i wanted to make a python file that makes a copy of itself, then executes it and closes itself, then the copy makes another copy of itself and so on...
i am not asking for people to write my code and this could be taken as just a fun challenge, but i want to learn more about this stuff and help is appreciated.
i have already played around with it but can't wrap my mind around it,
I've already tried making a py file and just pasting a copy of the file itself in it two different ways i could think of but it would just go on forever.
#i use this piece of code to easily execute the py file using os
os.startfile("file.py")
#and to make new py file i just use open()
file = open("file.py","w")
file.write("""hello world
you can use 3 quote marks to write over multiple lines""")
i expect that when you run the program it makes a copy of itself, runs it, and closes itself, and the newly ran program loops over.
what actually happenes is that either I'm writing code forever or,
when i embed the code it pastes in the copy of itself into what it copies to the copy file,
it rightfully says it doesn't know what that code is because it's being written.
it's all really confusing and this is difficult to explain and I'm sorry
it's midnight atm and I'm tired.
I don't have enough rep to reply to #Prune:
os.startfile(file) only works on Windows, and is replaced by subprocess.call
shutil.copy2(src, dst) works on both Windows and Linux.
Try this solution as well:
import shutil
import subprocess
old_file = __file__
new_file = generate_unique_file_name()
shutil.copy2(old_file, new_file) # works for both Windows and Linux
subprocess.call('python {}'.format(new_file), shell=True)
You're close; you have things in the wrong order. Create the new file, then execute it.
import os
old_file = __file__
new_file = generate_unique_file_name()
os.system('cp ' + old_file + ' ' + new_file) #UNIX syntax; for Windows, use "copy"
os.startfile(new_file)
You'll have to choose & code your preferred method for creating a unique file name. You might want to use a time-stamp as part of the name.
You might also want to delete this file before you exit; otherwise, you'll eventually fill your disk with these files.
Related
I'm using a script from a third party I can't modify or show (let's call it original.py) which takes a file and produces some calculations. At the end it ouputs a result (using the print statment).
Since I have many files I decided to make a second script that gets all wanted files and runs them through the original.py
1st get list of all files to run
2nd run each file through the original.py
3rd obtain results from each file
I have the 1st and 2nd step. However, the end result only saves the calculations from the last file it read.
import sys
import original
import glob
import os
fn=str(sys.argv[1])
for filename in sys.argv[1:]:
print(filename)
ficheiros = [f for f in glob.glob(fn)]
for ficheiro in ficheiros:
original.file = bytes(ficheiro,'utf-8')
original.function()
To summarize:
Knowing I can't change the original script (which is made with a print statement) how can I obtain the results for each loop? Is there a better way than using a for loop?.
The first script can be invoked with python original.py
It requires the file to be changed manually inside the script in the original.file line.
This script outputs the result in the console and I redirect it with: python original.py > result.txt
At the moment when I try to run my script, it reads all the correct files in the folder but only returns the results for the last file.
#
(I tried to reformulate the question hopefully it's easier to understand)
#
The problem is due to a mistake in the ````ficheiros = [f for f in glob.glob(fn)]`````it's only reading one file, hence only outputting one result.
Thanks for the time.sleep() trick in the comments.
Solved:
I changed the initial part to:
fn=str(sys.argv[1])
ficheiros= []
for filename in sys.argv[1:]:
ficheiros.append(filename)
#print(filename)
and now it correctly reads all the files and it outputs all the results
Depending on your operating system there are different ways to take what is printed to the console and append it to a file.
For example on Linux, you could run this file that calls original.py for every file python yourfile.py >> outputfile.txt, which will then effectively save everything that is printed into outputfile.txt.
The syntax is similar for Windows.
I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but you could try one of these:
Either redirecting all output to a file for later use, by running the script like so: python secondscript.py > outfilename.txt
Or, and this might or might not work for you, redefining the print command to a function that outputs the result how you want, eg:
def print(x):
with open('outfile.txt','w') as f:
f.write('example: ' + x)
If you choose the second option, I recommend saving the old print function (oldprint = print) so you can restore and use the regular print later.
