Python program start

Question

Should I start a Python program with:

if__name__ == \'__main__\':
some code...

And if so, why? I saw it many times but don\'t have a clue about

Answer 1

Guido Van Rossum suggests:

def main(argv=None):
  if argv is None:
    argv = sys.argv
  ...

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(main())

This way you can run main() from somewhere else (supplying the arguments), and if you want to exit with an error code just return 1 from main(), and it won't make an interactive interpreter exit by mistake.