https://DevOpsCloud.io -- Cloud Monk Losang Jinpa

Python Command-Line Program Specification

Code to be run and command-line arguments to send to it are specified in the following ways in Python command lines:

scriptfile

Denotes the name of a Python script file to run as the main, topmost file of a program (e.g., python main.py runs the code in main.py). The script’s name may be an absolute or relative (to “.”) filename path, and is made available in sys.argv[0]. On some platforms, command lines may also omit the python component if they begin with a script file name and have no options for Python itself.

-c command

Specifies Python code (as a string) to run (e.g., python -c “print('spam' * 8)” runs a Python print operation). sys.argv[0] is set to '-c'.

-m module

Runs a module as a script: searches for module on sys.path and runs it as a top-level file (e.g., python -m pdb s.py runs the Python debugger module pdb located in a standard library directory, with argument s.py). module may also name a package (e.g., idlelib.idle). sys.argv[0] is set to the module’s full path name.

−

Reads Python commands from the standard input stream, stdin (the default); enters interactive mode if stdin is a “tty” (interactive device). sys.argv[0] is set to '−'.

arg*

Indicates that anything else on the command line is passed to the script file or command, and appears in the built-in list of strings sys.argv[1:].

If no scriptfile, command, or module is given, Python enters interactive mode, reading commands from stdin (and using GNU readline for input, if installed), and setting sys.argv[0] to (the empty string) unless invoked with option – in the preceding list.