How to run a python script from IDLE interactive shell?

Question

How do I run a python script from within the IDLE interactive shell?

The following throws an error:

>>> python helloworld.py
SyntaxError: i         


        

Answer 1

To run a python script in a python shell such as Idle or in a Django shell you can do the following using the exec() function. Exec() executes a code object argument. A code object in Python is simply compiled Python code. So you must first compile your script file and then execute it using exec(). From your shell:

>>>file_to_compile = open('/path/to/your/file.py').read()
>>>code_object = compile(file_to_compile, '<string>', 'exec')
>>>exec(code_object)

I'm using Python 3.4. See the compile and exec docs for detailed info.

Answer 2

Python3:

exec(open('helloworld.py').read())

If your file not in the same dir:

exec(open('./app/filename.py').read())

See https://stackoverflow.com/a/437857/739577 for passing global/local variables.

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In deprecated Python versions

Python2 Built-in function: execfile

execfile('helloworld.py')

It normally cannot be called with arguments. But here's a workaround:

import sys
sys.argv = ['helloworld.py', 'arg']  # argv[0] should still be the script name
execfile('helloworld.py')

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Deprecated since 2.6: popen

import os
os.popen('python helloworld.py') # Just run the program
os.popen('python helloworld.py').read() # Also gets you the stdout

With arguments:

os.popen('python helloworld.py arg').read()

---

Advance usage: subprocess

import subprocess
subprocess.call(['python', 'helloworld.py']) # Just run the program
subprocess.check_output(['python', 'helloworld.py']) # Also gets you the stdout

With arguments:

subprocess.call(['python', 'helloworld.py', 'arg'])

Read the docs for details :-)

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Tested with this basic helloworld.py:

import sys
if len(sys.argv) > 1:
    print(sys.argv[1])

Answer 3

Try this

import os
import subprocess

DIR = os.path.join('C:\\', 'Users', 'Sergey', 'Desktop', 'helloword.py')

subprocess.call(['python', DIR])

Answer 4

In a python console, one can try the following 2 ways.

under the same work directory,

1. >> import helloworld

# if you have a variable x, you can print it in the IDLE.

>> helloworld.x

# if you have a function func, you can also call it like this.

>> helloworld.func()

2. >> runfile("./helloworld.py")

Answer 5

You can use this in python3:

exec(open(filename).read())

Answer 6

In Python 3, there is no execFile. One can use exec built-in function, for instance:

import helloworld
exec('helloworld')