determine if os.system() is done

[Alessandro Bottoni]

Xah Lee wrote: 
> of course, i can try workarounds something like os.system("gzip -d
> thiss.gz && tail thiss"), but i wish to know if there's non-hack way to
> determine when a system process is done.

Well, if you use a function of the "popen" family, you get some kind of
return value from the subprocess on your "output" pipe. You should be able
to determine if your subprocess has terminated by examining (parsing) this
output pipe.

If you use os.system(), you should get a single return value (usually "None"
or a error code) that you can use for this task.

In both cases, you may have to use a loop (sleep(x)) to wait for the return
value (and check it) from within your code.

Have a look at the docu of the os.process module for details. (Maybe the
newer "subprocess" module is a better choice...)

HTH

-----------------------------------
Alessandro Bottoni