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The problem is that if I execute a command (eg. a Python script), the terminal or script is waiting until the program return a exit status so that it can continue or return to terminal. Is there a way to circumvent this?

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You could run it in the background, just do: ./command.py & – jgr Jan 14 at 20:00
Thank jgr for your help. – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:37

migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 14 at 21:53

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Several choices:

  1. Run it in screen. man screen, screen, myprorgamm, C-a d, screen -r.
  2. nohup myprogramm
  3. myprogramm &
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Tried: $ screen _command_, $ nohup _command_ $ _command_ &. Nothing worked so far. – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:19
You need to start screen separately first; and if you don’t have screen, install it first. – poke Jan 14 at 20:20
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for screen - start with man screen, it's complex app with lots and lots of functionality. nohup and & (aka detach) can't "not work", really. if there is any error - make sure to post it here. – iced Jan 14 at 20:23
Hey, the amperstand workaround is working, but for some unknown reason I must double-click on a terminal window because the new line does not show up for some reason. Solved, thank you! – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:32
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Yes. If you're using Bash or a similar shell, type:

./your_script.py &
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Tried that from the terminal but it does not work. – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:04
What OS and shell are you using? – Ivan Yurchenko Jan 14 at 20:05
Trisquel GNU/Linux with dash. In Terminal I am using bash, while in scripts dash. Either of these does not work. The command I am trying to execute is /usr/share/screenlets/CircleClock/CircleClockScreenlet.py which is a part of a program called Screenlets (also available in Ubuntu). – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:13
Thank you. Issue solved! – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:36
up vote 0 down vote

In most shells, you can launch commands or processes in the background by appending an ampersand (&) to the command:

python file.py &
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Already tried this but it does not work. – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:22
Solved. Thank you for your help. – user1527118 Jan 14 at 20:36

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