Python, subprocess, call(), check_call and returncode to find if a command exists

A simple snippet:

try:    subprocess.check_call(['executable'])except subprocess.CalledProcessError:    pass # handle errors in the called executableexcept OSError:    pass # executable not found

subprocess will raise an exception, OSError, when a command is not found.

When the command is found, and subprocess runs the command for you, the result code is returned from the command. The standard is that code 0 means success, and any failure is some non-zero error code (which varies; check the documentation for the specific command you are running).

So, if you catch OSError you can handle the non-existent command, and if you check the result code you can find out whether the command succeeded or not.

The great thing about subprocess is that you can make it collect all the text from stdout and stderr, and you can then discard it or return it or log it or display it as you like. I often use a wrapper that discards all output from a command, unless the command fails in which case the text from stderr is output.

I agree that you shouldn't be asking users to copy executables around. Programs should be in a directory listed in the PATH variable; if a program is missing it should be installed, or if it is installed in a directory not on the PATH the user should update the PATH to include that directory.

Note that you do have the option of trying subprocess multiple times with various hard-coded paths to executables:

import osimport subprocess as spdef _run_cmd(s_cmd, tup_args):    lst_cmd = [s_cmd]    lst_cmd.extend(tup_args)    result = sp.call(lst_cmd)    return resultdef run_lumberjack(*tup_args):    try:        # try to run from /usr/local/bin        return _run_cmd("/usr/local/bin/lumberjack", tup_args)    except OSError:        pass    try:        # try to run from /opt/forest/bin        return _run_cmd("/opt/forest/bin/lumberjack", tup_args)    except OSError:        pass    try:        # try to run from "bin" directory in user's home directory        home = os.getenv("HOME", ".")        s_cmd = home + "/bin/lumberjack"        return _run_cmd(s_cmd, tup_args)    except OSError:        pass    # Python 3.x syntax for raising an exception    # for Python 2.x, use:  raise OSError, "could not find lumberjack in the standard places"    raise OSError("could not find lumberjack in the standard places")run_lumberjack("-j")

EDIT: After thinking about it a little bit, I decided to completely rewrite the above. It's much cleaner to just pass a list of locations, and have a loop try the alternative locations until one works. But I didn't want to build the string for the user's home directory if it wasn't needed, so I just made it legal to put a callable into the list of alternatives. If you have any questions about this, just ask.

import osimport subprocess as spdef try_alternatives(cmd, locations, args):    """    Try to run a command that might be in any one of multiple locations.    Takes a single string argument for the command to run, a sequence    of locations, and a sequence of arguments to the command.  Tries    to run the command in each location, in order, until the command    is found (does not raise OSError on the attempt).    """    # build a list to pass to subprocess    lst_cmd = [None]  # dummy arg to reserve position 0 in the list    lst_cmd.extend(args)  # arguments come after position 0    for path in locations:        # It's legal to put a callable in the list of locations.        # When this happens, we should call it and use its return        # value for the path.  It should always return a string.        if callable(path):            path = path()        # put full pathname of cmd into position 0 of list            lst_cmd[0] = os.path.join(path, cmd)        try:            return sp.call(lst_cmd)        except OSError:            pass    raise OSError('command "{}" not found in locations list'.format(cmd))def _home_bin():    home = os.getenv("HOME", ".")    return os.path.join(home, "bin")def run_lumberjack(*args):    locations = [        "/usr/local/bin",        "/opt/forest/bin",        _home_bin, # specify callable that returns user's home directory    ]    return try_alternatives("lumberjack", locations, args)run_lumberjack("-j")

Wow, that was fast! I combined Theodros Zelleke's simple example and steveha's use of functions with abarnert comment about OSError and Lattyware's comment about moving files:

import os, sys, subprocessdef nameandpath():    try:        subprocess.call([os.getcwd() + '/lumberjack'])         # change the word lumberjack on the line above to get an error    except OSError:        print('\nCould not find lumberjack, please reinstall.\n')        # if you're using python 2.x, change the () to spaces on the line abovetry:    subprocess.call(['lumberjack'])    # change the word lumberjack on the line above to get an errorexcept OSError:    nameandpath()

I tested it on Mac OS-X (6.8/Snow Leopard), Debian (Squeeze) and Windows (7). It seemed to work the way I wanted it to on all three operating systems. I tried using check_call and CalledProcessError but no matter what I did, I seemed to get an error every time and I couldn't get the script to handle the errors. To test the script I changed the name from 'lumberjack' to 'deadparrot', since I had lumberjack in the directory with my script.

Do you see any problems with this script the way it's written?