Passing data to system command

[Cameron Laird]

In article <mailman.7179.1150658017.27775.python-list at python.org>,
Chris Hieronymus  <christoph.hieronymus at geo.uu.se> wrote:
			.
			.
			.
>input.  How do I get the data into the system call?  I used to do  
>things in csh and awk,
>i.e., something like
>
>awk '{<some manipulations here>; print $1, $2}' filename | psxy <some  
>options> >! output.ps
			.
			.
			.
There are several aspects to what you're after.  First, I think, is
to experiment with

  import os
  os.system("awk '{print $%column}'" % desired_column)

Does that move you forward?