Python: Essential Reference, Third Edition

subprocess

The subprocess module contains functions and objects that generalize the task of creating new processes, controlling input and output streams, and handling return codes. The module centralizes functionality contained in a variety of other modules such as os, popen2, and commands.

Popen(args, **parms)

Executes a new command as a subprocess and returns a Popen object representing the new process. The command is specified in args as either a string, such as 'ls-l', or as a list of strings, such as ['ls', '-l']. parms represents a collection of keyword arguments that can be set to control various properties of the subprocess. The following keyword parameters are understood:

Keyword	Description
bufsize	Specifies the buffering behavior, where ...