Python: terminate subprocess without having access to subprocess.Popen object?

Question

I have a script whereby I simply call a subprocess in Python using the subprocess module, like so:

import subprocess
process = subprocess.Popen(['python3', 'some_Python_script.py']

I want to be able to terminate/kill this process. However, after creating my process, in my app I lose access to the process object, and thus am not able to commonly terminate it as described in here, using process.kill.

However, is there a way to "store" some unique ID of the process, and with it be able to manipulate/terminate it later on (if it is still running)?

For ex., I am thinking of something like

process = subprocess.Popen(['python3', 'some_Python_script.py']
process_ID_string = process.id
...
...
*later on*
subprocess.kill(process_id = process_ID_string)

Is something like this possible with the subprocess module?

If you can store the PID, why can't you store a reference to the object the same way? — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented Mar 10, 2019 at 19:27
(and to be clear, it's process.pid, as documented at docs.python.org/3/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.Popen.pid) — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented Mar 10, 2019 at 19:28
Because I am working with Dash, and the callbacks within Dash behave like local functions in that their variables are also local, except only basic variables like strings can be returned. — Coolio2654
– Coolio2654, Commented Mar 11, 2019 at 22:39

Charles Duffy · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-10 19:36:25Z

2

import subprocess, os, signal

process = subprocess.Popen(['python3', 'some_Python_script.py']
processId = process.pid

# later on
os.kill(processId, signal.SIGTERM)

edited Mar 10, 2019 at 19:36

answered Mar 10, 2019 at 19:29

Charles Duffy

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1 Comment

Coolio2654 Over a year ago

This is perfect. I knew my intuition was on the right track ^^; , but subprocess's doc's weren't making it easy for me to find this functionality. Thank you.

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