Python: Call a shell script which calls a bin. With arguments - shell

The context: There is a map somewhere on the system with bin files which I'd like to call. They are not callable directly though, but through shell scripts which do all kinds of magic and then call the corresponding bin with: "$ENV_VAR/path/to/the/bin" "$#" (the software is non-free, that's probably why this construction is used)
The problem: Calling this from within Python. I tried to use:
from subprocess import call
call(["nameOfBin", "-input somefile"])
But this gave the error ERROR: nameOfBin - Illegal option: input somefile. This means the '-' sign in front of 'input' has disapeared along the way (putting more '-' signs in front doesn't help).
Possible solutions:
1: In some way preserving the '-' sign so the bin at the end actually takes '-input' as an option instead of 'input'.
2: Fix the magic in a dirty way (I will probably manage), and have a way to call a bin at a location defined by a $ENV_VAR (environment variable).
I searched for both methods, but appearantly nobody before me had such a problem (or I didn't see it: Sorry if that's the case).

Each item in the list should be a single argument. Replace "-input somefile" with "-input", "somefile":
from subprocess import call
rc = call(["nameOfBin", "-input", "somefile"])

Related

how to get current running code line and directory name in go [duplicate]

In C/C++ you can use __FILE__ and __LINE__ to get access to the current file and line number.
Does Go provide something similar?
Indeed it does:
http://golang.org/pkg/runtime/#Caller
runtime.Caller can also be used to get the file name/line number of calling functions, too.

shell cd command in Ruby

Im trying to execute shell commands using ruby, but i cant change directory to PATH with blank spaces.
variable = %x[cd #{ENV["HOME"]}/Virtual\\ VMs/]
This is not working.
Thank you
To be absolutely safe:
path = File.join [ENV["HOME"], 'Virtual VMs']
variable = %x[cd '#{path}']
Please note, that cd has empty output, so to make sure it works one probably wants to do smth like:
path = File.join [ENV["HOME"], 'Virtual VMs']
variable = %x[cd '#{path}' && ls -la]
#⇒ "total 32\ndrwxr-xr-x ....."
What is ist supposed to do? You try to chdir into a directory, but then don't do anything in it. Your variable will be empty in any case. Aside from the fact that it is pointless to do, you can not reliably execute a cd by itself in this way, because it is not an executable file. You can see this if you just execute %x[cd]. You will get an Errno::ENOENT exception.
Maybe you should first describe in a broader context, what you want to achieve with your code. Where would you like to change the working directory? Within the Ruby process - in which case you have to use Dir.chdir - or in the child process - in which case you have to execute some command after the cd.

Why isn't my GNAT's standout file descriptor working?

As part of a little project, I'm writing a shell in Ada. As such, when I was investigating the system calls, I learned that there are three ways to do it.
The POSIX system calls, which are probably the least reliable.
Passing the arguments along to C's system(), which I didn't really want to do, since this was about writing the emulator in Ada and not C.
Using GNAT's runtime libraries.
I chose to go for the last option, considering this to be the most "Ada-like" of the choices. I found a code snippet on RosettaCode here. I copied and pasted it and compiled it after changing the "cmd.exe" to "ls" and removing the second argument definition. However, nothing happens when I run the executable. The shell just goes right back to the prompt. I have tested this on two different computers, one running Fedora 21, the other Debian Jessie. Here's what I've done to test it:
Seen if lacking an arguments string caused it
Checked if any of the file descriptors in GNAT's libraries are mis-named
Redirected both stderr and stdin to stdout just to see if GNAT was dumping them to the wrong FD anyway.
Looked thoroughly through the System.OS_lib library file, and there seems to be no reason.
Googled it, but GNAT's own page on the GCC website is very poorly documented.
For now I'm using the C.Interface system in the preparation of my shell, but I'm dissatisfied with this. I'm new to Ada and have only been tinkering with it for a month or so now, so if there's some kind of Ada wisdom here that would help I'm not in on it.
UPDATE: I have tried running it with absolute path, both to /usr/bin and /bin locations, and it doesn't work. Interestingly, the result code returned by the operating system is 1, but I don't know what that means. A quick search suggests that it's for "all general errors", and another site suggests that it's for "incorrect functions".
I had to tweak the RosettaCode example a little to run /bin/ls on Debian Linux, but it does run as expected...
with Ada.Text_IO; use Ada.Text_IO;
with Gnat.OS_Lib; use Gnat.OS_Lib;
procedure Execute_Synchronously is
Result : Integer;
Arguments : Argument_List :=
( 1=> new String'("-al")
);
begin
Spawn
( Program_Name => "/bin/ls",
Args => Arguments,
Output_File_Descriptor => Standout,
Return_Code => Result
);
for Index in Arguments'Range loop
Free (Arguments (Index));
end loop;
end Execute_Synchronously;
Changes :
my Gnat (FSF Gnat 4.92 from Debian Jessie) warned about System.OS_Lib, recommending Gnat.OS_Lib instead. (Which simply renames System.OS_Lib .... why???
System.OS_Lib comments:
-- Note: this package is in the System hierarchy so that it can be directly
-- be used by other predefined packages. User access to this package is via
-- a renaming of this package in GNAT.OS_Lib (file g-os_lib.ads).
Program name including path.
Arguments. The first time I ran it, it displayed the details of "ls" itself, because it was given its own name as the first argument, so I deleted that to see the current directory instead.
Notes :
the best information ot the available subprograms and their arguments is usually in the package specs themselves in the "adainclude" folder : this is /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.9/adainclude on my Debian installation, locate system.ads will find yours. The specific files are: s-os_lib.ads for System.OS_Lib which exports Spawn and Standout, and a-textio.ads for Ada.Text_IO.
Standout is not the preferred way of accessing Standard Output : it's a file descriptor (integer), the preferred way would be the Standard_Output function from Ada.Text_IO which returns a File. However there doesn't seem to be an overload for Spawn which takes a File (nor would I expect one in this low level library) so the lower level file descriptor is used here.
Absent a shell, you'll need to search the PATH yourself or specify a full path for the desired executable:
Spawn (
Program_Name => "/bin/ls",
…
);
I have tried running it with absolute path…neither /usr/bin nor /bin locations work.
Use which to determine the full path to the executable:
$ which ls
/bin/ls

