a popen command line question

[Nitebirdz]

On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 01:13:12PM -0700, Joni Lee wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I write a small script
> 
> status = os.popen('top').readlines()
> print status
> 
> It calls the command line "top" and will print out the status.
> But I have to press the keyboard "q" to quit "top", then the status
> will be printed, otherwise it just stands by with blank.
> 
> Question is. Do you know how to give "q" into my python script so that
> "top" is automatically quit immediately or maybe after 1s (for
> gathering information)
> 

Why not run the actual 'top' command in batch mode with only one
iteration?  It's in the man page.  I'm referring to this:

  status = os.popen('top -b -n 1').readlines()


Also, the following approach seems to display a nicer output:

-------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/env python

import os

status=os.popen('top -b -n 1')
for i in status.readlines():
  print i
-------------------------------------------------


Or how about the following?

-------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/env python

import commands

status=commands.getoutput('top -b -n 1')
print status
-------------------------------------------------


Mind you, I'm just suggesting different approaches.  I'm new to Python
and don't necessarily know what I'm doing.  Other more experienced
people may be able to suggest something better.