Question

I want to partition a new, blank disk using a Python script on Ubuntu.

In a bash script or from the command line, this would do the job:

$echo -e "n\np\n1\n\n\nw\n" | sudo fdisk /dev/X

where X is the HDD in question.

I have tried to port this into a Python script using the subprocess module, as follows:

p = subprocess.Popen(cmdString, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, \
                     close_fds=False, stderr=subprocess.PIPE,shell=True)
stdoutAndErr = p.communicate()

where cmdString is just the same "echo -e ..." string above.

This doesn’t work though. Output is just fdisk printing out the command options, so it clearly doesn’t like what I am sending it.

What’s wrong with the above simple approach to life?

Answer 1

The ‘batteries included’ pipes module may be what you are looking for. Doug Hellman has a nice write-up on how to use it to get what you want.