running programs from within python

[M.N.A.Smadi]

M.N.A.Smadi wrote:

> hi;
> in general: how can i pass a string containing a concatenated sequcne 
> of command line arguments to a unix system CLI?
>
> my specific problem:
> i have an executable that is called xyz (written in C if that matters) 
> that i cannot modify, which prints it is text output to the screen and 
> takes an input as t.txt.
> on a unix terminal, i do the ./xyz t.txt > tmp.txt
> so that the tmp.txt will contain the output of the xyz executable
>
> i tried the following but it did not work
>
> import os
> os.execl("./xyz","t.txt > tmp.txt") #the thing just hangs there
> i aslo tried
> os.execl("./xyz","t.txt") # but it does not output anything to the 
> screen either, hangs there too
>
> any suggestions?
>
> thanks
> m.smadi

i guess i will answer myself:
import os
os.system(string)

!!