How to run a c++ build file inside a python script?

Question

Basically, I am trying to make some mesh models watertight using an algorithm. The algorithm is already built in C++ and can be run using the following command:

./manifold ../examples/input.obj ../examples/manifold.obj

Here I have to pass an input object, and the algorithm will output an object named manifold. I have thousands of input objects in different directories. And I am using a Python script to extract those input objects. The code is provided below.

def input_object(folder):
    for sub_folders in os.listdir(folder):
        for x in os.listdir(folder+sub_folders):
            if x == 'models':
                for y in os.listdir(folder+sub_folders+'/'+x):
                    if y == 'model_normalized.obj':
                        print(y)

                        #I want to execute the build file here


root = './02880940/'
input_object(root)

I want to execute the build file inside this commented area of the script. How can I do that? I am not well-versed in C++. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Have you ever heard of subprocess? if your C++ code is already built, simply import subprocess and call the run function. something like this:

import subprocess
def input_object(folder):
    for sub_folders in os.listdir(folder):
        for x in os.listdir(folder+sub_folders):
            if x == 'models':
                for y in os.listdir(folder+sub_folders+'/'+x):
                    if y == 'model_normalized.obj':
                        print(y)

                        #I want to execute the build file here

                        subprocess.run("manifold.obj")

root = './02880940/'
count_messages(root)

something like this