[Tutor] Is an executable available?

[Danny Yoo]

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005, Kent Johnson wrote:

> > I am working from within python and want to know the best way to know
> > if a certain package is installed for use on my machine.
> >
> > I want to know from within python that a specific executable file is
> > on my path where I could actually run the command from a prompt in a
> > system shell.
>
> Look at the function _iscommand() in the webbrowser module, I think it
> does exactly what you want - it searches the PATH for the file you give
> it, e.g.
>
>   >>> webbrowser._iscommand('python.exe')

Hi Kent,


Awesome; I didn't know about that functionality there!

But since it's marked with an underscore, it's a helper function for
webbrowser that isn't meant for public consumption.  Stewart may want to
do a copy-and-paste of the _iscommand() source code into one of his
personal library files, just to make sure the rug isn't yanked out
underneath his feet if _iscommand()'s behavior changes in the future.

That function seems really useful; I'm double checking with folks on
comp.lang.python to explore if webbrowser._iscommand() can be migrated
into os.path.