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How do I call a function in vs code using python?

I'll want to know how to call a function in vs code. I read the answer to similar questions, but they don't work:
def userInput(n):
return n*n
userInput(5)
And appends nothing
def Input(n):
return n*n
And in the terminal:
from file import *
from: can't read /var/mail/file
Can somebody help me?

You are doing everything correctly in the first picture. In order to call a function in python on vs code you first have to define the function, which you did by typing def userInput(n):. If you want to see the result of your function, you should not use return, you should use print instead. Return is a keyword- so when your computer reaches the return keyword it attempts to send that value from one point in your code to another. If you want to see the result of your code, typing print (n) would work better.
Your code should look like this:
def userInput(n):
print (n * n)
userInput(5)
The code would print the result 25

Your terminal is your general way to access your operating system, so you have to tell it that you want it to interpret your Python code first.
If you want to run the file you're typing in, you have to first know the location of that file. When you type ls in your terminal, does the name of your Python file show up? If not, hover over the tab in VSCode (it's close to the top of the editor) and see what path appears. Then in your terminal type cd (short for "change directory") and then the path that you saw, minus the <your filename here>.py bit. Type ls again, and you should see your Python file. Now you can type python <your filename here>.py to run it (provided you have Python installed).
You could also run the IDLE by just typing python in your terminal. This will allow you to write your code line-by-line and immediately evaluate it, but it's easier to write in VSCode and then run it with the method I described before.

My code is running without calling variable in Python?

When I run the below code my websites or steam still open. Shouldn't I need to state print(link) or print(steam) for them to open?
import os
import webbrowser
import subprocess
import random
urls = ['https://www.ft.com/',
'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqcFcfhUVQ',
'https://roadmap.sh/backend',
'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYXdXT2l-Gg&list=PL-osiE80TeTskrapNbzXhwoFUiLCjGgY7']
foxpath = 'C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox/Firefox.exe %s'
link = webbrowser.get(foxpath).open(random.choice(urls))
steam = subprocess.call(['C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe'])
Why does this happen?
I eventually want to run the program from a function call, like below.
def wildcard():
print(random.choice(link, steam))
wildcard()

No, there is nothing special about print. print is just a function that takes in some value and displays it to the user.
If you had instead steam = 3 * 4, would you be surprised to learn that the value 12 is computed, and steam becomes a name for that value, even if you don't do anything with it? It's the same thing here - calling subprocess.call causes the program to launch, and it has nothing to do with the name steam, nor anything that you do or don't do with that name subsequently.
If you were to add the print(steam) line that you have in mind, what it would display (after you close steam and control returns to your program) is the "return code" of that program - this gets into the details of how your operating system works, but most likely it would be something like 0.
If you want something that you can later call in order to launch Steam - well, that's a function. Like you already know how to do:
def steam():
subprocess.call(['C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe'])

As soon as you issue webbrowser.get or subprocess.call, they execute. Your variables are really storing the return values of those functions, not aliases to those function calls.
If you want to alias the function calls as it appears you are intending, you could do something like this:
def open_link():
return webbrowser.get(foxpath).open(random.choice(urls))
def open_steam():
return subprocess.call(['C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe'])
Then your top level would be:
def wildcard():
random.choice([link, steam])()
wildcard()
Note the syntax difference for choosing the functions randomly. See this answer for more clarification.

You do invoke something:
steam = subprocess.call(['C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe'])
The documentation for subprocess.call is clear on what the call method does: it invokes the given argument as a subprocess.

The problem is that your code isn't inside a function, so, when you execute it, it runs all the diretives including
steam = subprocess.call(['C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe'])
Which calls C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe, opening your steam app.
Hope it helps.

Thank you, I understand now. I actually just resolved the problem with the following
def wildcard():
for x in range(1):
rand = random.randint(1, 10)
if rand > 5:
link = webbrowser.get(foxpath).open(random.choice(urls))
else:
subprocess.call(['C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steam.exe'])
wildcard()

