Search code examples
pythoncommand-linewindows-console

What to do with "The input line is too long" error message?

I am trying to use os.system() to call another program that takes an input and an output file. The command I use is ~250 characters due to the long folder names.

When I try to call the command, I'm getting an error: The input line is too long.

I'm guessing there's a 255 character limit (its built using a C system call, but I couldn't find the limitations on that either).

I tried changing the directory with os.chdir() to reduce the folder trail lengths, but when I try using os.system() with "..\folder\filename" it apparently can't handle relative path names. Is there any way to get around this limit or get it to recognize relative paths?

Solution

  • You should use the subprocess module instead. See this little doc for how to rewrite os.system calls to use subprocess.