I don't know if I got exactly what you want. You have a first script named original.py which takes some arguments and returns things in the form of print statements and you would like to grab these prints statements in your scripts to do things?
If so, a solution could be the subprocess module:
Let's say that this is original.py:
print("Hi, I'm original.py")
print("print me!")
And this is main.py:
import subprocess
script_path = "original.py"
print("Executing ", script_path)
process = subprocess.Popen(["python3", script_path], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
for line in process.stdout:
print(line.decode("utf8"))
You can easily add more arguments in the Popen call like ["arg1", "arg2",] etc.
Output:
Executing original.py
Hi, I'm original.py
print me!
and you can grab the lines in the main.py to do what you want with them.
I hope that I can ask this in a clear way, im very much a beginner to python and forums in general so I apologise if i've got anything wrong from the start!
My issue is that I am currently trying to use os.system() to enable a program to run on every file within a directory (this is a directory of ASCII tables which I am crossing with a series of other tables to find matches.
import os
for filename in os.listdir('.'):
os.system('stilts tmatch2 ifmt1=ascii ifmt2=ascii in1=intern in2= %s matcher=2d values1='col1 col2' values2='col1 col2' params=5 out= %s-table.fits'%(filename,filename))
So what im hoping this would do is for every 'filename' it would operate this program known as stilts. Im guessing this gets interrupted/doesn't work because of the presence of apostrophes ' in the line of code itself, which must disrupt the syntax? (please correct me if I am wrong)
I then replaced the ' in os.system() with "" instead. This, however, stops me using the %s notation to refer to filenames throughout the code (at least I am pretty sure anyway).
import os
for filename in os.listdir('.'):
os.system("stilts tmatch2 ifmt1=ascii ifmt2=ascii in1=intern in2= %s matcher=2d values1='col1 col2' values2='col1 col2' params=5 out= %s-table.fits"%(filename,filename))
This now runs but obviously doesn't work, as it inteferes with the %s input.
Any ideas how I can go about fixing this? are there any alternative ways to refer to all of the other files given by 'filename' without using %s?
Thanks in advance and again, sorry for my inexperience with both coding and using this forum!
I am not familiar with os.system() but maybe if you try do some changes about the string you are sending to that method before it could behave differently.
You must know that in python you can "sum" strings so you can save your commands in a variable and add the filenames as in:
os.system(commands+filename+othercommands+filename)
other problem that could be working is that when using:
for file in os.listdir()
you may be recievin file types instead of the strings of their names. Try using a method such as filename.name to check if this is a different type of thing.
Sorry I cant test my answers for you but the computer I am using is too slow for me to try downloading python.
I'm making a troubleshooting program in which I need to take a python program which is stored in a text file, but I can't use the 'import' module. To clarify this, there would be a python program stored as a '.txt' file, and in the main program I would take this text file and be able to use it as a subprogram. I've tried doing this, but I have had no clue of how to go about it, especially since I do not have much experience of Python.
Below is roughly the program. I don't know how to format it either, but here goes:
phonechoice = input("What type of phone do you have?")
if 'iphone' in phonechoice:
#here I would load a text file which contains the program for the iphone
#which asks them what problem they have with their phone and gives a solution
I'm wondering how I can do this. I thought how I could do this and maybe I could 'copy and paste' the program, line by line, into a definition, which I could then use. Would this work, and if it doesn't then in what other way could I do it?
Rename the text file to a python file, i.e. change the extension to ".py". This does not change the fact that it is a text file, just like renaming a picture.jpg file to picture.txt does not change the fact that it's an image file.
If you have some wacky requirement to import a module saved in file with a .txt extension, you can not use an import statement. But it is still possible to import like this:
import imp
my_module = imp.load_source('my_module', 'example.txt')
I am a bit reluctant to answer a "homework" type question, but I will give you some pointers on what you need to do. If I have a text file with this in it:
def main():
print("Hello")
main()
I could execute the code with the exec function like this:
with open("filename.txt") as file: #filename should be the name of the file
data = file.read()
exec(data) #this executes the code
The output would be as expected:
Hello
Hopefully this will shed some light on your problem!