using mkdir and touch sub-processes sequentially doesn't work

I have an error that I keep encountering repeatedly, sadly without being able to find solution to at the site.
try:
#create working dir if it doens't exist already
if not os.path.isdir(WORKINGDIR):
print '>>>mdkir ',WORKINGDIR
subprocess.Popen(['mkdir',WORKINGDIR]).wait()
print os.path.isdir(WORKINGDIR)
#create output csv file
outputCSVFile = WORKINGDIR+ '/'+'results.csv'
if not os.path.isfile(outputCSVFile):
print '>>> touch',outputCSVFile
subprocess.check_output(['touch',outputCSVFile])
Although the line: print os.path.isdir(WORKINGDIR) always prints True, subprocess returns this error:
touch: cannot touch
`/nfs/iil/proj/mpgarch/archive_06/CommandsProfiling/fastScriptsOutput190916/results.csv':
No such file or directory
The same error doesn't appear when I use subprocess.checkoutput instead of subprocess.Popen().wait().
I know that this issue can be solved in many ways (such as using os methods to creates directories and files), but I am interested on why my way isn't working.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: as some suggested, the problem probably lies with the fact that the program continues too fast after the subprocess.Popen, and hence the issue is solved using subprocess.checkoutput which is probably slower (since it has to wait for output). But still - I don't understand exactly what is happening, since os.path.istdir shows that the dir was created, before continuing to the line that performs touch

I suppose you have file permission problems.
In your path it appears that you are using NFS. Did you already try it on the local file system?
Anyway, you should avoid to use sub processes for simple file operations.
To create a directory:
if not os.path.exists(WORKINGDIR):
os.makedirs(WORKINGDIR)
For touch:
import os
def touch(fname, times=None):
with open(fname, 'a'):
os.utime(fname, times)
touch(WORKINGDIR+ '/'+'results.csv')

Running a bash file with Python

I've got a bash file that I normally execute using Cygwin.
I need to run this file from my Python code.
I tried this:
for bashfile in files:
p = Popen(bashfile, cwd=dname) #dname is the current directory of the script
stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
I've also seen a similar question here, but when trying to run it that way it says that it can't find the directory of my bash file...
Any ideas? Thanks! :-)
Edit: bashfile has a full path.

Do you need its output to get it directly to Python? If not this may be very fast and easy solution:
os.system("""here some code you use to execute in Terminal""")

You can also try this, though it does (and will no matter what you try) matter where the directory is. This, as far as the output goes, may be a little bit cleaner than the os method.
import commands
cmd="bash ./script.sh"
commands.getoutput(cmd)
If the case is that you need to change the directory:
cmd = "/path/to/your/script/script.sh"
The added benefit of using this method, versus say, os is that you can assign the output to a variable...
fun_times = commands.getoutput("bash ./script.sh")
whereas...
not_fun_times = os.system("./script.sh")
will throw an error.
etc, etc.

How do I execute all the code inside a python file?

How do I execute all the code inside a python file so I can use def's in my current code? I have about 100 scripts that were all written like the script below.
For a simple example, I have a python file called:
D:/bt_test.py
His code looks like this:
def bt_test():
test = 2;
test += addFive(test)
return(test)
def addFive(test):
return(test+5)
Now, I want to from a completely new file, run bt_test()
I've tried doing this:
def openPyFile(script):
execfile(script)
openPyFile('D:/bt_test.py')
bt_test()
But this doesn't work.
I've tried doing this as well:
sys.path.append('D:/')
def openPyFile(script):
name = script.split('/')[-1].split('.')[0]
command = 'from ' + name + ' import *'
exec command
openPyFile('D:/bt_test.py')
bt_test()
Does anyone know why this isn't working?
Here's a link to a quicktime video that will help explain what's happening.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1612489/pythonHelp.mp4

You should put those files somewhere on your Python path, and then import them. That's what the import statement is for. BTW: the same directory as your main program is on the Python path, that could be a good place to put them.
# Find and execute bt_test.py, and make a module object of it.
import bt_test
# Use the bt_test function in the bt_test module.
bt_test.bt_test()

The reason that execfile doesn't work is because the functions inside bt_test are limited by the scope of the openPyFile function. One simple test would be to try to run bt_test() from inside openPyFile. Since openPyFile doesn't really do anything other than execfile you could get rid of it altogether, or you could alias execfile
openPyFile=execfile
Note putting the file in your python path and importing it is definitely your best bet -- I only post this answer here to hopefully point out why you're not seeing what you want to see.

In addition to Ned's answer, __import__() might be useful if you don't want the file names hardcoded.
http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#__import__
Update based on the video.
I don't have access to Maya, but i can try and speculate.
cmds.button(l='print', c='bt_press()') is where the issue seems to lurk. bt_press() is passed as a string object, and whatever way the interpreter uses to resolve that identifier doesn't look in the right namespace.
1) Try passing bt_press() with the module prepended: cmds.button(l='print', c='bt_test.bt_press()')
2) See if you can bind c directly to the function object: cmds.button(l='print', c=bt_press)
Good luck.

>>> from bt_test import bt_test
>>> bt_test()