Why is LUA_PATH containing a bang (!) mangled on Windows?

I have a file main.lua:
require("hello")
and a file hello.lua in the directory foo bar! baz (with !) in it:
module(...,package.seeall)
print("hello from hello.lua")
when I set (on Windows) the environment variable LUA_PATH to the directory:
set LUA_PATH="C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\foo bar! baz\?.lua"
I get a strange error:
C:\Programme\Lua\5.1>lua main.lua
lua: main.lua:4: module 'hello' not found:
no field package.preload['hello']
no file '"C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\foo barC:\Programme\Lua\5.1 baz\hello.lua
"'
no file '.\hello.dll'
no file '.\hello51.dll'
no file 'C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\hello.dll'
no file 'C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\hello51.dll'
no file 'C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\clibs\hello.dll'
no file 'C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\clibs\hello51.dll'
no file 'C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\loadall.dll'
no file 'C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\clibs\loadall.dll'
stack traceback:
[C]: in function 'require'
main.lua:4: in main chunk
[C]: ?
See the very strange path C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\foo barC:\Programme\Lua\5.1 baz\hello.lua? What is so special about the exclamation mark (bang)? How to get that right in windows? On Mac this seems to be working fine.
"This substitution only happens the first time Lua sets the path
(either from LUA_PATH or from the default from luaconf). If you
set the path by other means, you can avoid the problem."
More info and potential alternatives: http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/2012-08/msg00052.html
The explanation is correct (it's documented behavior on Windows), but I can also offer a possible solution (or rather a workaround): since only the first exclamation mark is going to be replaced, instead of using set LUA_PATH="C:\Programme\Lua\5.1\foo bar! baz\?.lua", use:
set LUA_PATH="!\foo bar! baz\?.lua"

Extraordinarily Simple Ruby Question: Where's My Class?

[I'm just starting with Ruby, but "no question is ever too newbie," so I trudge onwards...]
Every tutorial and book I see goes from Ruby with the interactive shell to Ruby on Rails. I'm not doing Rails (yet), but I don't want to use the interactive shell. I have a class file (first_class.rb) and a Main (main.rb). If I run the main.rb, I of course get the uninitialized constant FirstClass. How do I tell ruby about the first_class.rb?
The easiest way is to put them both in the same file.
However you can also use require, e.g.:
require 'first_class'
You can also use autoload as follows:
autoload :FirstClass, 'first_class'
This code will automatically load first_class.rb as soon as FirstClass is used. Note, however, that the current implementations of autoload are not thread safe (see http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/174036).
There's another point worth noting: you wouldn't typically use a main file in ruby. If you're writing a command line tool, standard practice would be to place the tool in a bin subdirectory. For normal one-off scripts the main idiom is:
if __FILE__ == $0
# main does here
# `__FILE__` contains the name of the file the statement is contained in
# `$0` contains the name of the script called by the interpreter
#
# if the file was `required`, i.e. is being used as a library
# the code isn't executed.
# if the file is being passed as an argument to the interpreter, it is.
end

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