess.run(winView, shell=True) the recommended way!
• Remembering that using subprocess for anything may pose a security risk.

Try these:

import os, subprocess
...
winView = '/cygdrive/c/Windows/explorer.exe %s' % somefile
...
# chose one of these:
os.system(winView)
subprocess.Popen(['/cygdrive/c/Windows/explorer.exe', 'somefile.png'])
subprocess.run(winView, shell=True)

Q: Why would you want to use explorer in Windows?

A: Because if you just want to look at the results of some new file, explorer will automatically open the file with whatever default windows program you have set for that file type. So no need to re-specify the default program to use.

Your usage is correct. I bet that your external program, flow.exe, needs to be executed in its directory, because it accesses some external files stored there.

So you might try:

import sys, string, os, arcgisscripting
os.chdir('c:\\documents and settings\\flow_model')
os.system('"C:\\Documents and Settings\\flow_model\\flow.exe"')

(Beware of the double quotes inside the single quotes...)

That's the correct usage, but perhaps the spaces in the path name are messing things up for some reason.

You may want to run the program under cmd.exe as well so you can see any output from flow.exe that might be indicating an error.

If using Python 2.7 or higher (especially prior to Python 3.5) you can use the following:

import subprocess

• subprocess.call(args, *, stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None, shell=False) Runs the command described by args. Waits for command to complete, then returns the returncode attribute.
• subprocess.check_call(args, *, stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None, shell=False) Runs command with arguments. Waits for command to complete. If the return code was zero then returns, otherwise raises CalledProcessError. The CalledProcessError object will have the return code in the returncode attribute

Example: subprocess.check_call([r"C:\pathToYourProgram\yourProgram.exe", "your", "arguments", "comma", "separated"])

In regular Python strings, the \U character combination signals a extended Unicode code point escape.

Here is the link to the documentation: http://docs.python.org/3.2/library/subprocess.html

For Python 3.5+ you can now use run() in many cases: https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.run

Use subprocess, it is a smaller module so it runs the .exe quicker.

import subprocess
subprocess.Popen([r"U:\Year 8\kerbal space program\KSP.exe"])

in python 2.6 use string enclosed inside quotation " and apostrophe ' marks. Also a change single / to double //. Your working example will look like this:

import os
os.system("'C://Documents and Settings//flow_model//flow.exe'") 

Also You can use any parameters if Your program ingest them.

os.system('C://"Program Files (x86)"//Maxima-gcl-5.37.3//gnuplot//bin//gnuplot -e "plot [-10:10] sin(x),atan(x),cos(atan(x)); pause mouse"')

finally You can use string variable, as an example is plotting using gnuplot directly from python:

this_program='C://"Program Files (x86)"//Maxima-gcl-5.37.3//gnuplot//bin//gnuplot'

this_par='-e "set polar; plot [-2*pi:2*pi] [-3:3] [-3:3] t*sin(t); pause -1"'
os.system(this_program+" "+this_par)

import os
path = "C:/Documents and Settings/flow_model/"
os.chdir(path)
os.system("flow.exe")

Try

import subprocess
subprocess.call(["C:/Documents and Settings/flow_model/flow.exe"])

Is that trying to execute C:\Documents with arguments of "and", "Settings/flow_model/flow.exe"?

Also, you might consider subprocess.call().

for the above question this solution works.

just change the path to where your executable file is located.

import sys, string, os

os.chdir('C:\\Downloads\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\\bin64')

os.system("C:\\Downloads\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\bin64\\flowwork.exe")


'''import sys, string, os

os.chdir('C:\\Downloads\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\\bin64')

os.system(r"C:\\Downloads\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\\xpdf-tools-win-4.00\bin64\\pdftopng.exe test1.pdf rootimage")'''

Here test1.pdf rootimage is for my code .

If it were me, I'd put the EXE file in the root directory (C:) and see if it works like that. If so, it's probably the (already mentioned) spaces in the directory name. If not, it may be some environment variables.

Also, try to check you stderr (using an earlier answer by int3):

import subprocess
process = subprocess.Popen(["C:/Documents and Settings/flow_model/flow.exe"], \
                           stderr = subprocess.PIPE)
if process.stderr:
    print process.stderr.readlines()

The code might not be entirely correct as I usually don't use Popen or Windows, but should give the idea. It might well be that the error message is on the error stream.

The simplest way is:

import os
os.startfile("C:\Documents and Settings\flow_model\flow.exe")

It works; I tried it.

I'd try inserting an 'r' in front of your path if I were you, to indicate that it's a raw string - and then you won't have to use forward slashes. For example:

os.system(r"C:\Documents and Settings\flow_model\flow.exe")