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I am trying to use Python to select a variable from a list, then speak it outloud using the bash command. Right now I have something like this

foo = ["a","b","c","d"]
from random import choice
x = choice(foo)
foo.remove(x)
from os import system
system('say x')

This says "x", what I need is for it to say the value of the x variable.

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  • Nice, I dind't knew that Mac OS X has say :) Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 18:49
  • For the curious, os.putenv is how to export variables to the environment and subprocesses Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 18:49
  • 1
    Have you tried system('say ' + str(x)) ? Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 18:49
  • @mgilson You are spot on, edited the mistake. Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 18:53

4 Answers 4

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I suppose you can use os.system, but better might be subprocess:

import subprocess
subprocess.call(['say',x])
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you are passing astring you can use value of x like

sytem('say {0}'.format(x))

When passing strings you can use string formatting. As you realized you need to get the value of x in the string not the variable x http://docs.python.org/library/string.html#format-examples

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Note that this is the old style of string formatting, and in new software, str.format() is the recommended method - e.g: system('say {0}'.format(x)).
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You can use format:

system('say {}'.format(x))
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use string formatting:

In [9]: x="ls -ld"

In [10]: os.system("{0}".format(x))
drwxr-xr-x 41 monty monty 4096 2012-10-10 22:46 .
Out[10]: 0
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os.system is inflexible and can be error-prone and insecure. The subprocess module provides much better functionality for this.
"{0}".format("value") is just an incredibly complex way to say "value".