How To catch python stdout in c++ code

Question

I have a program which during it's run sometimes needs to call python in order to preform some tasks. I need a function that calls python and catches pythons stdout and puts it in some file. This is a declaration of the function

  pythonCallBackFunc(const char* pythonInput)

My problem is to catch all the python output for a given command (pythonInput). I have no experience with python API and I don't know what is the right technique to do this. First thing I've tried is to redirect python's sdtout and stderr using Py_run_SimpleString this is some example of the code i've written.

#include "boost\python.hpp"
#include <iostream>

void pythonCallBackFunc(const char* inputStr){   

    PyRun_SimpleString(inputStr); 
}


int main () {
    ...
   //S0me outside functions does this
   Py_Initialize();
   PyRun_SimpleString("import sys");
   PyRun_SimpleString("old_stdout = sys.stdout");
   PyRun_SimpleString("fsock = open('python_out.log','a')");
   PyRun_SimpleString("sys.stdout = fsock");
   ...

   //my func   
   pythonCallBackFunc("print 'HAHAHAHAHA'");
   pythonCallBackFunc("result = 5");
   pythonCallBackFunc("print result");

   pythonCallBackFunc("result = 'Hello '+'World!'");
   pythonCallBackFunc("print result");

   pythonCallBackFunc("'KUKU '+'KAKA'");
   pythonCallBackFunc("5**3");

   pythonCallBackFunc("prinhghult");

   pythonCallBackFunc("execfile('stdout_close.py')");
   ... 

   //Again anothers function code
   PyRun_SimpleString("sys.stdout = old_stdout");
   PyRun_SimpleString("fsock.close()");

   Py_Finalize();
   return 0;
}

Is there a better way to do this? Besides, for some reason PyRun_SimpleString does nothing when it gets some mathematical expression, for example PyRun_SimpleString("5**3") prints nothing (python conlsul prints the result: 125)

maybe it is important, i am using visual studio 2008. Thanks, Alex

---

Changes I've made according Mark's suggestion:

  #include <python.h>
  #include <string>

  using namespace std;

  void PythonPrinting(string inputStr){ 
     string stdOutErr =
    "import sys\n\
     class CatchOut:\n\
        def __init__(self):\n\
           self.value = ''\n\
        def write(self, txt):\n\
           self.value += txt\n\
     catchOut = CatchOut()\n\
     sys.stdout = catchOut\n\
     sys.stderr = catchOut\n\
    "; //this is python code to redirect stdouts/stderr

     PyObject *pModule = PyImport_AddModule("__main__"); //create main module
     PyRun_SimpleString(stdOutErr.c_str()); //invoke code to redirect

     PyRun_SimpleString(inputStr.c_str());
     PyObject *catcher = PyObject_GetAttrString(pModule,"catchOut");

     PyObject *output = PyObject_GetAttrString(catcher,"value");
     printf("Here's the output: %s\n", PyString_AsString(output)); 
     }

  int main(int argc, char** argv){
         Py_Initialize();

     PythonPrinting("print 123");
     PythonPrinting("1+5");
     PythonPrinting("result = 2");
         PythonPrinting("print result");

         Py_Finalize();
         return 0;
  }

The output i get after running main:

 Here's the output: 123

 Here's the output:
 Here's the output: 
 Here's the output: 2

It is good for me , but only one problem, it should be

 Here's the output: 123

 Here's the output: 6

 Here's the output: 
 Here's the output: 2

I dont know why but after running this command: PythonPrinting("1+5"), PyString_AsString(output) command returns an empty string (char*) instead of 6... :( Is there somthing i can do not to loose this output?

Thaks, Alex

Answer 1

If I'm reading your question correctly, you want to capture stdout/stderr into a variable within your C++? You can do this by redirecting stdout/stderr into a python variable and then querying this variable into your C++. Please not that I have not done the proper ref counting below:

#include <Python.h>
#include <string>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    std::string stdOutErr =
"import sys\n\
class CatchOutErr:\n\
    def __init__(self):\n\
        self.value = ''\n\
    def write(self, txt):\n\
        self.value += txt\n\
catchOutErr = CatchOutErr()\n\
sys.stdout = catchOutErr\n\
sys.stderr = catchOutErr\n\
"; //this is python code to redirect stdouts/stderr

    Py_Initialize();
    PyObject *pModule = PyImport_AddModule("__main__"); //create main module
    PyRun_SimpleString(stdOutErr.c_str()); //invoke code to redirect
    PyRun_SimpleString("print(1+1)"); //this is ok stdout
    PyRun_SimpleString("1+a"); //this creates an error
    PyObject *catcher = PyObject_GetAttrString(pModule,"catchOutErr"); //get our catchOutErr created above
    PyErr_Print(); //make python print any errors

    PyObject *output = PyObject_GetAttrString(catcher,"value"); //get the stdout and stderr from our catchOutErr object

    printf("Here's the output:\n %s", PyString_AsString(output)); //it's not in our C++ portion

    Py_Finalize();


    return 0;

}