In linux, how to use python to check whether an external program is running?

Question

In linux, how to use python to check whether an external non-system program is running? Is there a standard module for this task?

Answer 1

Use psutil, e.g.

import psutil

def check_if_running(name):
    for ps in psutil.process_iter():
        if ps.name == name:
            return True
    return False

check_if_running('python')
>>> True

Answer 2

You could be interested in psutil. Otherwise you could invoke pgrep using the subprocess library.