Python subprocess.Popen to create a new directory

Question

I know that I can create a new directory with the os module. But I was trying to create a new directory with the subprocess module as follows:

p=subprocess.Popen("mkdir extractions", shell=True)
os.chdir("extractions")

When the script executes, I notice that the directory extractions is created but the next os.chdir call fails saying the directory extractions does not exist. I know that I am missing something in terms of using subprocess that makes the next line unaware of the directory created. Please help!

Answer 1

You probably want to call p.wait() to wait for the mkdir to complete, before calling os.chdir. Or even better, use (stdout, stderr) = p.communicate(), and check the result.

Answer 2

Why dont you use os.mkdir("extractions")? You could even use subprocess.call("mkdir extractions") Both of those methods will work After Popen, you have to do something like communicate()

p1 = subprocess.Popen('mkdir extractions', shell=True)
p1.communicate()

However, this is the same as just using subprocess.call("mkdir extractions", shell=True).