subprocess — Spawning Additional Processes — PyMOTW 3
The subprocess module supports three APIs for working with processes. The run() function, added in Python 3.5, is a high-level API for running a process and optionally collecting its output. The functions call() , check_call() , and check_output() are the former high-level API, carried over from Python 2. They are still supported and widely used in existing programs. The class Popen is a low-level API used to build the other APIs and useful for more complex process interactions. The constructor for Popen takes arguments to set up the new process so the parent can communicate with it via pipes. It provides all of the functionality of the other modules and functions it replaces, and more. The API is consistent for all uses, and many of the extra steps of overhead needed (such as closing extra file descriptors and ensuring the pipes are closed) are “built in” instead of being handled by the application code separately.
This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3. See PyMOTW.com for more articles from the series.