There are lots of different libraries which allow you to call external commands with Python. For each library I've given a description and shown an example of calling an external command. The command I used as the example is ls -l (list all files). If you want to find out more about any of the libraries I've listed and linked the documentation for each of them.
Sources:
These are all the libraries:
Hopefully this will help you make a decision on which library to use :)
subprocess
Subprocess allows you to call external commands and connect them to their input/output/error pipes (stdin, stdout, and stderr). Subprocess is the default choice for running commands, but sometimes other modules are better.
subprocess.run(["ls", "-l"]) # Run command
subprocess.run(["ls", "-l"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE) # This will run the command and return any output
subprocess.run(shlex.split("ls -l")) # You can also use the shlex library to split the command
os
os is used for "operating system dependent functionality". It can also be used to call external commands with os.system and os.popen (Note: There is also a subprocess.popen). os will always run the shell and is a simple alternative for people who don't need to, or don't know how to use subprocess.run.
os.system("ls -l") # run command
os.popen("ls -l").read() # This will run the command and return any output
sh
sh is a subprocess interface which lets you call programs as if they were functions. This is useful if you want to run a command multiple times.
sh.ls("-l") # Run command normally
ls_cmd = sh.Command("ls") # Save command as a variable
ls_cmd() # Run command as if it were a function
plumbum
plumbum is a library for "script-like" Python programs. You can call programs like functions as in sh. Plumbum is useful if you want to run a pipeline without the shell.
ls_cmd = plumbum.local("ls -l") # get command
ls_cmd() # run command
pexpect
pexpect lets you spawn child applications, control them and find patterns in their output. This is a better alternative to subprocess for commands that expect a tty on Unix.
pexpect.run("ls -l") # Run command as normal
child = pexpect.spawn('scp foo [email protected]:.') # Spawns child application
child.expect('Password:') # When this is the output
child.sendline('mypassword')
fabric
fabric is a Python 2.5 and 2.7 library. It allows you to execute local and remote shell commands. Fabric is simple alternative for running commands in a secure shell (SSH)
fabric.operations.local('ls -l') # Run command as normal
fabric.operations.local('ls -l', capture = True) # Run command and receive output
envoy
envoy is known as "subprocess for humans". It is used as a convenience wrapper around the subprocess module.
r = envoy.run("ls -l") # Run command
r.std_out # get output
commands
commands contains wrapper functions for os.popen, but it has been removed from Python 3 since subprocess is a better alternative.
The edit was based on J.F. Sebastian's comment.