def get_external_command_output(command: str) -> bytes:
    """
    Takes a command-line command, executes it, and returns its ``stdout``
    output.

    Args:
        command: command string

    Returns:
        output from the command as ``bytes``

    """
    args = shlex.split(command)
    ret = subprocess.check_output(args)  # this needs Python 2.7 or higher
    return ret