Get number of files within Android directory using adb shell

Question

I am currently trying to use the following python code to get the number of files within a directory.

    output = subprocess.check_output(["adb", "shell", "cd /sdcard/Dir/Subdir", "find . -type f | wc -l"])
    print output

However, I am getting the output:

/system/bin/sh: cd: too many arguments

0

But If I enter the following in command prompt, I get the desired result (14 files):

adb shell
cd /sdcard/Dir/Subdir
find . -type f | wc -l

Any idea how to integrate the command line code into python?

Answer 1

if you pass arguments to check_output in a list (not in a string), then if you pass arguments with spaces they will be quoted.

But that's not the main problem here.

You're running adb shell in check_output , but next commands should be passed through proper command line or standard input of your shell.

You could try the following (untested):

output = subprocess.check_output(["adb", "shell", "cd /sdcard/Dir/Subdir", "&&","find . -type f | wc -l"])

( && tells the shell to chain cd with find instead of passing all arguments to cd )

or run your shell interactively, and pass the commands like if you typed them (use Popen for that):

p = subprocess.Popen(["adb", "shell"],stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
out,err = p.communicate("cd /sdcard/Dir/Subdir\nfind . -type f | wc -l\n")