pass a list object as a command line argument to a python script

Question

I have a script - script.py where i am parsing a json file(the json file has a list of directories to copy to remote host) and the json parsing returns me 2 lists - list1 and list2. I am then passing this list1 and list2 to another script script2 that is called inside script.py

Something like

#!/usr/bin/python
json = 'jsonfile.json'
input_dir='some path1'
output_dir='some path2'
# function to parse json file and get the lists
# call script2.py
path_to_script2/script2.py list1 list2 input_dir output_dir

I tried

e.g., script2.py list1 list2 input_path output_path This says i cannot pass list type to the script

script2.py has

import os
import sys
import ast

a = ast.literal_eval(sys.argv[1])
b = ast.literal_eval(sys.argv[2])
c = sys.argv[3]
d = sys.argv[4]

print(a)
print(b)

when i try this

script2.py "list1" "list2" input_path output_path -

I am getting this error-

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "path/2/script/bexec.p", line 7, in <module>
    a = ast.literal_eval(sys.argv[1])
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/ast.py", line 80, in literal_eval
    return _convert(node_or_string)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/ast.py", line 79, in _convert
    raise ValueError('malformed string')
ValueError: malformed string

Here is the json file that i am parsing-

{
"list1": ["./xyz1/abc1/file1.sql",
          "./xyz2/abc2/file2.sql",
          "./xyz3/abc3/file3.sql"
          ],

"list2":[
        {"inp": "./xyz03/abc01/file1.txt",
         "csv": ["./xyz03/abc01/file2.csv"],
          "sql": ["./xyz03/file3.sql"],
          "dat": ["./xyz03/Model/file4.dat"],
       },
       { "inp": "./xyz03/abc01/file2.txt",
         "csv": ["./xyz03/abc01/file2.csv"],
         "sql": ["./xyz03/abc01/file3.sql"],
          "dat": ["./xyz03/Model/file4.dat"]}
        ]
}

This is just a snippet of the json file- It has more values in list2 field.

Or may be i can pass the json.loads(file.json) output to the python script. I hope this provides clarity or i can explain more in case any other details are needed.

Kaushal Kumar · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-25 07:44:44Z

1

You cannot pass list as command line arguments. Instead you can import the method from another script and call the method with arguments.

script1.py

#!/usr/bin/python
from script2 import script2_main
json = 'jsonfile.json'
input_dir='some path1'
output_dir='some path2'
# function to parse json file and get the lists
# call script2.py
script2_main(list1, list2, input_dir, output_dir)

script2.py

def script2_main(list1, list2, input_dir, output_dir):
    # Do something with the data
    pass

edited Jul 25, 2020 at 7:44

answered Jul 25, 2020 at 7:41

Kaushal Kumar

1,3161 gold badge12 silver badges21 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

alani Over a year ago

Do not put the shebang at the top of script2.py if it is not intended to be run as an executable.

Kaushal Kumar Over a year ago

Removed from script2.py

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

pass a list object as a command line argument to a python script

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related