How to execute dictionary keys/values as commands in shell?

Question

How would I execute python dictionary key/values as commands in a linux kernel? For example:

keys = {
        "echo" : "hello",
        "touch" : "nothing"
       }

and I wanted to run the first key/value pair to run in the shell "echo hello".

I've tried using the json module, but don't know where to go from there.

Python dictionaries don't support duplicate keys. Given the structure you would need one key and a list: `keys = {"echo":["hello","nothing"]}` — Celius Stingher, Oct 03 '19 at 13:18

teekarna · Answer 1 · 2019-10-03T13:45:54.263

In python, the subprocess module can be used to handle system calls. It would perhaps easier to define the commands in a list

import subprocess
commands = [['echo', 'foo'], ['echo', 'bar']]
for c in commands:
    subprocess.run(c)

If you wish to use a dictionary instead, it can of course be done (this is for Python 3):

commands = {'echo': 'hello'}
for c in commands.items():
    print(c)

But here, each command (for example echo) can only appear once as mentioned in the comments.

1 Answers1