When running an interactive session, PyCharm thinks of os.getcwd() as my project's directory. However, when I run my script from the command line, PyCharm thinks of os.getcwd() as the directory of the script.
Is there a good workaround for this? Here is what I tried and did not like:
going to Run/Edit Configurations and changing the working directory manually. I did not like this solution, because I will have to do it for every script that I run.
having one line in my code that "fixes" the path for the purposes of interactive sessions and commenting it out before running from command line. This works, but feels wrong.
Is there a way to do this or is it just the way it is supposed to be? Maybe I shouldn't be trying to run random scripts within my project?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Clarification:
By "interactive session" I mean being able to run each line individually in a Python/IPython Console
By "running from command line" I mean creating a script my_script.py and running python path_to_myscript/my_script.py (I actually press the Run button at PyCharm, but I think it's the same).
Other facts that might prove worth mentioning:
I have created a PyCharm project. This contains (among other things) the package Graphs, which contains the module Graph and some .txt files. When I do something within my Graph module (e.g. read a graph from a file), I like to test that things worked as expected. I do this by running a selection of lines (interactively). To read a .txt file, I have to go (using os.path.join()) from the current working directory (the project directory, ...\\project_name) to the module's directory ...\\project_name\\Graphs, where the file is located. However, when I run the whole script via the command line, the command reading the .txt file raises an Error, complaining that no file was found. By looking on the name of the file that was not found, I see that the full file name is something like this:
...\\project_name\\Graphs\\Graphs\\graph1.txt
It seems that this time the current working directory is ...\\project_name\\Graphs\\, and my os.path.join() command actually spoils it.
I user various methods in my python scripts.
set the working directory as first step of your code using os.chdir(some_existing_path)
This would mean all your other paths should be referenced to this, as you hard set the path. You just need to make sure it works from any location and your specifically in your IDE. Obviously, another os.chdir() would change the working directory and os.getcwd() would return the new working directory
set the working directory to __file__ by using os.chdir(os.path.dirname(__file__))
This is actually what I use most, as it is quite reliable, and then I reference all further paths or file operations to this. Or you can simply refer to as os.path.dirname(__file__) in your code without actually changing the working directory
get the working directory using os.getcwd()
And reference all path and file operations to this, knowing it will change based on how the script is launched. Note: do NOT assume that this returns the location of your script, it returns the working directory of the shell !!
[EDIT based on new information]
By "interactive session" I mean being able to run each line
individually in a Python/IPython Console
By running interactively line-by-line in a Python console, the __file__ is not defined, afterall: you are not executing a file. Hence you cannot use os.path.dirname(__file__) you will have to use something like os.chdir(some_known_existing_dir) to reference a path. As a programmer you need to be very aware of working directory and changes to this, your code should reflect that.
By "running from command line" I mean creating a script my_script.py
and running python path_to_myscript/my_script.py (I actually press the
Run button at PyCharm, but I think it's the same).
This, both executing a .py from command line as well as running in your IDE, will populate the __file__, hence you can use os.path.dirname(__file__)
HTH
I am purposely adding another answer to this post, in regards the following:
Other facts that might prove worth mentioning:
I have created a PyCharm project. This contains (among other things)
the package Graphs, which contains the module Graph and some .txt
files. When I do something within my Graph module (e.g. read a graph
from a file), I like to test that things worked as expected. I do this
by running a selection of lines (interactively). To read a .txt file,
I have to go (using os.path.join()) from the current working directory
(the project directory, ...\project_name) to the module's directory
...\project_name\Graphs, where the file is located. However, when I
run the whole script via the command line, the command reading the
.txt file raises an Error, complaining that no file was found. By
looking on the name of the file that was not found, I see that the
full file name is something like this:
...\project_name\Graphs\Graphs\graph1.txt It seems that this time
the current working directory is ...\project_name\Graphs\, and my
os.path.join() command actually spoils it.
I strongly believe that if a python script takes input from any file, that the author of the script needs to cater for this in the script.
What I mean is you as the author need to make sure you know the following regardless of how your script is executed:
What is the working directory
What is the script directory
These two you have no control over when you hand off your script to others, or run it on other peoples machines. The working directory is dependent on how the script is launched. It seems that you run on Windows, so here is an example:
C:\> c:\python\python your_script.py
The working directory is now C:\ if your_script.py is in C:\
C:\some_dir\another_dir\> c:\python\python.exe c:\your_script_dir\your_script.py
The working directory is now C:\some_dir\another_dir
And the above example may even give different results if the SYSTEM PATH variable is set to the path of the location of your_script.py
You need to ensure that your script works even if the user(s) of your script are placing this in various locations on their machines. Some people (and I don't know why) tend to put everything on the Desktop. You need to ensure your script can cope with this, including any spaces in the path name.
