How to take the username of the user in Python without os.system() or error?

Question

I am writing a program where I am giving a small part:-

#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
import subprocess

whoami = subprocess.check_output("whoami", shell=True)
print whoami
os.chdir("/")
os.chdir("/home/"+whoami+"/Silly")
pwd = subprocess.check_output("pwd", shell=True)
print pwd

After executing the program I got this:-

/usr/bin/python2.7 /home/rocky/PycharmProjects/Silly/Tester2.py
rocky
Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/home/rocky/PycharmProjects/Silly/Tester2.py", line 8, in 
<module>
os.chdir("/home/"+whoami+"/Silly")
OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/rocky\n/Silly'

Process finished with exit code 1

Using PyCharm by JetBrains on Linux. When ever I take the username I get the "\n" with the user name. I tried using

whoami = whoami[:-2]

But failed.

Remember that you can use `~` to immediately get to the home directory on Linux systems. — Ziyad Edher, Jul 22 '17 at 11:56
Thank you @Wintro but I knew that but the user has to decide which user's home directory. Anyways thanks! — Karthik Srivijay, Jul 22 '17 at 11:58

Vikash Singh · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-22T11:58:27.823

0

The reason your code is not working is because whoami is a byte stream with a '\n' at the end.

use strip() to remove '\n' from whoami object.

And convert it to string by decoding it in utf-8.

whoami = whoami.strip().decode("utf-8")

edited Jul 22 '17 at 11:58

answered Jul 22 '17 at 11:54

Vikash Singh

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Thank you @Vikash! This answer helped me. – Karthik Srivijay Jul 22 '17 at 11:56
you are welcome. Also a good way to get username is in the link to duplicate question marked. – Vikash Singh Jul 22 '17 at 11:57
Sure! I'll just peek it. – Karthik Srivijay Jul 22 '17 at 11:58
@KarthikSrivijay if the answer helped please mark the tick box or up vote. Thanks :) – Vikash Singh Jul 22 '17 at 11:59
Sure @Vikash! I'll do it now. – Karthik Srivijay Jul 23 '17 at 14:56

How to take the username of the user in Python without os.system() or error?

1 Answers1