How to hide cmd window when run perl in python?

Question

I write the main application with python and build it to windows *.exe file, and now need to call a 3rd party perl script.

I use,

cmd = "perl fileconverter.pl"
subprocess.call(cmd)

Everything works well except the cmd window, which will pop up when subprocess.call(cmd) is called. Question is, how to hide the cmd window in this situation?

Answer 1

You can use wperl instead of perl.

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If your program is running in a console, perl should reuse the same console.

>perl -e"system 'perl -Esay+123'"
123

(I don't have Python installed, but the same applies no matter what launches perl.)

But maybe the Python is running without a console. Then perl will create itself a console.

Another answer shows you how to hide this console when using Python, and it's a great solution. But there's a simple Perl-specific option you can also use.

Strawberry Perl (and I think ActivePerl, and probably all builds of Perl for Windows) provide not just perl.exe, but wperl.exe.^[1] The latter is identical to the former, except it uses a hidden console.^[2] So all you would need to do is change perl to wperl.

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1. I don't count builds of Perl for unix emulation environments (Cygwin, MSYS, MSYS2) as Windows builds of Perl.
2. The binaries differ by only one bit.