最近有一个需求，就是把一个coff格式的文件转换为可烧录的binary格式，有一个写好的工具，不过这个工具命令行不提供参数输入，而是通过交互方式获取用户输入，这就导致无法用批处理自动化这个步骤。当时想着也许可以用python的popen来处理。测试发现不行，会阻塞。再仔细看文档和google后发现，原来popen类的是需要 执行到EOF才返回的，跟telnet模块的模式不一样。用Python2.5的subprocess后发现进程不等待输入，直接就结束了，输入给进程的都是垃圾数据。然后发现google code里面有新的subprocess模块，解决了阻塞问题，不过直接替换后发现还是不行，报告了一个看不出来的错误。实在没办法，拿到转换工具的源代码，在前面添加了一下对argv的支持，算是解决了问题。由于网上有篇文章对subprocess解析的挺透彻的，所以转录一下，也不翻译了。本质就是popen需要执行到孵化的程序结束，要么采用复杂的select方式也可以。所以popen对于那些需要中间手动交互的是不合适的。也许pexpect是一个可选方案，或者新的支持非阻塞的subprocess也行。

Sometimes, it's really hard to understand what happens inside a function or even a whole module of Python's Standard library. For example, the subprocess module contains a very tricky Popepclass. I tried to use the the module to communicate with a MATLAB subprocess shell (e.g. send MATLAB commands to subprocess and read the output). Unfortunately I failed and was just able to pass a MATLAB script via command-line arguments. Yet, I learnt much about Popen.communicate() method and I'd like to share this knowledge with you.

Before we begin...
I love Python and try using the latest versions when possible. But this article is about the subprocess module in Python 2.6. Is there a good reason for that? For starters, you can find this comment in Python 3.1's subprocess module:

# XXX Rewrite these to use non-blocking I/O on the
# file objects; they are no longer using C stdio!

Then, there is a pending Asynchronous I/O For subprocess.Popen PEP-3145. Last, but not least, a

temporary moratorium (suspension) of all changes to the Python language syntax, semantics, and built-ins for a period of at least two years from the release of Python 3.1

was proposed and accepted in PEP 3003. Yet,

...As the standard library is not directly tied to the language definition it is not covered by this moratorium.

A simple experiment

import subprocessproc = subprocess.Popen(['ls', '-l'],cwd = '/',stdout = subprocess.PIPE)
out, err = proc.communicate()
print(out)

This one is really easy: the ls command with -l switch is executed, the root is set as a current working directory and a pipe is created to get the data written by ls to stdout.

Why use communicate? Why not write the data directly to Popen.stdin and read from Popen.stdout?

The official documentation says:

Use communicate() rather than Popen.stdin.write, Popen.stdout.read or Popen.stderr.read to avoid deadlocks due to any of the other OS pipe buffers filling up and blocking the child process.

Let's try communicate() with a long-term shell process:

import subprocessproc = subprocess.Popen('bash',cwd = '/',stdin = subprocess.PIPE,stdout = subprocess.PIPE,stderr = subprocess.PIPE)out, err = proc.communicate('ls')
print(out)out, err = proc.communicate('ls -l')

With successful first communicate() call, you'll receive ValueError: I/O operation on closed filetrying communicate the second time. 

Would you like to know, why an error is raised? It's time to dive inside the code.

Inside Popen.communicate()
You can find the original and complete code of subprocess module in e.g./usr/lib/python2.6/subprocess.py. 

Watch the comments!

def communicate(self, input=None):"""Interact with process: Send data to stdin.  Read data fromstdout and stderr, until end-of-file is reached.  Wait forprocess to terminate.  The optional input argument should be astring to be sent to the child process, or None, if no datashould be sent to the child.communicate() returns a tuple (stdout, stderr)."""# Optimization: If we are only using one pipe, or no pipe at# all, using select() or threads is unnecessary.if [self.stdin, self.stdout, self.stderr].count(None) >= 2:stdout = Nonestderr = Noneif self.stdin:if input: self.stdin.write(input)self.stdin.close()elif self.stdout:# This happens in the experiment we ran abovestdout = self.stdout.read()# Note, stdout is closed! self.stdout.close()          elif self.stderr:stderr = self.stderr.read()self.stderr.close()# Waiting until process terminates! self.wait()                     return (stdout, stderr)# The most interesting case, two or more pipes opened# Remember, self is an instance of subprocess.Popen classreturn self._communicate(input) 

