[Tutor] wrapping a command line tool

[Kent Johnson]

Gonzillaaa wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am using a command line tool that allows me to specify a serial  
> port and either read from or write data to it. I would like to create  
> a python module that wraps that functionality and allows me to  
> manipulate the incoming data to present it in a table for instance  
> (like top works) or maybe store it in a dictionary and drop it into a  
> database at timed intervals.
> 
> I am Python newbie so pointers to capture command line output and how  
> to format it as a table for instance would be greatly appreciated.

If you are using a command-line tool that expects user input then I 
think you need something like pexpect, however pexpect requires the pty 
module which doesn't work on Windows so that may be a problem for you.
http://pexpect.sourceforge.net/

I suggest that a better approach might be to use pyserial which is 
intended to give access to the serial port directly from Python and runs 
on Windows, Linux and MacOSX.
http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/

Kent