Using python to substitute awk for Linux commands

Question

I am new to Python and I need to learn it for work purposes. I am having trouble figuring out a way to use Python to replace awk for column prints.

For example, I need to print out the date: root@user:~# date Mon Jun 24 01:30:08 EDT 2013

But, I only need a certain part of it: root@user:~# date | awk '{print $2" "$3" "$4" "$5}' Jun 24 01:30:54 EDT

Is there a way in Python to do this without needing to do the following: import os os.system("date | awk '{print $2" "$3" "$4" "$5}'")

I have tried to do an extensive Google/Bing/Ask/Yahoo search and have seemed to have come up short on this.

Amber · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-24 05:43:47Z

3

You probably want to look at the datetime.datetime.strftime() function for that particular task.

However, for the more general task of printing out certain fields, you'd use .split() and list slicing:

date_string = "Mon Jun 24 01:30:08 EDT 2013"
fields = date_string.split()
print ' '.join(fields[1:5]) # Prints "June 24 01:30:08 EDT"

answered Jun 24, 2013 at 5:43

Amber

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5 Comments

Greg Over a year ago

Amber, thanks for the response. This helps if I was looking to statically put in a date as string. What I am looking to do is, run the Linux "date" command and grab the state of it only print certain parts of it

Amber Over a year ago

@GregRobertDutertre Is there a reason you need to run the date command, as opposed to using the datetime library already built into Python?

Greg Over a year ago

Amber, I think it may be my naivety and I am so used to running that through Linux. I am currently reading up on the datetime function.

Amber Over a year ago

@GregRobertDutertre No worries. I think the datetime library (and specifically the strftime method I mentioned at the beginning of my answer) may do exactly what you need.

Greg Over a year ago

I figured out what I am looking for. I appreciate the input on this.

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