Furthermore, if your script is taking input from a file, the you as the author need to ensure that you can cope with changes in working directory, and changes of script directory. There are a few things you may consider:
Have your script input from a known (static) directory, something like C:\python_input\
Have your script input from a known (configurable) directory, use ConfigParser, you can search here on stackoverflow on many posts
Have your script input from a known directory related to the location of the script (using os.path.dirname(__file__))
any other method you may employ to ensure your script can get to the input
Ultimately this is all in your control, and you need to code to ensure it is working.
HTH,
Edwin.
Related
I have a directory with multiple files. There is one main file and other ones in subdirectories (including in a virtual environment directory) all of which I want to open with one click in the same instance of PyCharm. Is there a way to do this? Is there a native PyCharm way? Is there a way to do it using a Bash script. For the latter I have managed using pycharm.sh (see Open files from the command line). However, the different files are opened in different PyCharm instances which is not what I want.
I just tried this on Windows running from CMD. Simply listing the paths to the files separated by a space opens them in a single editor instance. (Although the documentation doesn't clearly mention this possibility, suggesting only 1 single file/project as argument).
For example executing the following:
pycharm64.exe C:\test_file1.txt C:\test_file2.txt
Opens like this:
This means PyCharm does accept a list of individual files as command line arguments to open them in a single instance.
all of which I want to open with one click in the same instance of PyCharm.
If the above example works on your shell you should be able to create a shell script that can be clicked.
However, the different files are opened in different PyCharm instances which is not what I want.
I don't know if depending on the shell any special rule applies that might cause each file to be opened in a different PyCharm instance/window, but if that's the case there's also likely to be a shell specific syntax rule to launch a single instance of the application passing multiple arguments.
Is there a native PyCharm way?
It seems PyCharm is naturally geared to working with projects. Looking closely at some functionalities like open/close/search in the PyCharm IDE their logic is entirely "project oriented" not like the usual concept of opening a set of unrelated files as in some other editors. (This is actually really smart, it doesn't clutter the UI with marginal functionalities and it forces users to set up a project - see this thread for a similar example about using search with individual unrelated files in PyCharm).
If you look at the screenshot, it's noteworthy that only 1 file is listed in the Project Tool Window although several files are opened in the editor.
I just started learning Python last week to automate some stuff I do (thanks to automatetheboringstuff.com). Assume I know nothing about programming. The only thing I know is HTML and CSS.
I created a simple automation workflow already and I want to improve not the code (maybe in the future because it's not yet finished) but how I can maintain my setup/program on two laptops -- Both Mac OS running on High Sierra.
I have a .py file that contains my automated workflow. I don't know where to place it. It currently resides in my Dropbox so i can use it on laptop1 and laptop2.
I also created a virtualenv for each machine and did the requirements.txt thing as well (just to prep for the future). The directory is on both username/python/project_name.
I read in some posts that these files and other resources can exist anywhere whether inside each virtualenv or not. And that it's just a preference. I also read that the virtualenv itself isn't recommended to be placed inside apps like Dropbox (that's why i separated it on each laptop).
I switch between both laptops frequently. The environment which contains the packages doesn't really concern me that much when switching. It's the other files that is bothering me. For example, there's an image I need, this has to be available on both laptops so my solution to this is to have a Resources folder inside Dropbox as well. It currently looks like this:
Dropbox
Projects
Project 1 files (images, etc.)
Project 2 files (images, etc.)
Workflows (this would contain my completed .py files)
I read some stuff about the virtualenvwrapper, but haven't looked at it yet. Maybe in the future when i do have more projects to manage. Because right now, it's just this one.
Lastly, I noticed that every time i open up Terminal and activate my virtualenv, the file directory is in Users/username
How can i set it to default to Dropbox/Projects/project_name? I always have to set it using the chdir(). That way, when i do have multiple projects (and virtualenv) i don't have to worry about where the files load/ save.
Finally, how do I run the .py script? If i open the IDLE, open the .py file there, and use f5, it runs properly. But as far as I know, that doesn't look into the virtualenv i setup. Is that correct?
I tried right-clicking, then Open With > Python Launcher the .py file. and i'm getting an error saying there are no modules found. It seems it's not loading the right virtualenv. So there must be something wrong with the file i made.
Then I read about the #! you place at the beginning of the .py files but i don't understand it. Can someone explain that further? Is that why my file isn't loading properly?
