running python from cmd.exe

[John Machin]

On Jul 5, 7:38 am, Dominic Rice <dominic.r... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Chris Hulan wrote:
> > On Jul 4, 5:38 am, Dominic Rice <dominic.r... at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Dominic Rice wrote:
> >>> Miki wrote:
> >>>> Hello,
> >>>>> I can't seem to get python to run my scripts using the command: python
> >>>>> <userscript>.py
> >>>>> If I type python the interpreter runs as I sorted out the Path property,
> >>>>> I'm afraid I don't know much about this kind of thing as I'm a science
> >>>>> student who needs some Python not a programmer!
> >>>> Can you be more specific about the error you get?
> >>>> Say you have a script hw.py that contains one line:
> >>>> print "Hello Python"
> >>>> and you run
> >>>> python hw.py
> >>>> What is the error you get?
> >>>> HTH,
> >>>> --
> >>>> Miki <miki.teb... at gmail.com>
> >>>>http://pythonwise.blogspot.com
> >>> Sure, I get:
> >>> can't open file <userscript>.py: [errorno 2]No such file or directory.
> >>> Now if I've noticed that if I change directory to (for instance)
> >>> \Python25 where the script is the command runs fine.(?)
> >> Oh I just noticed you specified hw.py, in that case just to clarify it
> >> would be can't open file hw.py: [errorno 2]No such file or directory
>
> > When you run a script, are you in the directory where the script is
> > located?
>
> when it works yes! Does it have to be the case then? I assumed that
> there was a default folder (eg \Python25) that the python command would
> look for the file in, I take it this is not the case then?

The default folder *is* the "current" folder, i.e. "the directory that
you are in". If you want to run a script in another folder, you
specify the path to that script. This is usual in Windows command-line
operation, not special to Python.

By the way, storing your own files in the same folder structure as a
software package (e.g. \Python25) is not a good idea. Keep them
somewhere else e.g. a separate folder for each significantly different
project, a folder for commonly useful stuff, and a junk folder for
mucking about trying things out. Then when e.g. you upgrade to Python
2.6 the possibility of drama is reduced.

HTH,
John