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authorGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2010-10-14 06:35:53 (GMT)
committerGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2010-10-14 06:35:53 (GMT)
commit8f7b427b5ba9f285f3e8cd806fb2f2b12d12eedd (patch)
treec8c9dcdd207ef7e64af08ecde944442d3c98605a /Doc
parenta62cbf7cce9ac3e105f587c73b41f7b70d91bb3c (diff)
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#7642: update to os.system() docs.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc')
-rw-r--r--Doc/library/os.rst35
1 files changed, 17 insertions, 18 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/os.rst b/Doc/library/os.rst
index 92bd606..c8e5b96 100644
--- a/Doc/library/os.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/os.rst
@@ -1925,26 +1925,25 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
Execute the command (a string) in a subshell. This is implemented by calling
the Standard C function :c:func:`system`, and has the same limitations.
- Changes to :data:`sys.stdin`, etc. are not reflected in the environment of the
- executed command.
+ Changes to :data:`sys.stdin`, etc. are not reflected in the environment of
+ the executed command. If *command* generates any output, it will be sent to
+ the interpreter standard output stream.
On Unix, the return value is the exit status of the process encoded in the
- format specified for :func:`wait`. Note that POSIX does not specify the meaning
- of the return value of the C :c:func:`system` function, so the return value of
- the Python function is system-dependent.
-
- On Windows, the return value is that returned by the system shell after running
- *command*, given by the Windows environment variable :envvar:`COMSPEC`: on
- :program:`command.com` systems (Windows 95, 98 and ME) this is always ``0``; on
- :program:`cmd.exe` systems (Windows NT, 2000 and XP) this is the exit status of
- the command run; on systems using a non-native shell, consult your shell
- documentation.
-
- The :mod:`subprocess` module provides more powerful facilities for spawning new
- processes and retrieving their results; using that module is preferable to using
- this function. See the
- :ref:`subprocess-replacements` section in the :mod:`subprocess` documentation
- for some helpful recipes.
+ format specified for :func:`wait`. Note that POSIX does not specify the
+ meaning of the return value of the C :c:func:`system` function, so the return
+ value of the Python function is system-dependent.
+
+ On Windows, the return value is that returned by the system shell after
+ running *command*. The shell is given by the Windows environment variable
+ :envvar:`COMSPEC`: it is usually :program:`cmd.exe`, which returns the exit
+ status of the command run; on systems using a non-native shell, consult your
+ shell documentation.
+
+ The :mod:`subprocess` module provides more powerful facilities for spawning
+ new processes and retrieving their results; using that module is preferable
+ to using this function. See the :ref:`subprocess-replacements` section in
+ the :mod:`subprocess` documentation for some helpful recipes.
Availability: Unix, Windows.