Send input to command line prompt from Python program

Question

I believe this to be a very simple question, but I have been failing to find a simple answer.

I am running a python program that terminates an AWS cluster (using starcluster). I am just calling a command from my python program using subprocess, something like the following.

subprocess.call('starcluster terminate cluster', shell=True)

The actual command is largely irrelevant for my question but provides some context. This command will begin terminating the cluster, but will prompt for a yes/no input before continuing, like so:

Terminate EBS cluster (y/n)?

How do I automate typing yes from within my python program as input to this prompt?

http://stackoverflow.com/a/12982539 – Amit Jan 19 '15 at 19:54 — Amit, Jan 19 '15 at 19:54

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

9

While possible to do with subprocess alone in somewhat limited way, I would go with pexpect for such interaction, e.g.:

import pexpect
child = pexpect.spawn('starcluster terminate cluster')
child.expect('Terminate EBS cluster (y/n)?')
child.sendline('y')

edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Community

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answered Jan 19 '15 at 19:55

famousgarkin

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who said it first? :) well, I deleted my answer it was less detailed than yours – mguijarr Jan 19 '15 at 19:56
@mguijarr That's why it took longer to write :) Thank you, sir. – famousgarkin Jan 19 '15 at 20:03

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 19 '15 at 20:19

5

You can write to stdin using Popen:

from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
proc = Popen(['starcluster', 'terminate', 'cluster'], stdin=PIPE)
proc.stdin.write("y\r")

answered Jan 19 '15 at 20:19

Padraic Cunningham

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 19 '15 at 20:17

0

It might be simplest to check the documentation on the target program. Often a flag can be set to answer yes to all prompts, e.g., apt-get -y install.

answered Jan 19 '15 at 20:17

Andy Kubiak

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Send input to command line prompt from Python program

3 Answers3