Python subprocess and shell input redirection

Question

On a unix command line I can do:

paste <(echo A) <(echo B)

However, when I try to do this:

import subprocess
subprocess.call('paste <(echo A) <(echo B)', shell = True)

I get this error:

/bin/sh: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `('
/bin/sh: -c: line 0: `paste <(echo A) <(echo B)'

Is it not possible to do shell input redirection with the subprocess module?

Answer 1

Many things by default use /bin/sh as the shell of choice. /bin/sh is often not bash.

The /bin/sh on your system most likely does not support process substitution.

Convince subprocess.call to use /bin/bash as the shell instead and it should work.