Command line sensor to read from file

Configuration
1

I’m trying to get Home Assistant to read the contents of a file using the command_line sensor.
My configuration looks like

- platform: command_line
  command: python3 -c "fo = open('todays_events.txt', 'r');pr = fo.read();print (pr);fo.close()"
  name: Todays Events

and the error I am getting in the log file is

ERROR (Thread-11) [homeassistant.components.sensor.command_line] Command failed: python3 -c “fo = open(‘todays_events.txt’, ‘r’);pr = fo.read();print (pr);fo.close()”

I have made sure that the code I am using as the command works on my venv, as I have read that as being a potential issue in other posts. The “todays_events.txt” file is also readable by anyone.

I can’t quite figure out what the problem is with this, any ideas? Thanks

2

I can’t see the problem, but would the file sensor do for you?

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3

Aha yes, thank you!

4

Do you happen to know if this file updates in home assistant? Like if I were to make a change to the file, would HA see the change or would I have to restart HA for the change to take effect?

5

It depends on what you change. From the link

Only the last line of the file is used. This is similar to do $ tail -n 1 sensor.txt on the command-line.

So, if you add a line to the end of the file it will read it when running. Any other change will not be detected…

6

The file sensor run approx. every 30 seconds and will pick-up the latest changes to file if there are any.

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