How do I make a python script executable?

Question

How can I run a python script with my own command line name like myscript without having to do python myscript.py in the terminal?

Asked By: ctrlz

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Source

Answer 1

Add a shebang line to the top of the script:

#!/usr/bin/env python
Mark the script as executable:

chmod +x myscript.py
Add the dir containing it to your PATH variable. (If you want it to stick, you’ll have to do this in .bashrc or .bash_profile in your home dir.)

export PATH=/path/to/script:$PATH

Answered By: tzaman

Answer 2

I usually do in the script:

#!/usr/bin/python
... code ...

And in terminal:

$: chmod 755 yourfile.py
$: ./yourfile.py

permission table

Answered By: dAn

Answer 3

The best way, which is cross-platform, is to create setup.py, define an entry point in it and install with pip.

Say you have the following contents of myscript.py:

def run():
    print('Hello world')

Then you add setup.py with the following:

from setuptools import setup
setup(
    name='myscript',
    version='0.0.1',
    entry_points={
        'console_scripts': [
            'myscript=myscript:run'
        ]
    }
)

Entry point format is terminal_command_name=python_script_name:main_method_name

Finally install with the following command.

pip install -e /path/to/script/folder

-e stands for editable, meaning you’ll be able to work on the script and invoke the latest version without need to reinstall

After that you can run myscript from any directory.

Answered By: merrydeath

Answer 4

Another related solution which some people may be interested in. One can also directly embed the contents of myscript.py into your .bashrc file on Linux (should also work for MacOS I think)

For example, I have the following function defined in my .bashrc for dumping Python pickles to the terminal, note that the ${1} is the first argument following the function name:

depickle() {
python << EOPYTHON
import pickle
f = open('${1}', 'rb')
while True:
   try:
      print(pickle.load(f))
   except EOFError:
      break
EOPYTHON
}

With this in place (and after reloading .bashrc), I can now run depickle a.pickle from any terminal or directory on my computer.

Answered By: mallwright

Answer 5

The simplest way that comes to my mind is to use "pyinstaller".

create an environment that contains all the lib you have used in your code.
activate the environment and in the command window write pip install pyinstaller
Use the command window to open the main directory that codes maincode.py is located.
remember to keep the environment active and write pyinstaller maincode.py
Check the folder named "build" and you will find the executable file.

I hope that this solution helps you.
GL

Answered By: Ali Taheri

Answer 6

I’ve struggled for a few days with the problem of not finding the command py -3 or any other related to pylauncher command if script was running by service created using Nssm tool.
But same commands worked when run directly from cmd.
What was the solution? Just to re-run Python installer and at the very end click the option to disable path length limit.
I’ll just leave it here, so that anyone can use this answer and find it helpful.

Answered By: Jagoda Gorus

How do I make a python script executable?

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