running python from cmd.exe

[Dominic Rice]

John Machin wrote:
> 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

seems like very good advice, many thanks!