An operating system (OS) is a software program that serves as the primary interface between the computer hardware and the user. It is responsible for managing various aspects of the computer, including hardware resources, software resources, and user interactions. The OS provides essential functions such as resource management, user interface management, file system management, task management, and security and access control.
Operating systems provide a platform for running applications, managing files and folders, and controlling hardware devices. Additionally, operating systems facilitate multitasking by allowing multiple processes to run concurrently while ensuring proper resource allocation and management. Popular operating systems include Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, Unix, Android, and iOS, each with its unique features and capabilities.
You can get the operating system (OS) and its version details in Python using the platform module from the standard library. Getting the OS name through the platform module is a better approach. The following sample code describes how the platform module obtains the OS name.
import platform print(platform.system())
Output:
Windows
The OS details can be obtained through various modules in Python such as using ‘os.name’, and ‘system.platform’. ‘os.name‘ provides the output as either ‘posix’, ‘nt’, or ‘java’, while ‘sys.platform‘ provides values such as ‘win32’, ‘linux’, etc. The platform module provides the most reliable method for obtaining the name of the operating system.