If someone could tell me what is wrong with this code I'd be very grateful. def Cvs_Update(): TmpMod = raw_input("Module: ") TmpGrep = "grep -w " + TmpMod + " /etc/hscvs.conf | awk -F= '{ print $2 }'" os.system("export CVSROOT='os.system(TmpGrep)'") os.system("echo $CVSROOT") #os.system(cmd)