Adds Popen option to run_commandline

pyfstat/helper_functions.py

@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ def compute_pstar(twoFcheck_obs, twoFstarcheck_obs, m0, plot=False):
     return 2*np.min([pstar_l, 1-pstar_l])
 
 
-def run_commandline(cl, log_level=20, raise_error=True):
+def run_commandline(cl, log_level=20, raise_error=True, return_output=True):
     """Run a string cmd as a subprocess, check for errors and return output.
 
     Parameters
@@ -205,11 +205,12 @@ def run_commandline(cl, log_level=20, raise_error=True):
     """
 
     logging.log(log_level, 'Now executing: ' + cl)
+    if return_output:
         try:
             out = subprocess.check_output(cl,                       # what to run
                                           stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, # catch errors
                                           shell=True,               # proper environment etc
-                                      universal_newlines=True   # properly display linebreaks in error/output printing
+                                          universal_newlines=True,  # properly display linebreaks in error/output printing
                                          )
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
             logging.log(log_level, 'Execution failed: {}'.format(e.output))
@@ -218,8 +219,11 @@ def run_commandline(cl, log_level=20, raise_error=True):
             else:
                 out = 0
         os.system('\n')
-
         return(out)
+    else:
+        process = subprocess.Popen(cl, shell=True)
+        process.communicate()
+
 
 
 def convert_array_to_gsl_matrix(array):