<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:

def shell(command, *args):
	'''Pass a command into the shell.'''
	if args:
		command = command.format(*args)

	print LOCALE['shell'].format(command)

	try:
		return subprocess.check_output(command, shell=True)
	except subprocess.CalledProcessError, ex:
		return ex