A non-blocking read on a subprocess.PIPE in Python

Question

I\'m using the subprocess module to start a subprocess and connect to its output stream (standard output). I want to be able to execute non-blocking reads on its standard ou

Answer 1

In my case I needed a logging module that catches the output from the background applications and augments it(adding time-stamps, colors, etc.).

I ended up with a background thread that does the actual I/O. Following code is only for POSIX platforms. I stripped non-essential parts.

If someone is going to use this beast for long runs consider managing open descriptors. In my case it was not a big problem.

# -*- python -*-
import fcntl
import threading
import sys, os, errno
import subprocess

class Logger(threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self, *modules):
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        try:
            from select import epoll, EPOLLIN
            self.__poll = epoll()
            self.__evt = EPOLLIN
            self.__to = -1
        except:
            from select import poll, POLLIN
            print 'epoll is not available'
            self.__poll = poll()
            self.__evt = POLLIN
            self.__to = 100
        self.__fds = {}
        self.daemon = True
        self.start()

    def run(self):
        while True:
            events = self.__poll.poll(self.__to)
            for fd, ev in events:
                if (ev&self.__evt) != self.__evt:
                    continue
                try:
                    self.__fds[fd].run()
                except Exception, e:
                    print e

    def add(self, fd, log):
        assert not self.__fds.has_key(fd)
        self.__fds[fd] = log
        self.__poll.register(fd, self.__evt)

class log:
    logger = Logger()

    def __init__(self, name):
        self.__name = name
        self.__piped = False

    def fileno(self):
        if self.__piped:
            return self.write
        self.read, self.write = os.pipe()
        fl = fcntl.fcntl(self.read, fcntl.F_GETFL)
        fcntl.fcntl(self.read, fcntl.F_SETFL, fl | os.O_NONBLOCK)
        self.fdRead = os.fdopen(self.read)
        self.logger.add(self.read, self)
        self.__piped = True
        return self.write

    def __run(self, line):
        self.chat(line, nl=False)

    def run(self):
        while True:
            try: line = self.fdRead.readline()
            except IOError, exc:
                if exc.errno == errno.EAGAIN:
                    return
                raise
            self.__run(line)

    def chat(self, line, nl=True):
        if nl: nl = '\n'
        else: nl = ''
        sys.stdout.write('[%s] %s%s' % (self.__name, line, nl))

def system(command, param=[], cwd=None, env=None, input=None, output=None):
    args = [command] + param
    p = subprocess.Popen(args, cwd=cwd, stdout=output, stderr=output, stdin=input, env=env, bufsize=0)
    p.wait()

ls = log('ls')
ls.chat('go')
system("ls", ['-l', '/'], output=ls)

date = log('date')
date.chat('go')
system("date", output=date)

Answer 2

I have created a library based on J. F. Sebastian's solution. You can use it.

https://github.com/cenkalti/what

Answer 3

Try wexpect, which is the windows alternative of pexpect.

import wexpect

p = wexpect.spawn('myprogram.exe')
p.stdout.readline('.')               // regex pattern of any character
output_str = p.after()

Answer 4

The select module helps you determine where the next useful input is.

However, you're almost always happier with separate threads. One does a blocking read the stdin, another does wherever it is you don't want blocked.

Answer 5

I have the original questioner's problem, but did not wish to invoke threads. I mixed Jesse's solution with a direct read() from the pipe, and my own buffer-handler for line reads (however, my sub-process - ping - always wrote full lines < a system page size). I avoid busy-waiting by only reading in a gobject-registered io watch. These days I usually run code within a gobject MainLoop to avoid threads.

def set_up_ping(ip, w):
# run the sub-process
# watch the resultant pipe
p = subprocess.Popen(['/bin/ping', ip], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
# make stdout a non-blocking file
fl = fcntl.fcntl(p.stdout, fcntl.F_GETFL)
fcntl.fcntl(p.stdout, fcntl.F_SETFL, fl | os.O_NONBLOCK)
stdout_gid = gobject.io_add_watch(p.stdout, gobject.IO_IN, w)
return stdout_gid # for shutting down

The watcher is

def watch(f, *other):
print 'reading',f.read()
return True

And the main program sets up a ping and then calls gobject mail loop.

def main():
set_up_ping('192.168.1.8', watch)
# discard gid as unused here
gobject.MainLoop().run()

Any other work is attached to callbacks in gobject.

Answer 6

I also faced the problem described by Jesse and solved it by using "select" as Bradley, Andy and others did but in a blocking mode to avoid a busy loop. It uses a dummy Pipe as a fake stdin. The select blocks and wait for either stdin or the pipe to be ready. When a key is pressed stdin unblocks the select and the key value can be retrieved with read(1). When a different thread writes to the pipe then the pipe unblocks the select and it can be taken as an indication that the need for stdin is over. Here is some reference code:

import sys
import os
from select import select

# -------------------------------------------------------------------------    
# Set the pipe (fake stdin) to simulate a final key stroke
# which will unblock the select statement
readEnd, writeEnd = os.pipe()
readFile = os.fdopen(readEnd)
writeFile = os.fdopen(writeEnd, "w")

# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
def getKey():

    # Wait for stdin or pipe (fake stdin) to be ready
    dr,dw,de = select([sys.__stdin__, readFile], [], [])

    # If stdin is the one ready then read it and return value
    if sys.__stdin__ in dr:
        return sys.__stdin__.read(1)   # For Windows use ----> getch() from module msvcrt

    # Must finish
    else:
        return None

# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
def breakStdinRead():
    writeFile.write(' ')
    writeFile.flush()

# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# MAIN CODE

# Get key stroke
key = getKey()

# Keyboard input
if key:
    # ... do your stuff with the key value

# Faked keystroke
else:
    # ... use of stdin finished

# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# OTHER THREAD CODE

breakStdinRead()