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Python

Posted by john larson
john larson
16,594 Points

trying to get access to python scripts on windows from the bash shell

  • C:\Users\smolderingflax\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python35-32\Scripts\
  • I've made it to this place: Edit environment variable
  • Is this where I would add bash to the path?
  • if so would it just look like \bash added to the end?
  • and would that make it so I could run scripts on windows from bash
  • If my questions are nonsensicle it's because I'm entirely in the dark
  • Thank you

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
243,253 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
243,253 Points

:point_right: You can run Python scripts directly from bash.

  • if you're using bash, the slashes should go the other way ("/" instead of "\")
  • you would add the directory containing the scripts to the path
  • you would not add "/bash" to the path or a directory name in the path
  • to run python scripts from bash, you need to add an explicit interpreter directive to each python file

If the program is a file beginning with "#!", the remainder of the first line specifies an interpreter for the program. The bash shell executes the specified interpreter on operating systems that do not handle this executable format themselves.

So if your Python program was located at C:\Python\Python.exe, you might place this line at the beginning of your python script file:

#! C:/Python/Python.exe

Then, you could just type the name of the python script into bash and it would start running.

john larson
john larson
16,594 Points

Hi Steve, so this line:

#! C:/Python/Python.exe

is at the top of my script, I tried two ways:

smolderingflax@LAPTOP-0SBQ309H:~$ hello_world.py
hello_world.py: command not found
smolderingflax@LAPTOP-0SBQ309H:~$ python hello_world.py
python: can't open file 'hello_world.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

I'm clearly missing some key points here. I did the whole python course on the windows cmd. Then I heard that I really need to learn to use bash. So that's what I'm trying to do now. I went through the console foundations course. But I still can't seem to get this. So... I appreciate your help.