KITFORMA · EDITORIAL GUIDE
How do I pass a filename containing spaces to subprocess safely?
KitForma editorial guide. Shell command strings mix executable arguments with shell syntax. Quoting them manually becomes fragile, especially across operating systems.
Step-by-step guidance
Shell command strings mix executable arguments with shell syntax. Quoting them manually becomes fragile, especially across operating systems.
Use an argument list such as
subprocess.run(["tool", "--input", filename], check=True, shell=False). Each list element is one argument; do not add literal quote characters around the filename. Test spaces, non-ASCII characters and a name containing shell metacharacters with a harmless test program that prints its arguments. This avoids shell interpretation but does not make arbitrary tools safe: validate allowed options and paths, and use an end-of-options marker where the called program supports it. Apply a timeout for untrusted work.Sources and verification
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