Trouble running program with Python27-Newbie - python

okay, im a new guy at all this, just randomly picked it up with my neighbor and we are both stuck at this. We have been following this tutorial(here) and have made it to 6.6 in the tutorial. I have searched the forums looking for a way to get passed my problem but all the of questions people have are too complex for me as of right now. I am running windows 8.1 on my laptop, i have python27. So here we go i put in,
>>> cd c:\\py
and i get
File "<stdin>", line 1
cd c:\\py
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
Then i searched around and found a thread saying to use os.chdir so i gave that a shot and got;
>>> os.chdir("c:\\py")
>>> os.getcwd()
'C:\\py'
>>>
So my guess is that it worked? so then i go ahead and try to run my program like it says to do, so i put in
python hello.py
and i get this in return
>>> python hello.py
File "<stdin>", line 1
python hello.py
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
I'm literally stuck, i have no clue what to do now. If someone can help me through this i will love you long time.
Thank you

First of all, Python shell differs from system shell (cmd.exe). You try to run python script.py in Python interpreter instead of cmd.exe.
Open cmd.exe and type in python script.py to solve this. It'll run fine if it doesn't contain any errors. cd c:\\ doesn't work due to the same reason.
First quit() or exit() the Python interpreter (type one of them right in it) then type the commands you want to execute (such as cd) into terminal.
If you want to run code.py in Python interpreter, you can os.chdir("...") to the directory where your script resides and type import code. That may not work if your script contains
if __name__=="__main__":
All in all, Python interpreter is for running Python code right in it and command prompt (terminal, cmd.exe) is for running other non-GUI programs and much more.

You are in the python interpreter which is an interactive shell. You can consider it "scratch paper" to test out or try different things.
To run your script :
quit()
in the command prompt run python.exe hello.py ( on windows.. on *nix just python)

Related

Trying to run Python program from command prompt

Path must be messed up and I can't fix it.
In the command prompt I am trying to open and run a python program that I made in IDLE. I am running Python 3.8.5. According to Automate the Boring Stuff, I should just be able to do:
py birthdays.py
But when I do that I get:
C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\python.exe: can't open file 'birtdays.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory
All of my scripts are located in: C:\Users\henri\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32.
The only thing that I could think of is that it is going one step too far and searching in python.exe instead of just Python38-32. But Ii'm not even sure it works like that.
I tried to add the exact path using:
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32
But when I do this and press enter nothing happens.
when I want to use CMD to run python scripts, I just use
cd\
to back the main root of drive C. then use
cd folderAddress
for several time until to reach the exact scrip containing folder. Finally, I type
python scriptName.py
In your command prompt type python.The output should be python 3.** (depending on your python version).
If you see the python version it's working fine. In command prompt navigate to the folder that you have your python file using cmd command. then type
python birtdays.py
Don't forget the space after python.

Can't run Python file via Command Prompt, File is not defined error

I am new to Python and currently doing a basic python course to learn. I have been running code all day via the Command Prompt and it has been working fine. For some reason though it has stopped working and python files I try to run are returning the following error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 1, in
NameError: name 'hello' is not defined
As per the screen shot and the numbers on it, I performed the following steps in an attempt to run the file:
change to the folder where file is saved
run 'dir' to list all files. I am trying to run 'hello.py'. This contains the code: print('hello simon!')
I can run the file by just typing hello.py into the command prompt, this works ok
I can also run with: python hello.py - this works ok
when I activate Python by typing Python --> Enter, this starts the interpreter ok. However if I then try to run by typing hello.py I get the error message.
This has worked ok all day, I have not changed anything on my PC (to the best of my knowledge!) but just started to get this error a few hours ago. I have looked all over the internet for solution but found nothing. I have uninstalled and re-installed Python, restarted etc... all to no avail.
I am running Python 3.6.5 on a Windows 7 64 bit PC.
It won't let me attach a picture so here is link to screenshot of Command Prompt and error: https://i.stack.imgur.com/BBUe5.jpg
I hope someone can help me with this please
Thankyou
You are not supposed to execute hello.py in the Python Interpreter. It won't work. When you type in python and hit Enter in your Command Prompt, Just type this,
>>> print('hello simon!')
And hit Enter, it would definitely work. Because the interpreter is supposed to execute a code line by line. So if you want to run a Python Script then do not execute it in the Interpreter.
The problem is that when you write python (alone), the command line calls python shell and the following commands are run inside the python shell and not in the command line anymore. Calling a script from the shell has a different format (look it up). You can enter exit() to exit the shell back to command line again
What you are trying to achieve is you are running Hello.py inside Python.
Not with Python.
You need to run Hello.py with Python. As python is interpreter over here.
>>>python
means you are going inside python shell
>>>print('hello simon!')
Is equivalent to your program.
You are running your Python Script as you should and it's working. If you added Python to your path you can run Script you only need to call the Script "hello.py". If you have more than one intepreter, or you didn't added it to your path then you can call it like this "C:\path\to\python\interpretet\pythonxxx.exe" "c:\path\to\python\script.py" you can enven pass arguments to it "C:\path\to\python\interpretet\pythonxxx.exe" "c:\path\to\python\script.py" --argument
When you type python in a shell, then interactive mode is activated. This is like a shell where you type commands and got interpreted right away, in the same way as cmd and powershell works, but for python. This way you can test snippets, or just do simple stuff overly complicated like this
import os
ls = os.listdir(os.path.abspath('c:/'))
def print_dir():
for file in ls:
print(file)
Wich in cmd would be dir c:\ or in powershell ls c:\. The point is that you can test libraries, explore objects, replace the shell or just have fun.

