2 files changed, 26 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/datadir.rs b/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/datadir.rs
index 8aa6f00..88e6375 100644
--- a/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/datadir.rs
+++ b/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/datadir.rs
@@ -91,6 +91,17 @@ impl Datadir {
             .open(full_path)?
     }
 
+    /// Open a file for reading
+    #[throws(StepError)]
+    pub fn open_read<S: AsRef<Path>>(&self, subpath: S) -> File {
+        let full_path = self.canonicalise_filename(subpath)?;
+        OpenOptions::new()
+            .create(false)
+            .write(false)
+            .read(true)
+            .open(full_path)?
+    }
+
     #[throws(StepError)]
     pub fn create_dir_all<S: AsRef<Path>>(&self, subpath: S) {
         let full_path = self.canonicalise_filename(subpath)?;
diff --git a/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/runcmd.rs b/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/runcmd.rs
index f42df6e..5fc12eb 100644
--- a/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/runcmd.rs
+++ b/subplotlib/src/steplibrary/runcmd.rs
@@ -67,9 +67,24 @@ impl ContextElement for Runcmd {
 }
 
 impl Runcmd {
+    /// Prepend the given location to the run path
     pub fn prepend_to_path<S: Into<OsString>>(&mut self, element: S) {
         self.paths.push(element.into());
     }
+
+    /// Retrieve the last run command's stdout as a string.
+    ///
+    /// This does a lossy conversion from utf8 so should always succeed.
+    pub fn stdout_as_string(&self) -> String {
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&self.stdout).into_owned()
+    }
+
+    /// Retrieve the last run command's stderr as a string.
+    ///
+    /// This does a lossy conversion from utf8 so should always succeed.
+    pub fn stderr_as_string(&self) -> String {
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&self.stderr).into_owned()
+    }
 }
 
 #[step]