Python subprocess on Linux: no such file or directory

Question

I am trying to get the install location of conda. This works fine on Windows:

conda_path = subprocess.check_output('where anaconda').decode("utf-8").strip()

In a linux shell whereis conda works. os.system("whereis conda") returns zero.

However,

conda_path = subprocess.check_output('where anaconda').decode("utf-8").strip()

Fails with: FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'whereis conda': 'whereis conda'

Any suggestions?

Also, it should be `['where', 'anaconda']` if you're not going to use `shell=True` — Charles Duffy, Dec 19 '22 at 20:55
But you shouldn't be using `subprocess` at all for a PATH lookup, not with `where` or `which` or `whereis` or anything else. Python has built-in tools to do that itself. — Charles Duffy, Dec 19 '22 at 20:56
Specifically, you should be using [`shutil.which`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/shutil.html#shutil.which). — Charles Duffy, Dec 19 '22 at 20:56

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 19 '22 at 20:55

1

If you pass a single string, you need a shell to parse it into the command name and its arguments: subprocess.check_output('where anaconda', shell=True)....

Otherwise, you need to provide a list where the command name and each argument is a separate element. (One of the primary jobs of a shell is to do precisely that parsing.)

conda_path = subprocess.check_output(['where', 'anaconda']).decode("utf-8").strip()

answered Dec 19 '22 at 20:55

chepner

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Duplicate covers this, no? – Charles Duffy Dec 19 '22 at 20:57
In passing. That one seems to requires `shell=True` for more than just splitting the command string. Ideally, there's a duplicate that focuses on just the splitting. – chepner Dec 19 '22 at 21:01

Python subprocess on Linux: no such file or directory

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