How to embed/spawn an interactive shell from inside a Python program

Question

I have a Python 3 CLI application from which I want to drop into or spawn an interactive bash shell (after I’ve set some custom environment vars).

What is the best way to embed or spawn an interactive bash shell in Python?

More details

The whole procedure can be described in the following 6 steps:

The user starts my CLI application in a Terminal session. (It should work regardless whether the app runs in iTerm or Xterm or the like, but the underlying system is Unix-ish.)
Then the application gathers some information from the user via prompts (so the application uses stdin and stdout).
Then it should spawn a bash shell prompt. This bash is suppose to:
- run in the same terminal session as my app and
- use an environment with some custom environment vars set by my application beforehand.
The user executes some commands in the bash shell (using the same stdin and stout from my app before).
The user exists the bash shell via Ctrl-d or exit.
The bash shell closes and my Python app takes over again in the same terminal session. It does some post [proecssing and the finishes.

The part I am asking about is step 3 (Spawn the bash shell).

What I've tried to spawn a bash

I tried using the code module in the Standard Library, but this only allows me to start a Python shell not a bash shell.
I used the sh package:
```
 from sh import bash
 bash('-i')
```
This doesn't work either.

What do you need from the Bash session, other than it being interactive? Do you want access to e.g. the standard output generated by Bash from within Python? — jmd_dk
– jmd_dk, Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 13:07
@halloleo: What do you mean by dropping an application into an interactive shell? — user1934428
– user1934428, Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 13:27
@jmd_dk Well, eventually I would like to get a list of all the commands the user executed in the Bash session. But that is another issue I have already ideas how to tackle, — halloleo
– halloleo, Commented Feb 2, 2022 at 0:49
@user1934428 I explained the whole thing in more deatil in the question. Hope this helps! — halloleo
– halloleo, Commented Feb 2, 2022 at 0:50

KamilCuk · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-02 00:52:12Z

3

Just:

import subprocess
subprocess.run(['bash', '-li'])

You can pass your custom environment via env function parameter, and anything more with --rcfile bash argument.

answered Feb 2, 2022 at 0:52

KamilCuk

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waykiki · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-01 13:57:51Z

0

Does this solve your problem:

import os
os.system("x-terminal-emulator -e /bin/bash")

answered Feb 1, 2022 at 13:57

waykiki

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1 Comment

halloleo Over a year ago

Sorry, that I was not clear enough in my first description. I explained the whole thing in more detail in the question. So I cannot launch another terminal window.

seenukarthi · Accepted Answer · 2023-05-26 10:49:53Z

0

To get an upgraded shell

python3 -c 'import pty; pty.spawn("/bin/bash")'

edited May 26, 2023 at 10:49

seenukarthi

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answered May 25, 2023 at 15:59

Rohit Rawat

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