Issue #16624: `subprocess.check_output` now accepts an `input` argument,
allowing the subprocess's stdin to be provided as a (byte) string.
Patch by Zack Weinberg.
diff --git a/Lib/subprocess.py b/Lib/subprocess.py
index f69b42a..78907e0 100644
--- a/Lib/subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/subprocess.py
@@ -175,6 +175,9 @@
 
     >>> output = subprocess.check_output(["ls", "-l", "/dev/null"])
 
+    There is an additional optional argument, "input", allowing you to
+    pass a string to the subprocess's stdin.  If you use this argument
+    you may not also use the Popen constructor's "stdin" argument.
 
 Exceptions
 ----------
@@ -563,14 +566,31 @@
     ...              stderr=STDOUT)
     b'ls: non_existent_file: No such file or directory\n'
 
+    There is an additional optional argument, "input", allowing you to
+    pass a string to the subprocess's stdin.  If you use this argument
+    you may not also use the Popen constructor's "stdin" argument, as
+    it too will be used internally.  Example:
+
+    >>> check_output(["sed", "-e", "s/foo/bar/"],
+    ...              input=b"when in the course of fooman events\n")
+    b'when in the course of barman events\n'
+
     If universal_newlines=True is passed, the return value will be a
     string rather than bytes.
     """
     if 'stdout' in kwargs:
         raise ValueError('stdout argument not allowed, it will be overridden.')
+    if 'input' in kwargs:
+        if 'stdin' in kwargs:
+            raise ValueError('stdin and input arguments may not both be used.')
+        inputdata = kwargs['input']
+        del kwargs['input']
+        kwargs['stdin'] = PIPE
+    else:
+        inputdata = None
     with Popen(*popenargs, stdout=PIPE, **kwargs) as process:
         try:
-            output, unused_err = process.communicate(timeout=timeout)
+            output, unused_err = process.communicate(inputdata, timeout=timeout)
         except TimeoutExpired:
             process.kill()
             output, unused_err = process.communicate()
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 28f6935..6d8afaf 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -158,8 +158,28 @@
                 stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
         self.assertIn(b'BDFL', output)
 
+    def test_check_output_stdin_arg(self):
+        # check_output() can be called with stdin set to a file
+        tf = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
+        self.addCleanup(tf.close)
+        tf.write(b'pear')
+        tf.seek(0)
+        output = subprocess.check_output(
+                [sys.executable, "-c",
+                 "import sys; sys.stdout.write(sys.stdin.read().upper())"],
+                stdin=tf)
+        self.assertIn(b'PEAR', output)
+
+    def test_check_output_input_arg(self):
+        # check_output() can be called with input set to a string
+        output = subprocess.check_output(
+                [sys.executable, "-c",
+                 "import sys; sys.stdout.write(sys.stdin.read().upper())"],
+                input=b'pear')
+        self.assertIn(b'PEAR', output)
+
     def test_check_output_stdout_arg(self):
-        # check_output() function stderr redirected to stdout
+        # check_output() refuses to accept 'stdout' argument
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError) as c:
             output = subprocess.check_output(
                     [sys.executable, "-c", "print('will not be run')"],
@@ -167,6 +187,20 @@
             self.fail("Expected ValueError when stdout arg supplied.")
         self.assertIn('stdout', c.exception.args[0])
 
+    def test_check_output_stdin_with_input_arg(self):
+        # check_output() refuses to accept 'stdin' with 'input'
+        tf = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
+        self.addCleanup(tf.close)
+        tf.write(b'pear')
+        tf.seek(0)
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError) as c:
+            output = subprocess.check_output(
+                    [sys.executable, "-c", "print('will not be run')"],
+                    stdin=tf, input=b'hare')
+            self.fail("Expected ValueError when stdin and input args supplied.")
+        self.assertIn('stdin', c.exception.args[0])
+        self.assertIn('input', c.exception.args[0])
+
     def test_check_output_timeout(self):
         # check_output() function with timeout arg
         with self.assertRaises(subprocess.TimeoutExpired) as c: