sh

sh is a full-fledged subprocess replacement for Python 3.8 - 3.11, PyPy that allows you to call any program as if it were a function:

from sh import ifconfig
print(ifconfig("wlan0"))

Output:

wlan0   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:00
        inet addr:192.168.1.100  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
        inet6 addr: ffff::ffff:ffff:ffff:fff/64 Scope:Link
        UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
        RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
        TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
        collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
        RX bytes:0 (0 GB)  TX bytes:0 (0 GB)

Note that these aren’t Python functions, these are running the binary commands on your system by dynamically resolving your $PATH, much like Bash does, and then wrapping the binary in a function. In this way, all the programs on your system are easily available to you from within Python.

sh relies on various Unix system calls and only works on Unix-like operating systems - Linux, macOS, BSDs etc. Specifically, Windows is not supported.

Installation

pip install sh

Quick Reference

Passing Arguments

sh.ls("-l", "/tmp", color="never")

Exit Codes

try:
    sh.ls("/doesnt/exist")
except sh.ErrorReturnCode_2:
    print("directory doesn't exist")

Redirection

sh.ls(_out="/tmp/dir_contents")

with open("/tmp/dir_contents", "w") as h:
    sh.ls(_out=h)

from io import StringIO
buf = StringIO()
sh.ls(_out=buf)

Baking

my_ls = sh.ls.bake("-l")

# equivalent
my_ls("/tmp")
sh.ls("-l", "/tmp")

Piping

sh.wc("-l", _in=sh.ls("-1"))

Subcommands

# equivalent
sh.git("show", "HEAD")
sh.git.show("HEAD")

Background Processes

p = sh.find("-name", "sh.py", _bg=True)
# ... do other things ...
p.wait()