I have a python program that just needs to save one line of text (a path to a specific folder on the computer).
I've got it working to store it in a text file and read from it; however, I'd much prefer a solution where the python file is the only one.
And so, I ask: is there any way to save text in a python program even after its closed, without any new files being created?
EDIT: I'm using py2exe to make the program an .exe file afterwards: maybe the file could be stored in there, and so it's as though there is no text file?
You can save the file name in the Python script and modify it in the script itself, if you like. For example:
import re,sys
savefile = "widget.txt"
x = input("Save file name?:")
lines = list(open(sys.argv[0]))
out = open(sys.argv[0],"w")
for line in lines:
if re.match("^savefile",line):
line = 'savefile = "' + x + '"\n'
out.write(line)
This script reads itself into a list then opens itself again for writing and amends the line in which savefile is set. Each time the script is run, the change to the value of savefile will be persistent.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this sort of self-modifying code as good practice, but I think this may be what you're looking for.
Seems like what you want to do would better be solved using the Windows Registry - I am assuming that since you mentioned you'll be creating an exe from your script.
This following snippet tries to read a string from the registry and if it doesn't find it (such as when the program is started for the first time) it will create this string. No files, no mess... except that there will be a registry entry lying around. If you remove the software from the computer, you should also remove the key from the registry. Also be sure to change the MyCompany and MyProgram and My String designators to something more meaningful.
See the Python _winreg API for details.
import _winreg as wr
key_location = r'Software\MyCompany\MyProgram'
try:
key = wr.OpenKey(wr.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, key_location, 0, wr.KEY_ALL_ACCESS)
value = wr.QueryValueEx(key, 'My String')
print('Found value:', value)
except:
print('Creating value.')
key = wr.CreateKey(wr.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, key_location)
wr.SetValueEx(key, 'My String', 0, wr.REG_SZ, 'This is what I want to save!')
wr.CloseKey(key)
Note that the _winreg module is called winreg in Python 3.
Why don't you just put it at the beginning of the code. E.g. start your code:
import ... #import statements should always go first
path = 'what you want to save'
And now you have path saved as a string
I have written a few lines of code in Python to see if I can make it read a text file, make a list out of it where the lines are lists themselves, and then turn everything back into a string and write it as output on a different file. This may sound silly, but the idea is to shuffle the items once they are listed, and I need to make sure I can do the reading and writing correctly first. This is the code:
import csv,StringIO
datalist = open('tmp/lista.txt', 'r')
leyendo = datalist.read()
separando = csv.reader(StringIO.StringIO(leyendo), delimiter = '\t')
macrolist = list(separando)
almosthere = ('\t'.join(i) for i in macrolist)
justonemore = list(almosthere)
arewedoneyet = '\n'.join(justonemore)
with open('tmp/randolista.txt', 'w') as newdoc:
newdoc.write(arewedoneyet)
newdoc.close()
datalist.close()
This seems to work just fine when I run it line by line on the interpreter, but when I save it as a separate Python script and run it (myscript.py) nothing happens. The output file is not even created. After having a look at similar issues raised here, I have introduced the 'with' parameter (before I opened the output file through output = open()), I have tried flushing as well as closing the file... Nothing seems to work. The standalone script does not seem to do much, but the code can't be too wrong if it works on the interpreter, right?
Thanks in advance!
P.S.: I'm new to Python and fairly new to programming, so I apologise if this is due to a shallow understanding of a basic issue.
Where are the input file and where do you want to save the output file. For this kind of scripts i think that it's better use absolute paths
Use:
open('/tmp/lista.txt', 'r')
instead of:
open('tmp/lista.txt', 'r')
I think that the error can be related to this
It may have something to do with where you start your interpreter.
Try use a absolute path /tmp/randolista.txt instead of relative path tmp/randolista.txt to isolate the problem.