Question

How can I run the following command using subprocess.Popen?

mysqldump database_name table_name | bzip2 > filename

I know os.system() can do the job but I dont want to wait for the dump to finish in main program.

Answer 1

You want the shell=True option to make it execute shell commands:

import subprocess
subprocess.Popen("sleep 4s && echo right thar, right thar",shell=True);
print 'i like it when you put it'

which yields:

 I like it when you put it
 [4 seconds later]
 right thar, right thar