Python has libraries that allow you to execute nmap scans directly, either through the interactive interpreter or by building multifaceted attack tools. For this example, let's use the nmap library to scan our local Kali instance for a Secure Shell (SSH) service port. Make sure that the service has started by executing the /etc/init.d/ssh start command. Then install the Python nmap libraries with pip install python-nmap.

You can now execute a scan by directly using the libraries, importing them, and assigning nmap.PortScanner() to a variable. That instantiated variable can then be used to execute scans. Let's perform an example scan within the interactive interpreter. The following is an example of a scan for port 22, done using the interactive Python interpreter against the local Kali instance:

As you can see, it's a dictionary of dictionaries that can each be called as necessary. It takes a little more effort to execute a scan through the interactive interpreter...