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Sep 29th, 2009

opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

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Hi All,

I need to open a exe from python. For ex i used

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
import os
os.system("C:\Winamp\Winamp.exe")
import os
os.system("C:\Winamp\Winamp.exe")

but I need to open an exe from the "Program Files" directory. I get an error because of the space between "Program" and "Files".

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
import os
os.system("C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe")
>>'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command.
import os
os.system("C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe")
>>'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command.

Anybody has the solution. It must be simple but I am not able to get it

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pysup

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

Click to Expand / Collapse Quote originally posted by pysup ...

Hi All,
Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
import os
os.system("C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe")
>>'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command.
import os os.system("C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe") >>'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command.
Anybody has the solution. It must be simple but I am not able to get it

Shouldn't you be doing it like

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
import os
os.system("C:\\Program\ Files\\Winamp\\Winamp.exe")
import os
os.system("C:\\Program\ Files\\Winamp\\Winamp.exe")

ryuslash

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

I tried

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
os.system("C:\\Program\ Files\\Winamp\\Winamp.exe")
os.system("C:\\Program/ Files\\Winamp\\Winamp.exe")
os.system("C:\\Program\ Files\\Winamp\\Winamp.exe")
os.system("C:\\Program/ Files\\Winamp\\Winamp.exe")

I get the same error

pysup

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

try:

python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
temp_var=r("C:\Program files\Winamp\Winamp.exe")
os.system(tempvar)
temp_var=r("C:\Program files\Winamp\Winamp.exe")
os.system(tempvar)

Im not sure if defining it as a raw variable would work but its worth a shot

leegeorg07

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

Maybe

python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
os.system("\"C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe\"")
os.system("\"C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe\"")

might be silly, but who knows...

ryuslash

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

Thanks leegeorg and ryuslash.. I tried both ways but i still get the same error.

pysup

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

It's not possible that you don't actually have Winamp in Program Files? You said that you tested with C:\Winamp\Winamp.exe which worked?

ryuslash

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Sep 29th, 2009

Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

Click to Expand / Collapse Quote originally posted by ryuslash ...

It's not possible that you don't actually have Winamp in Program Files? You said that you tested with C:\Winamp\Winamp.exe which worked?

Actually I just gave that as an example..

If it were not present then the error would be "The System cannot find the path specified"

but I get an error 'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command.

Maybe i should reinstall my program out of program files folder but i want to do it as a last resort

Last edited by pysup; Sep 29th, 2009 at 9:12 am. Reason: missed detail

pysup

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Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

Thought so

ryuslash

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Re: opening an exe from Program Files directory in windows

It took a bit of playing around, but think I've found a workaround for this....

I noticed in the docs for os.system() (Yes I RTFM!) it mentions that the subprocess.call() should be used instead.
So I had a go with subprocess.call() but I soon ran into very similar problems, it still didn't like the spaces in the path.

After a bit of playing around and using a bit of lateral thinking I decided to try using subprocess.call() to call 'cmd.exe' passing it the path to a program in 'Program Files' as a parameter.

Now, I don't have winamp installed on my pc, so I decided to try and fire up Audacity using the following code:

PYTHON Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
import subprocess
 
subprocess.call(r'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /C "C:\Program Files\Audacity\audacity.exe"')
import subprocess

subprocess.call(r'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /C "C:\Program Files\Audacity\audacity.exe"')

And you know what?? It bloody works!

After that, I decided to try using os.system in exactly the same way (use it to fire up cmd.exe with the path to Audacity as a parameter):

PYTHON Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
import os
 
os.system(r'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /C "C:\Program Files\Audacity\audacity.exe"')
import os

os.system(r'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /C "C:\Program Files\Audacity\audacity.exe"')

Guess what??
That worked too!

Woot woot!

You'll get a little cmd window that will pop-up alongside whatever program you fire up, but it will disappear when you close the program down again.

So, all you need to do is copy one of the bits of code posted above and then replace my path to Audacity with the path to your installation of Winamp!

Hope that solves your problem.
Cheers for now,
Jas.

Last edited by JasonHippy; Sep 29th, 2009 at 9:32 am. Reason: smelling pistakes!

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