Python Tutorial – How to Execute Python Script in Windows

May 30, 2012, by admin

On Windows 2000, the standard Python installer already connects the .py extension with a file type (Python.File) and gives that file type an open command that runs the interpreter (D:Program FilesPythonpython.exe “%1” %*). This is enough to make scripts executable from the command prompt as ‘foo.py’. 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.

On Windows NT, the steps taken by the installer as described above allow you to run a script with ‘foo.py’, but a longtime bug in the NT command processor prevents you from redirecting the input or output of any script executed in this way. This is often important.

The incantation for making a Python script executable under WinNT is to give the file an extension of .cmd and add the following as the first line: