We Keep Coding

How to run a .py file from a .py file in an entirely different project

For the life of me i can't figure this one out.
I have 2 applications build in python, so 2 projects in different folders, is there a command to say in the first application like run file2 from documents/project2/test2.py ?
i tried something like os.system('') and exec() but that only seems to work if its in the same folder. How can i give a command a path like documents/project2 and then for example:
exec(documents/project2 python test2.py) ?
short version:
Is there a command that runs python test2.py while that test2 is in a completely different file/project?
thnx for all feedback!

There's a number of approaches to take.
1 - Import the .py
If the path to the other Python script can be made relative to your project, you can simply import the .py. This will cause all the code at the 'root' level of the script to be executed and makes functions as well as type and variable definitions available to the script importing it.
Of course, this only works if you control how and where everything is installed. It's the most preferable solution, but only works in limited situations.
import ..other_package.myscript
2 - Evaluate the code
You can load the contents of the Python file like any other text file and execute the contents. This is considered more of a security risk, but given the interpreted nature of Python in normal use not that much worse than an import under normal circumstances.
Here's how:
with open('/path/to/myscript.py', 'r') as f:
exec(f.read())
Note that, if you need to pass values to code inside the script, or out of it, you probably want to use files in this case.
I'd consider this the least preferable solution, due to it being a bit inflexible and not very secure, but it's definitely very easy to set up.
3 - Call it like any other external program
From a Python script, you can call any other executable, that includes Python itself with another script.
Here's how:
from subprocess import run
run('python path/to/myscript.py')
This is generally the preferable way to go about it. You can use the command line to interface with the script, and capture the output.
You can also pipe in text with stdin= or capture the output from the script with stdout=, using subprocess.Popen directly.
For example, take this script, called quote.py
import sys
text = sys.stdin.read()
print(f'In the words of the poet:\n"{text}"')
This takes any text from standard in and prints them with some extra text, to standard out like any Python script. You could call it like this:
dir | python quote.py
To use it from another Python script:
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
s_in = b'something to say\nright here\non three lines'
p = Popen(['python', 'quote.py'], stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE)
s_out, _ = p.communicate(s_in)
print('Here is what the script produced:\n\n', s_out.decode())

Try this:
exec(open("FilePath").read())
It should work if you got the file path correct.
Mac example:
exec(open("/Users/saudalfaris/Desktop/Test.py").read())
Windows example:
exec(open("C:\Projects\Python\Test.py").read())

Import results of a c++-Programm to python

I'm currently dealing with some python based squish gui tests. Some of these tests call another tool, written in c++ and build as an executable. I have full access to that tool and I'm able to modify it. The tests call it via command line and currently evaluate the error code and create a passed or failed depending on the error codes value.
I think there is a better way to do it or? One Problem is, that the error code is limited to uint8 on unix systems and I would like to be able to share more than just an error code with my python script.
My first idea was printing everything in a file in json or xml and read that file. But this somehow sounds wrong for me. Has anybody a better idea?

When I first read the question, I immediately thought piping the output would work. Check this link out to get a better idea:
Linux Questions Piping
If this doesn't work, I do think writing your output to a file and reading it with your python script would get the job done.

You can capture the output of the external process via Python and process it as you see fit.
Here is a very simple variant:
import os
import subprocess
def main():
s = os_capture(["ls"])
if "ERROR" in s:
test.fail("Executing 'ls' failed.")
def os_capture(args, cwd=None):
if cwd is None:
cwd = os.getcwd()
stdout = subprocess.Popen(
args=args,
cwd=cwd,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.STDOUT).communicate()[0]
return stdout

Using subprocess in Python, I get different results when in Python cmd and Python IDLE

I hope the title makes sense. To give specifics:
I am using csvtotable (https://github.com/vividvilla/csvtotable) to generate HTML tables from CSVs. I have installed via pip and am able to run a command line command:
csvtotable test1743.csv test1743.html
to generate a HTML page. All good so far.
I wanted to do this from within a Python script I had already written so I heard that subprocess was the way to do this. I looked up how to do it and understood that it can be done using the following:
subprocess.run('csvtotable test1743.csv test1743.html',shell=True)
So I tested this via the command line first by doing
python
from the command line and then running
import subprocess
subprocess.run('csvtotable test1743.csv test1743.html',shell=True)
Success! It worked. Fantastic.
However, when I try to do this from IDLE, it just returns a 1. I have checked the directory thinking that maybe the csv was missing from there, but it still doesn't work.
Am I misunderstanding how subprocess works?

Solved by finding a way to call the function without subprocess. I think the issue may have related to default arguments not being set when it is executed through python and hence why below I have had to specify so many arguments.
Code:
from csvtotable import convert
content = convert.convert("C:\\Users\\admin\\Google Drive\\test1743.csv",delimiter=",",quotechar='"',display_length=-1,overwrite=False,serve=False,pagination=True,virtual_scroll=1000, no_header=False, export=True, export_options=["copy","csv","json","print"])
convert.save("C:\\Users\\admin\\Google Drive\\test1743.html",content)
Note that the argument names had to be changed where they had a - in the name. I just changed any instance e.g. display-length to display_length in convert.py

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')

Python - Using subprocess to Pipe R Script, resultant Winerror 2

I'm trying to run an R Script through Python using subprocess but unfortunately, I'm continually getting the following error:
WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified
This is extremely frustrating as I've checked the path over everything multiple times (done it without C:/, moved to different directories, changed the R script I'm trying to run, etc). I've also checked the CompSec Environment Variable, and it is also correct (through Windows Systems, although I never checked it directly in my IDE, Spyder). I've tried doing it in Python 2.7 and Python 3.5, and neither version works.
The code goes as follows:
import subprocess
def sort_ByInputColumn(inputPath, inputFileTermination, sortColumn, outputPath, outputFileTermination):
scriptPath = "C:/Users/Kyle/Documents/Rscript_SortByInputColumn.R"
subprocess.call(["Rscript", scriptPath, inputPath, inputFileTermination, sortColumn, outputPath, outputFileTermination])
fileName = 'Alabama'
outputPath = "C:/Users/Kyle/Documents/HillData/Data/Output/Module2/"
sortColumn = str(16)
inputTermination = fileName + 'Module2NN_WorkCounty_Work.csv'
outputFileTermination = fileName + 'Module2NN_SortedWorkCounty.csv'
sort_ByInputColumn(outputPath, inputTermination, sortColumn, outputPath, outputFileTermination)
The fact that I get this error no matter what code I try to run (even blatantly copy-pasting this tutorial to try and make it work) makes me feel like something deeper (or something extremely obvious) is going on that I'm not seeing.
Would appreciate any feedback on the matter.

To solve this most annoying and horrendous problem, I reinstalled R into a directory with no spaces and called Rscript with its full pathing (that is "C:/R/R-3.3.1/bin/Rscript.exe" from C:/Program Files/R/R-3.3.1/bin/Rscript.exe" because Program Files has a space and this kills subprocess because it's command line based, I guess). This time, it worked.
See this similar question for a hint as to where I got the inspiration for this.