:mod:`pipes` --- Interface to shell pipelines ============================================= .. module:: pipes :platform: Unix :synopsis: A Python interface to Unix shell pipelines. .. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka **Source code:** :source:`Lib/pipes.py` -------------- The :mod:`pipes` module defines a class to abstract the concept of a *pipeline* --- a sequence of converters from one file to another. Because the module uses :program:`/bin/sh` command lines, a POSIX or compatible shell for :func:`os.system` and :func:`os.popen` is required. .. class:: Template() An abstraction of a pipeline. Example:: >>> import pipes >>> t = pipes.Template() >>> t.append('tr a-z A-Z', '--') >>> f = t.open('pipefile', 'w') >>> f.write('hello world') >>> f.close() >>> open('pipefile').read() 'HELLO WORLD' .. function:: quote(s) .. deprecated:: 2.7 Prior to Python 2.7, this function was not publicly documented. It is finally exposed publicly in Python 3.3 as the :func:`quote ` function in the :mod:`shlex` module. Return a shell-escaped version of the string *s*. The returned value is a string that can safely be used as one token in a shell command line, for cases where you cannot use a list. This idiom would be unsafe:: >>> filename = 'somefile; rm -rf ~' >>> command = 'ls -l {}'.format(filename) >>> print command # executed by a shell: boom! ls -l somefile; rm -rf ~ :func:`quote` lets you plug the security hole:: >>> command = 'ls -l {}'.format(quote(filename)) >>> print command ls -l 'somefile; rm -rf ~' >>> remote_command = 'ssh home {}'.format(quote(command)) >>> print remote_command ssh home 'ls -l '"'"'somefile; rm -rf ~'"'"'' The quoting is compatible with UNIX shells and with :func:`shlex.split`: >>> remote_command = shlex.split(remote_command) >>> remote_command ['ssh', 'home', "ls -l 'somefile; rm -rf ~'"] >>> command = shlex.split(remote_command[-1]) >>> command ['ls', '-l', 'somefile; rm -rf ~'] .. _template-objects: Template Objects ---------------- Template objects following methods: .. method:: Template.reset() Restore a pipeline template to its initial state. .. method:: Template.clone() Return a new, equivalent, pipeline template. .. method:: Template.debug(flag) If *flag* is true, turn debugging on. Otherwise, turn debugging off. When debugging is on, commands to be executed are printed, and the shell is given ``set -x`` command to be more verbose. .. method:: Template.append(cmd, kind) Append a new action at the end. The *cmd* variable must be a valid bourne shell command. The *kind* variable consists of two letters. The first letter can be either of ``'-'`` (which means the command reads its standard input), ``'f'`` (which means the commands reads a given file on the command line) or ``'.'`` (which means the commands reads no input, and hence must be first.) Similarly, the second letter can be either of ``'-'`` (which means the command writes to standard output), ``'f'`` (which means the command writes a file on the command line) or ``'.'`` (which means the command does not write anything, and hence must be last.) .. method:: Template.prepend(cmd, kind) Add a new action at the beginning. See :meth:`append` for explanations of the arguments. .. method:: Template.open(file, mode) Return a file-like object, open to *file*, but read from or written to by the pipeline. Note that only one of ``'r'``, ``'w'`` may be given. .. method:: Template.copy(infile, outfile) Copy *infile* to *outfile* through the pipe.