Python Error: print subprocess.check_output - invalid syntax

Question

Working on a CasperJS tutorial and I'm getting an error with my syntax. Using Python 3.5.1.

File: scrape.py

import os
import subprocess

APP_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
CASPER = '/projects/casperjs/bin/casperjs'
SCRIPT = os.path.join(APP_ROOT, 'test.js')

params = CASPER + ' ' + SCRIPT

print subprocess.check_output(params, shell=True)

Error:

File "scrape.py", line 10
    print subprocess.check_output(params, shell=True)
                   ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

YouTube Video tutorial: Learning to Scrape...

unrelated: 1- if APP_ROOT has spaces in it; the check_output() call may fail because CASPER + ' ' + SCRIPT is not how the command line should be created. It seems, you don't need the shell here 2- if you want to display the output; you don't need to capture it: check_call([CASPER, SCRIPT]) 3- minor: you could use get_script_dir() instead of __file__ — jfs
– jfs, Commented May 11, 2016 at 21:45

jwodder · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 18:38:18Z

1

print subprocess.check_output(params, shell=True) is Python 2 syntax. print is a keyword in Python 2 and a function in Python 3. For the latter, you need to write:

print(subprocess.check_output(params, shell=True))

answered May 11, 2016 at 18:38

jwodder

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1 Comment

Casey Over a year ago

Thanks, I discovered the whole print became a function thing, but didn't get my parenthesis right.

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