execute os command from python that asks for confirmation

Question

Using python import os and os.system("create-object "+ more-specifications), I created a few hundreds of objects, which I now need to delete. I can list the objects created, including their unique id.

To delete just one of them, on the command line, I issue

delete-object --id cfa2d1417633

which will ask for confirmation with

Are you sure you want to delete that object (y or n)?>

to which I then respont with y.

I can generate a list of the id's to delete, but I can't programatically delete them because I don't know how to respond. This, for instance won't work:

for objectSpecification in onbjectList:
    os.system("delete-object --id "+ objectSpecification["id"])
    os.system('n')

The delete will not happen and te 'n' causes an error 'n' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

You could use popen instead: p = os.popen(command, "w") and then p.write("y\n") — user56700
Thanks If you post this as an answer, I will accept and upvote it. This would help others with similar problems finding the sollution. — Dirk Horsten
Maybe delete-object accepts a parameter to delete without confirmation, e.g. delete-object -y OBJECT or delete-object -f OBJECT — Mark Setchell
Maybe you can pipe a y into it via your shell, e.g. echo "y" | delete-object OBJECT — Mark Setchell
That probably works, but the solution from user56700 is more flexible, though it is more verbosse — Dirk Horsten

user56700 user56700 · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-28T11:57:48

Converting to an answer from comment.

Suggestion to a solution, using popen:

import os

onbjectList = []

def deleteObject(objid):
    with os.popen(f"delete-object --id {objid}", "w") as p:
        p.write("y\n")

for objectSpecification in onbjectList:
    deleteObject(objectSpecification['id'])

execute os command from python that asks for confirmation

1 Answers