Running Python Programs from a Terminal

I am working on page 16, chapter 1, in the book "Python Crash Course" by Eric Matthes. I am trying to run my hello_world.py python program from my Windows terminal.
The directions say to:
Open a new terminal window and issue the following commands to run hello_world.py:
C:\> **cd Desktop\python_work**
C:\Desktop\python_work> **dir**
hello_world.py
C:\Desktop\python_work> **python hello_world.py**
Hello Python world!
python_work is my python work folder on my desktop. In my Windows terminal, I have tried entering the code with and without the unbolded C:\>. It has given me an error message: The system cannot find the path specified. I'm probably doing something wrong, but I don't know what's wrong.
Assuming your getting your error when you execute "python hello_world.py", Python might not be installed correctly. More likely is that you are not in the correct directory. Do the following commands:
cd "C:\Desktop\python_work"
python hello_world.py
If that does not work, I can only assume one of two things:
Either the folder or the .py file is not named what you think it is and you should rename whichever one, or python is not installed correctly and you should reinstall it.
use
cd C:\Desktop\python_work
to change your working directory and then type
hello_world.py
to launch your program or if that doesn't work try
python hello_world.py
alternatively (what I do), assuming the first option worked, you can create a .bat file with the following code.
#echo off
"%~dp0\hello_world.py" %*
pause
and then just put that bat file in the same folder as "hello_world.py" and when you run the bat file it will launch the script. :)

SyntaxError when running with Python 2

I have a Python script called "controlled_biomass_exp.py" that generates some data and plots it. Its over 100 lines long so I don't want to dump it all here.
I can run it from Ipython in the terminal once and it works fine. If I repeat the command to run the script again with:
In [3]: run controlled_biomass_exp.py
I get:
File "< ipython-input-3-3ec3d096e779>", line 1
run controlled_biomass_exp.py
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
(The carrot is pointing at the last letter of the filename, "p".)
I get the same problem if I run any other python script after running this one. If I quit Ipython in the terminal and restart it the problem "re-sets". I can run other scripts fine, until I run the broken one once. I haven't encountered a problem like this before. Any help directing me where to look for solutions much appreciated.
It appears that your script controlled_biomass_exp.py overwrites run in your current namespace.
This toy example will produce a similar problem:
# file: test.py
run = "hello world!"
print(run)
Calling run in IPython is just a shortcut for %run which is a built-in magic function. Once you overwrite run (e.g. as shown in my toy example) you cannot use the shortcut anymore.
However, %run controlled_biomass_exp.py should still work for you.

Run python source file from PowerShell

I'm trying to learn python but have some problem running source files from power shell. When I type 'python' it opens up and I can type python commands directly in the shell. I think this is called interactive mode. But when I try to run/execute a source file I get an error message: It sayys: Syntax error: invalid syntax.
I use 'python myfile.py' when I try to execute the script.
If I run the same file from IDLE it works just fine. Ana idea what I'm doing wrong?
Here is myfile.py. I'm running python 2.7
# filename: myfile.py
while True:
s = raw_input('Enter something: ')
if s == 'Quit':
break
print 'Lenght of the string is', len(s)
print 'Done'
You might have more than one version of Python installed and the version IDLE is using is newer. To see what version of python you have you can type >python -V at a command line. If that version looks appropriate then you might need the full path to the file as the second parameter. E.g >python C:\myfile.py.
If you installed Python correctly there is always a chance that just typing the name of the script will run it with python. E.g. >myfile.py
I always find that adding C:\Python27 to the %PATH% variable and .PY to the %PATHEXT% variable makes running scripts easier. In this case just >myfile should work.
Edit after Update:
Typing just >python with no parameters opens python in 'interactive mode' which is different from the batch or scripting mode that your script is intended for. If executed with arguments the first argument is taken as the file path and further arguments are passed to the script in the sys.argv list.
You will need to put the full path of the Python executable within the command line in order for it to work. You could check and ensure that your python exe is included in your Path among your system variables.
Disclaimer: I don't know PowerShell, but I do know cmd.exe.
I don't know why python myfile.py doesn't work, but assuming that PowerShell bears at least some similarity to cmd.exe, the following should probably work: myfile.py. That's right, just enter the name of the Python script and hit enter.
If you started by typing "python" in powershell you will need to get out of that script.
If you are in python type:
quit()
then type
python myfile.py
This should work if your python is installed correctly.
Try to type this in Powershell:
$env:path="$env:Path;C:\Python33
After this, command
python yourfile.py
should work.
This my sound silly, especially coming from a beginner.
Just save the file on your desktop. Open up powershell and drag the file directly into powershell and it opens. kind of tedious but it works

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