Python 2.7 - Quotes added to command when using Popen to execute from variable

Question

I'm trying to send a command through a socket from client to server to execute a command on the server and send the output back to me. Everything works fine if the command is one word with no options. However if I use an option such as netstat -an or dir c:\\ then the command isn't recognized and from the output it looks like quotes are put around the command before being executed ( '"netstat -an"' is not recognized as an internal or external command). I know they aren't saved in the variable this way because I printed it before being executed to error check. Please help. Here is what my code looks like:

commout = subprocess.Popen([data], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)

(out, err) = commout.communicate()

Answer 1

Try make data an array of arguments (the first being the actual command).

For example:

commout = subprocess.Popen(['netstat', '-an'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)

The first element is a string representing the actual command ( netstat ), the next element is a string representing the first argument ( -an ).

To clarify, Popen(['echo', 'a', 'b'] is equivalent to echo ab on the command line, whereas Popen(['echo', 'a b'] would be equivalent to echo "ab" instead (ie. a single argument with a space between a and b .

Answer 2

If you pass a list, each item in it will be quoted separately. In this case, just pass a string:

subprocess.Popen(data, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)