How to use `subprocess` command with pipes

Question

I want to use subprocess.check_output() with ps -A | grep \'process_name\'. I tried various solutions but so far nothing worked. Can someone guide

Answer 1

See the documentation on setting up a pipeline using subprocess: http://docs.python.org/2/library/subprocess.html#replacing-shell-pipeline

I haven't tested the following code example but it should be roughly what you want:

query = "process_name"
ps_process = Popen(["ps", "-A"], stdout=PIPE)
grep_process = Popen(["grep", query], stdin=ps_process.stdout, stdout=PIPE)
ps_process.stdout.close()  # Allow ps_process to receive a SIGPIPE if grep_process exits.
output = grep_process.communicate()[0]