python subprocess with gzip
<p>I am trying to stream data through a subprocess, gzip it and write to a file.
The following works. I wonder if it is possible to use python's native gzip library instead.</p>

<pre><code>fid = gzip.open(self.ipFile, 'rb') # input data
oFid = open(filtSortFile, 'wb') # output file
sort = subprocess.Popen(args="sort | gzip -c ", shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=oFid) # set up the pipe
processlines(fid, sort.stdin, filtFid) # pump data into the pipe
</code></pre>

<p>THE QUESTION: How do I do this instead .. where the gzip package of python is used? I'm mostly curious to know why the following gives me a text files (instead of a compressed binary version) ... very odd.</p>

<pre><code>fid = gzip.open(self.ipFile, 'rb')
oFid = gzip.open(filtSortFile, 'wb')
sort = subprocess.Popen(args="sort ", shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=oFid)
processlines(fid, sort.stdin, filtFid)
</code></pre>
