named_pipe.py

import os, time

pipe_path = "/tmp/mypipe"
if not os.path.exists(pipe_path):
    os.mkfifo(pipe_path)
# Open the fifo. We need to open in non-blocking mode or it will stalls until
# someone opens it for writting
pipe_fd = os.open(pipe_path, os.O_RDONLY | os.O_NONBLOCK)
with os.fdopen(pipe_fd) as pipe:
    while True:
        message = pipe.read()
        if message:
            print("Received: '%s'" % message)
            pathnames = message.splitlines()
            print pathnames
        print("Doing other stuff")
        time.sleep(5)