Complete noob - ping in python

[valorien]

Hi everyone,
Just started programming in Python and iI'm already starting to like this language very much.
I have a problem with a program I wrote last night - I'm trying to ping a certain host using

os.popen("ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

and then read the %errorlevel% from my system using

result = os.popen("echo %errorlevel%)
print result.read(

the problem is, I keep getting the number zero every time I check for the result data.
usually, getting this value from the %errorlevel%" means that the last command ran without any issues - which means the ping succeeded, but in this case I keep getting 0 even if I ping imaginary hosts.

I think the problem resides in the os.popen use - when I use it the first time it finishes and then closes the command prompt window - so when I check the %errorlevel% variable at the second os.popen command, it gives me the data of a totally new command prompt window!

so my question is - how do I run the first ping command and keep the windows open and run the second "echo %errorlevel% command in the same window?
thanks for reading this long scroll - and thank u very much if you can help :-)

[Shakis]

run it using IDLE? and the result printed will stay on screen?

[woooee]

Perhaps you should state why you want to go around pinging sites. os.popen() is probably not the right tool but that depends on what you are trying to do.

[Ene Uran]

Give module subprocess a try, it's a bit more advanced:

import subprocess

# execute the code and pipe the result to a string
test = "ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
process = subprocess.Popen(test, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
# give it time to respond
process.wait()
# optional check (0 --> success)
print process.returncode  
# read the result to a string
result_str = process.stdout.read()
# test it ...
print result_str