Plumbum
Shell Combinators and More
Cheat Sheet
Basics
>>> from plumbum import local
>>> local.cmd.ls
LocalCommand(/bin/ls)
>>> local.cmd.ls()
'build.py\nCHANGELOG.rst\nconda.recipe\nCONTRIBUTING.rst\ndocs\nexamples\nexperiments\nLICENSE\nMANIFEST.in\nPipfile\nplumbum\nplumbum.egg-info\npytest.ini\nREADME.rst\nsetup.cfg\nsetup.py\ntests\ntranslations.py\n'
>>> notepad = local["c:\\windows\\notepad.exe"]
>>> notepad() # Notepad window pops up
'' # Notepad window is closed by user, command returns
In the example above, you can use local["ls"] if you have an unusually named executable or a full path to an executable. The local object represents your local machine. As you'll see, Plumbum also provides remote machines that use the same API! You can also use from plumbum.cmd import ls as well for accessing programs in the PATH.
Piping
>>> from plumbum.cmd import ls, grep, wc
>>> chain = ls["-a"] | grep["-v", r"\.py"] | wc["-l"]
>>> print(chain)
/bin/ls -a | /bin/grep -v '\.py' | /usr/bin/wc -l
>>> chain()
'27\n'
Redirection
>>> from plumbum.cmd import cat, head
>>> ((cat < "setup.py") | head["-n", 4])()
'#!/usr/bin/env python3\nimport os\n\ntry:\n'
>>> (ls["-a"] > "file.list")()
''
>>> (cat["file.list"] | wc["-l"])()
'31\n'