running a binary file in python2.7 on linux

Question

I'm having issues running a external program in python using Popen to pass multiple variables:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import os
import shlex, subprocess

a = raw_input("Enter a number:")
b = raw_input("Enter a file:")
c = raw_input("Enter dir to search:")

subprocess.Popen(['/bin/sh', "./catnum.bin", "-m",  a, "--remove",  "-o results.txt", b, c])

Answer 1

You could use call instead:

from subprocess import call
call(["cactnum.bin", "-m",a, "--remove",  "-o results.txt", b, c])

However per the comment of JF Sebastian

The real issue is invalid/unnecessary /bin/sh call b) "-o results.txt" should be written as "-o", "results.txt" (2 args) ie, the correct call is: subprocess.check_call(["./catnum.bin", "-m", a, "--remove", "-o", "results.txt", b, c]) if catnum.bin is executable