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Hey I'm trying to execute the following command (using psutil.Popen with python 2.7): 

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" "C:\docs\ת.xlsm"

Using this code:

dir = u"C:\\docs"
doc = os.listdir(dir)[0]
full_path = os.path.join(dir, doc)
command = u"\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"{}\"".format(full_path)
process = psutil.Popen(command)

But I'm getting this exception:

    process = psutil.Popen(command)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\psutil\__init__.py", line 1370, in __init__
    self.__subproc = subprocess.Popen(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\subprocess.py", line 390, in __init__
    errread, errwrite)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\subprocess.py", line 640, in _execute_child
    startupinfo)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\u05ea' in position 102: ordinal not in range(128)

I have found this related question: subprocess.Popen with a unicode path. But every given answer there doesn't work for me.

Using subprocess.Popen(command.encode(locale.getpreferredencoding())), throws the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "scanner_watcher.py", line 53, in _execute
    self.scanner.execute(path)
  File "scanner_watcher.py", line 356, in execute
    self._execute(file_path)
  File "scanner_watcher.py", line 201, in _execute
    self.open_scanner(file_path, file_package)
  File "scanner_watcher.py", line 287, in open_scanner
    self.scanner_process = psutil.Popen(command.encode(locale.getpreferredencoding()))
  File "C:\Python27\lib\encodings\cp1252.py", line 12, in encode
    return codecs.charmap_encode(input,errors,encoding_table)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'charmap' codec can't encode character u'\u05ea' in position 102: character maps to <undefined>

Using path.encode('mbcs') turns all the Unicode characters into question marks.

I don't want to use os.startfile because I need to use different commands on the program and then handle the opened process (when the os.startfile doesn't allow that).

I've found this modified Popen: https://gist.github.com/vaab/2ad7051fc193167f15f85ef573e54eb9 But this code was not thoroughly tested.

Is there a correct way to use Popen with a Unicode command in python 2.7?

Thanks.

jfs
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Drxxd
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  • Please show code, so we can see exactly what format this command is in and exactly what you're doing to attempt to execute it. – user2357112 Sep 06 '17 at 16:26
  • @user2357112 Added the code – Drxxd Sep 06 '17 at 16:44
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    Your options are to use ctypes, cffi, or an extension module to call `CreateProcessW` with a Unicode command line. – Eryk Sun Sep 06 '17 at 19:24
  • You could also use the C runtime's `_wsystem` function. For example: `import ctypes;` `msvcr90 = ctypes.CDLL('msvcr90', use_errno=True);` `wsystem = msvcr90._wsystem;` `wsystem.argtypes = (ctypes.c_wchar_p,)`. Then call `wsystem(u'"%s"' % command)`. The extra double quotes get stripped off by CMD's "old behavior", for which you can read the rules via `cmd /?`. – Eryk Sun Sep 07 '17 at 23:10
  • @eryksun That's interesting.. But I want to use Popen to eventually use the pipe options, to get the output for example, etc.. – Drxxd Sep 10 '17 at 09:23
  • I'm just looking for a simpler call than `CreateProcessW`. You could try [`_wpopen`](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/96ayss4b.aspx), but working with C `FILE` streams via ctypes starts to approach the complexity of using `CreateProcessW`. – Eryk Sun Sep 10 '17 at 15:04

1 Answers1

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The issue is your use of double-quotes when defining command. The way it's written splits the statement into multiple strings in all the wrong places. Substituting single-quotes for the first and final quotes (open and close of string) fixed the issue for me.

command = u'\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"{}\"'.format(full_path)

jshrimp29
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