check output from CalledProcessError

Question

I am using subprocess.check_output from pythons subprocess module to execute a ping command. Here is how I am doing it:

output = subprocess.check_output([\"p         


        

Answer 1

If you want to get stdout and stderr back (including extracting it from the CalledProcessError in the event that one occurs), use the following:

import subprocess

command = ["ls", "-l"]
try:
    output = subprocess.check_output(command, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT).decode()
    success = True 
except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
    output = e.output.decode()
    success = False

print(output)

This is Python 2 and 3 compatible.

If your command is a string rather than an array, prefix this with:

import shlex
command = shlex.split(command)