# How Execute a Program or Call a System Command in Python?

In Python, you can execute a system command using the `os.system`. However, `subprocess.run` is a much better alternative. The official also documentation recommends `subprocess.run` over the `os.system`.

Let’s look at an example. In the following code, `ls` command will be executed along with the `-la` option:

```python
import subprocess

subprocess.run(['ls', '-la'])
```

The run method takes an array argument where the first element of the array is the program, you want to call and the rest of the elements are program arguments that will be passed to the program, unlike the c/c++ equivalent `exec` where the first argument has to be the name of the program. The method also returns an integer value representing the exit code of the called program.