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Jonathon Watney
Asked: 2009-05-05 11:58:10 +0800 CST

Can I "register" python scripts to execute on Windows?

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I have Python 2.5 installed on Windows XP and a collection of scripts available in a certain directory. According to this article by Amanda Birmingham I can setup up a path for the Python executable and the one for where the scripts live. Which means I can do this:

c:\>python script.py

Is there a way I can perhaps register .py files so I can execute them like so:

c:\>script.py

without including a shebang or env line in the script.

Less typing equals good. :)

windows scripting python

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Yes :) That's actually FAQ #2:

    If you'd rather be able to execute the script by simple typing 'foo' with no extension you need to add .py to the PATHEXT environment variable.

    Edit: Of course, don't forget to add the Python install directory to the PATH, and to launch another instance of your command interpreter if you modify the systemwide or the user PATH and/or PATHEXT by means outside of that command interpreter.

    Further edit: In case I misunderstood your question: I'm assuming you're only interested in launching python scripts without having to type in the .py extension from the cmd.exe command line. PATHEXT is a mechanism specific to the cmd.exe shell and other shells (as well as CreateProcess() and friends) won't care about it in the least.

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  2. I had exactly the same issue with PHP.

    http://php.net/manual/en/install.windows.legacy.index.php#install.windows.legacy.commandline (Edit: Seems command line usage for PHP is now "legacy")

    One thing that I found was being able to use PHP scripts as filters ...

    DIR C:\ | scripts\script | more

    (for example - where scripts\script is a PHP script - NOTE : No PHP reference).

    The registry change is required for this. Works for all of those interpreter type languages on windows (PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby).

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  3. PATHEXT will allow you to leave off ".py", but that's not what you are asking, right?

    If you want to associate a file extension with an application on Windows, you can:

    1. Open an Explorer window.
    2. Choose "Folder options" from the Tools menu.
    3. Click the "File Types" tab.
    4. Click the "New" button (assuming that PY/PYC/PYW are not already there).
    5. Type in the extension (e.g. "py", "pyc" or "pyw") and click "OK"
    6. Click the "Change..." button.
    7. Choose "Select the program from a list"
    8. Find your Python interpreter (e.g. python.exe or pythonw.exe in C:\Python2X)
    9. Ok your way back out.

    These are instructions for XP. I presume that Vista and Win7 are basically the same, although you probably get to the list in some other way.

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