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Comments on How can I schedule a later task in Python?

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How can I schedule a later task in Python?

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I want my CLI Python program to schedule a task, and then exit. After some times has passed (say 10 minutes) the task should execute.

The task can be a Python method or a shell command, whatever is easier. I can convert my use case to accommodate it.

This would be on Linux only.

How can I schedule a future task from Python?

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Use at to schedule the command, using subprocess from Python to invoke at. It doesn't even require shell=True. For example:

import shlex, subprocess

subprocess.run(
    # `at` command to run now
    shlex.split("at now +10 minutes"),
    # shell command that `at` will schedule, provided to `at`'s stdin
    input="python -m this > this.txt",
    # open stdin in text mode with the default encoding
    text=True
)

The at program will detach itself from the terminal, so capturing stdout or stderr from the scheduled task will require a workaround (such as invoking xterm, or teeing to a TTY that will be open when the task runs).

However, if local mail services are available, and at is run from a su shell, it will send local mail with the output when the job is completed. Check the man page for details.

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2 comment threads

Prefer `shlex.split()` (2 comments)
Didn't know about at (3 comments)
Prefer `shlex.split()`
tripleee‭ wrote about 1 year ago

The generic text split() will work fine here; but in the general case, you should prefer shlex.split() which copes correctly with quoting, backslash escaping, etc.

Karl Knechtel‭ wrote about 1 year ago

I agree wholeheartedly, so I edited that in - even though it's unnecessary for the example as you say. After all, I could also have just written the separate list elements explicitly; but the point is to show a more general technique.