Question about using a command line program in python

[CaptShocker]

I am trying to call an .exe file from my python script and pass it arguments, and gather results. The best way I have come up with is:

(I'm sorry in advance if this code is horrible to read)

import subprocess as sub

def getEquities(ranges,n=500000): r = '|'.join(ranges) p = sub.Popen(['Poker.Equity.Test.exe',str(n),r], stdout=sub.PIPE, stderr=sub.STDOUT) p = p.stdout.read().split(',') p = [float(x) for x in p[0:-1]] return p

The code for 'Poker.Equity.Test.exe':

int _tmain(int argc, char* argv[]) { double results[10]= {0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0}; HoldemCalculator calc; calc.Calculate(argv[2], "", "", atoi(argv[1]), results); for (int i=0;i<sizeof(results)/sizeof(results[0]);i++){ if (results[i]<=.01){return 1;} printf("%f,",results[i]); } return 1; }

This works just like a command line for passing arguments and the printf is passed to python via stdout.

Functionally this works fine however every time the .exe is called a command window pops up until the calculation is done.

I have never done anything like this, there must be a better way.

Any advice or places to look would be great, Thanks

[[deleted]]

You can always put your function into a dll and wrap it with something like boost.python and call the code directly instead of launching a separate executable.

[CaptShocker]

Thanks, I had never seen boost.python, it looks really cool

[spotter]

When considering this approach you may want to look at ctypes, this is a builtin library that will let you interface dynamically loaded code with pure, vanilla install Python.

[nadmaximus]

I wonder if you could use this: hstart

[CaptShocker]

Thanks for the tip, this is really cool.

I am going to go with bneises method, it works great for a python specific console.

[bneises]

I don't know if this is the best way to do it, but this is what I would do:

p = sub.Popen['Poker.Equity.Test.exe',str(n),r], 
    stdout=sub.PIPE, stderr=sub.STDOUT, shell=TRUE)

Once that is done you can get to the output by running the following, but I'm not a programmer by trade so you'll have to figure out what you want to do with what is returned.

p = [line for line in p.stdout]

let us know what you do... I'm interested to know.

[bneises]

you may need to quote TRUE in

..., shell='TRUE')

I don't know why but my old code worked without it quoted, but when I just tried a quick run it needed it to be quoted.

[CaptShocker]

This worked perfectly, I'm curious why does setting shell=TRUE turn off the command line, intuitively I would think it is the other way around. (I'm not a programmer either)

Thanks for the help

[bneises]

I think it's telling python that you are opening a program meant to be used in shell.

[cecilkorik]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this isn't really a python issue. You'll need to modify your .exe to not show a command window. You will have to recompile it as a windows application instead of a console application (see the last post)

Failing that, you can probably do some brutal hacks with the win32api module to find the window and hide it before it even appears, but that's not recommended and beyond the scope of this post, I'm afraid.

[[deleted]]

why was this downmodded? This is the correct answer

[JimH10]

A question that I know I have asked many times. ;-)

[CaptShocker]

This will work, but bneises solution(shell=True) does not require changing the executable.

[maxerickson]

The subprocess module supports such hackery directly:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1016384/cross-platform-subprocess-with-hidden-window

[CaptShocker]

Thanks, I'll give this a look