How to converts a list of arguments into single string command line in Python?

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What’s the reverse of shlex.split?

How do I convert a list of command line parameters, like argv to a single string for command line?

" ".join(argv) is not the correct solution as it will not escape the strings with spaces correctly.

Example: ./test.py -v --simulate --action removePage --title "AAA BBB"

If you try this the last argument is AAA BBB without quotes but if I try to rebuild the command line with join I will get a wrong result.

Note: I know that I can get the command line as a string, but in my case I cannot rely on that, I need a solution that converts a list of arguments to a proper command line.

note: '*argv' doesnt unpack arguments - its the '*' that does it. So you could do *a, *aa, *hello, etc. — Rich Tier, Nov 08 '12 at 18:28

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 08 '12 at 17:36

2

With Python 3.3 you can try using shlex.quote (sorry, I can't check):

' '.join(shlex.quote(arg) for arg in argv)

answered Nov 08 '12 at 17:36

Nicolas

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 08 '12 at 17:26

0

I suppose if you don't mind gratuitous quoting:

" ".join('"%s"'%x.strip().replace('"',r'\"') for x in lst)

answered Nov 08 '12 at 17:26

mgilson

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How to converts a list of arguments into single string command line in Python?

2 Answers2