Thanks for helping out!
You can run .py scripts from the command line using:
python test.py
That tells terminal to run test.py in the python interpreter and send the output to your terminal, just like when you run it in the IDLE. If your .py script is not in your current directory and you don't want to change directories, you can access it using it's absolute path:
python /Users/username/Dropbox/Workflows/test.py
As long as you have already activated your virtualenv, it should run your script using only the libraries you have added to your virtualenv. Also, once your virtualenv is activated, you can move around directories using "cd" and it will bring your virtualenv with you.
I created a Python project in Pycharm which contains multiple Python files. As of just now, I need to create a run configuration for each Python file in my project, even though they're all the exact same - with the exception of the script.
This seems unnecessary and laborious and I would love to just use one run configuration for multiple Python files.
That said, I'm a novice Python programmer just getting started and so still unfamiliar with large parts of the language.
My Project Files:
My Run Configuration - Used for all Python files:
Some Research Carried Out
I've searched for a solution and explanation to this, but have been unable to find anything. Some of the places I've tried:
JetBrainsTV on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLfd9LOdu_U)
JetBrains Website (https://www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/run-debug-configuration-python.html)
Stack Overflow
I hope there is sufficient detail here, if not I'd be happy to elaborate.
If those files are independent and you have nothing specific to them, then I see two simple ways of running them:
You don't have to manually create a run configuration for every file. You can just Right-Click on the file in the project tree and click "Run "
You can use the Terminal and run them files using the python interpreter as needed.
I was facing a similar situation when I started competitive programming. In my case I wanted to redirect my Test Cases from an input.txt file rather than manually typing the test cases for every run of my code. Using the above solution was not feasible, as I would need to manually change the Script Path and Redirect Input path in the Run Configuration window for every script I was running.
So what I wanted was, one run configuration, that would run all the scripts with Redirect Input path being set to input.txt.
To do that,
I created a main.py file with the following content:
import sys
if __name__ == '__main__':
fname = sys.argv[1]
exec(open(fname).read())
This main.py file is going to run my other python scripts.
Created this run configuration for the main.py file.
Now, every time I needed to run any code, with the code window open, ran this configuration, which actually executed main.py with current file name passed as its argument, which would then also take the inputs redirected from input.txt.
Hope this helps you or anyone trying to run multiple python scripts with a single run configuration in PyCharm.
I am writing a program that handles some data on a server. Throughout the program, many files are made and sent as input into other programs. To do this, I usually make the command string, then run it like so:
cmd = "prog input_file1 input_file2 > outputfile"
os.system(cmd)
When I run the command, however, the programs being called report that they cannot open the files. If I run the python code on my local computer, it is fine. When I loaded it onto the server, it started to fail. I think this is related to issues with permissions, but am not sure how I can fix this. Many of the files, particularly the output files, are being created at run time. The input files have full permissions for all users. Any help or advice would be appreciated!
Cheers!
The python code you list is simple and correct, so the problem is likely not in the two lines of your example. Here are some related areas for you to check out.
Permissions
The user running the python script must have the appropriate permission (read, write, execute). I see from comments that you've already checked this.
What command are you running
If the command is literally typed into your source code like in the example, then you know what command is being run, but if you are generating any part of it (eg. the list of operands, the name of the output file, other parameters, etc), make sure there are no bugs in the portions of your code that generate the command. For example before the call to os.system(cmd) consider including a line like print("About to execute: " + cmd) so you can see exactly what will be run.
Directly invoke the command
If all the above looks good, try to execute the command directly at a terminal on your server. What output do you get then. It's possible that the problem is with the underlying command itself rather than your python code.
I am trying to run my Expect script from two different locations and it will work with the following Expect executables referenced:
My linux home directory (#!/usr/bin/expect)
A clearcase view on another server (#!/clearlib/vobs/otherdir/bin/expect)
The problem is that I cannot run the script in both places unless I change the reference of the Expect executable location to the first line of the file.
How can I get the correct instance of the Expect executable for the corresponding directory?
If your path is correctly set on both servers, you could use /usr/bin/env:
#!/usr/bin/env expect
That would use the expect as found in the PATH (/usr/bin in one case, /clearlib/vobs/otherdir/bin in the other)
By instead using env as in the example, the interpreter is searched for and located at the time the script is run.
This makes the script more portable, but also increases the risk that the wrong interpreter is selected because it searches for a match in every directory on the executable search path.
It also suffers from the same problem in that the path to the env binary may also be different on a per-machine basis.
And if you have issue with setting the right PATH, then "/usr/bin/env questions regarding shebang line pecularities" can help.