Jason Coggins wrote: > In the example listed below, reproduced from the web page you recommended, > what does `cp`, `cp` and `/dev/null` do? I am assuming `index.html` is the > name of the program that will be launched. > > example:---------------------------------------------- > os.spawnlp(os.P_WAIT, 'cp', 'cp', 'index.html', '/dev/null') > --------------------------------------------------------
I don't fully understand the workings of os.spawnlp myself, but it seems clear that the author of the example was writing it for use in a unix/linux environment. 'cp' is a program (for copying files and folders). And the second 'cp', 'index.html' & '/dev/null' -- the argument list. So, the example above would seem somewhat equivalent to the following linux shell command: host:~$ cp index.html /dev/null which would copy the file 'index.html' (from the current directory) to '/dev/null'. '/dev/null' is a special file in a *nix environment that discards any data written to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//dev/null I can't think of a windows parallel to /dev/null. I may be completely wrong, but I don't beleive os.spawnlp is available on windows. But if you are a windows user, don't despair -- the subprocess module equivalent should work in it's absence: http://docs.python.org/lib/node538.html import subprocess # replacement for os.spawnlp(os.P_WAIT, ...) retcode = subprocess.call(['notepad.exe', 'myfile.txt']) In general, I believe use of the subprocess module is recommended over os.spawn*, os.popen*, etc. -- regardless of the platform. HTH, Marty _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