Python was made to be cross-platform. On the other hand Python is generally used on POSIX-compatible operating systems. 
Let's skip the if mswindows: part and get to the POSIX methods block.

def _communicate(self, input):# there is a historical reason calling this variables "sets"# see select.select() (below)read_set = []write_set = [] # returned variablesstdout = Nonestderr = None # the tricky part starts right hereif self.stdin:# Flush stdio buffer.  This might block (!), if the user has# been writing to .stdin in an uncontrolled fashion.self.stdin.flush()# Data to be sent to the process through the pipeif input:          write_set.append(self.stdin)else:self.stdin.close()if self.stdout:read_set.append(self.stdout)stdout = []if self.stderr:read_set.append(self.stderr)stderr = []input_offset = 0# ... 

This part was not hard at all. 
It'll be a little bit harder in the next block: please read the select.select()^[1] documentation if you're not familiar with select() system call.

#...# while read_set contains self.stdout # or write_set contains self.stdinwhile read_set or write_set:try:# man select # .. select() allows a program to monitor multiple file descriptors, # waiting until one or more of the file descriptors become "ready" # for some class of I/O operation (e.g., input possible).  # A file descriptor is  considered ready if it is possible to perform # the corresponding I/O operation (e.g., read) without blockingrlist, wlist, xlist = select.select(read_set, write_set, [])except select.error, e:# EINTR means "This call did not succeed because it was interrupted. # However, if you try again, it will probably work."# In other words, EINTR is not a fatal error, it just means # you should retry whatever you were attempting.if e.args[0] == errno.EINTR: continueraiseif self.stdin in wlist:# When select has indicated that the file is writable,# we can write up to PIPE_BUF bytes without risk# blocking.  POSIX defines PIPE_BUF >= 512chunk = input[input_offset : input_offset + 512]bytes_written = os.write(self.stdin.fileno(), chunk)input_offset += bytes_writtenif input_offset >= len(input):# stdin is closed! It's not possible communicate(input) any more.self.stdin.close()            write_set.remove(self.stdin) # write_set is empty nowif self.stdout in rlist:data = os.read(self.stdout.fileno(), 1024)if data == "":self.stdout.close()read_set.remove(self.stdout)stdout.append(data)if self.stderr in rlist:data = os.read(self.stderr.fileno(), 1024)if data == "":self.stderr.close()read_set.remove(self.stderr)stderr.append(data)#...

Note, that os.write() and os.read() functions are used. This functions are intended for low-level I/O. If the end of the file referred to by file descriptor (e.g. self.stdout.fileno()) has been reached, an empty string is returned (the if data == "": checks).

 #...# The while read_set or write_set: loop ends here# All data exchanged.  Translate lists into strings.if stdout is not None:stdout = ''.join(stdout) # (stdout) is a listif stderr is not None: stderr = ''.join(stderr) # Translate newlines, if requested.  We cannot let the file# object do the translation: It is based on stdio, which is# impossible to combine with select (unless forcing no# buffering).if self.universal_newlines and hasattr(file, 'newlines'):if stdout:stdout = self._translate_newlines(stdout)if stderr:stderr = self._translate_newlines(stderr)self.wait() # wait until process terminatesreturn (stdout, stderr)

If Python was built with the --with-universal-newlines option to configure (the default) the file.newlines read-only attribute exists, and for files opened in universal newline read mode it keeps track of the types of newlines encountered while reading the file. The_translate_newlines() method just replaces the Windows-style (/r/n) and Mac-style (/r) newlines with /n.

The last pieces of the puzzle:

def wait(self):"""Wait for child process to terminate.  Returns returncodeattribute."""if self.returncode is None:# Try calling a function os.waitpid(self.pid, 0)# Ignore Interrupted System Call (errno.EINTR) errors  pid, sts = _eintr_retry_call(os.waitpid, self.pid, 0)self._handle_exitstatus(sts)return self.returncode

On Unix the os.waitpid() function call means: Wait for completion of a child process given by process id pid, and return a tuple containing its process id and exit status indication. The semantics of the call are affected by the value of the integer options, which should be 0 for normal operation.

self._handle_exitstatus sets self.returncode based on exit status sts

Well, that's it. I hope you've got the answers to "how Popen.communicate() works?" question.