Raw Strings (I Think)

[Lanny]

I've used glob.glob to get a list of files in a directory
and now I want to use os.system to execute one of
those files, the problem is that python automatically
puts a escape charater infront of the back slashes
so the os.system gets X:\\####\\####\ \ and is useless,
I think I need to convert my string to a raw string but
I don't know how.



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[Mike Driscoll]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

On Jul 24, 10:02 am, "Lanny" <la...@freshell s.chwrote:

I've used glob.glob to get a list of files in a directory
and now I want to use os.system to execute one of
those files, the problem is that python automatically
puts a escape charater infront of the back slashes
so the os.system gets X:\\####\\####\ \ and is useless,
I think I need to convert my string to a raw string but
I don't know how.
>
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This works fine for me on Windows XP.

I did this:

glob.glob(r'c:\ test')

which gave me something like this:

['c:\\test\\07-24TimeSheet.xls ', 'c:\\test\\acct s.CSV', 'c:\\test\
\Ataris Aqu\xe1ticos #2.txt', 'c:\\test\\chan ges.txt', 'c:\\test\
\change_g.txt', 'c:\\test\\conf ig.ini', 'c:\\test\\Coun ty.txt', 'c:\
\test\\county1. txt', 'c:\\test\\ctyp es-1.0.1.tar.gz', 'c:\\test\
\DAMNATUS_Sound track.zip', 'c:\\test\\dood ad.1.12.3.doc', 'c:\\test\
\doodad.1.32.3. doc', 'c:\\test\\dood ad.22.12.3.doc' , 'c:\\test\
\emailMess.xml' , 'c:\\test\\Eula .txt', 'c:\\test\\fast a.txt', 'c:\\test
\\Funds.txt', 'c:\\test\\Fund s2.txt', 'c:\\test\\Gman e.newsrc', 'c:\
\test\\groups.i ni', 'c:\\test\\hamm y.doc']

Now, if I use os.system like this, it works:

os.system('note pad %s' % x[1])

This opens notepad with my *.csv file just fine. Windows XP, Python
2.5.2.

Mike

[Carsten Haese]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

Lanny wrote:

I've used glob.glob to get a list of files in a directory
and now I want to use os.system to execute one of
those files, the problem is that python automatically
puts a escape charater infront of the back slashes

No, it doesn't. Instead of guessing what the cause might be, please show
us your code and show us the error message you're getting, so that we
can determine what the cause really is.

--
Carsten Haese

http://informixdb.sourceforge.net

[Fredrik Lundh]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

Lanny wrote:

I've used glob.glob to get a list of files in a directory
and now I want to use os.system to execute one of
those files, the problem is that python automatically
puts a escape charater infront of the back slashes
so the os.system gets X:\\####\\####\ \ and is useless,

No, it doesn't. The backslash doubling only happens when you "echo" a
variable to the terminal in interactive mode. If you want to know that
the string really contains, use "print".

Here's an example:

>>import glob
>>files = glob.glob("\\bi n\\ls.exe")
>>files

['\\bin\\ls.exe']

>>files[0]

'\\bin\\ls.exe'

>>print files[0]

\bin\ls.exe

>>import os
>>os.system(fil es[0])

Demo Makefile.pre.in Parser
Doc Misc Python
Grammar Modules README
Include Objects RISCOS
LICENSE PC Tools
Lib PCbuild configure
Mac PCbuild8 configure.in

Btw, if you want to pass arguments to the program, you might want to use
the "subprocess " module instead, since it handles escaping and quoting
for you all by itself:

>>import subprocess
>>subprocess.ca ll([files[0], "-l"])

total 479
drwxr-xr-x 26 1006 everyone 0 Oct 14 2006 Demo
drwxr-xr-x 33 1006 everyone 0 Oct 14 2006 Doc
drwxr-xr-x 6 1006 everyone 0 Oct 14 2006 Grammar
....

There's also a function called "os.startfi le", which can be used to
"open" an arbitrary file (in the same as if you'd double-click on it in
the explorer).

I think I need to convert my string to a raw string but
I don't know how.

Raw strings are an alternate syntax for adding string literals to your
source code, and has nothing to do with output.

</F>

[Lanny]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

No, it doesn't. Instead of guessing what the cause might be, please show
us your code and show us the error message you're getting, so that we can
determine what the cause really is.

Ok, sorry. Heres my code:

import glob
import random
import os

songs = glob.glob('C:\# ##\###\###\*.mp 3')
pick = random.choice(s ongs)
os.system(pick)

And yes, I know there are better ways of randomly selecting
a .mp3 file to play but I don't care.



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[Fredrik Lundh]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

Lanny wrote:

>No, it doesn't. Instead of guessing what the cause might be, please show
>us your code and show us the error message you're getting, so that we can
>determine what the cause really is.

>
Ok, sorry. Heres my code:
>
import glob
import random
import os
>
songs = glob.glob('C:\# ##\###\###\*.mp 3')
pick = random.choice(s ongs)
os.system(pick)
>
And yes, I know there are better ways of randomly selecting
a .mp3 file to play but I don't care.

my guess is that the real problem is that you get back filenames with
spaces in them, which gets treated as multiple arguments by os.system.

using os.startfile will fix this:

>>import glob, os, random
>>file = random.choice(g lob.glob("\\mus ic\\*.mp3"))
>>file

'\\music\\Madru gada - Grit - 05 - Seven Seconds.mp3'

>>print file

\music\Madrugad a - Grit - 05 - Seven Seconds.mp3

>>os.system(fil e)

'\music\Madruga da' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
1

>>os.startfile( file)

.... music starts playing ...

</F>

[Carsten Haese]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

Lanny wrote:

>No, it doesn't. Instead of guessing what the cause might be, please show
>us your code and show us the error message you're getting, so that we can
>determine what the cause really is.

>
Ok, sorry. Heres my code:
[...]

And the error message you're getting is...?

--
Carsten Haese

http://informixdb.sourceforge.net

[Lanny]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

my guess is that the real problem is that you get back filenames with

spaces in them, which gets treated as multiple arguments by os.system.
>
using os.startfile will fix this:
>

>import glob, os, random
>file = random.choice(g lob.glob("\\mus ic\\*.mp3"))
>file

'\\music\\Madru gada - Grit - 05 - Seven Seconds.mp3'

>print file

\music\Madrugad a - Grit - 05 - Seven Seconds.mp3

>os.system(file )

'\music\Madruga da' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
1

>os.startfile(f ile)

... music starts playing ...
>
</F>

Thanks I just switched the startfile for system and it worked like a charm
Thanks



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[Gabriel Genellina]

Re: Raw Strings (I Think)

En Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:02:00 -0300, Lanny <lanny@freshell s.chescribió:

I've used glob.glob to get a list of files in a directory
and now I want to use os.system to execute one of
those files, the problem is that python automatically
puts a escape charater infront of the back slashes
so the os.system gets X:\\####\\####\ \ and is useless,
I think I need to convert my string to a raw string but
I don't know how.

Those \\ represent a SINGLE character. That is, they LOOK duplicated in code and when you use repr(...) but it's actually a single backslash:

>>path = "X:\\abc"
>>path

'X:\\abc'

>>print path

X:\abc

>>len(path)

6

Probably you have another issue - please post a short but complete failing code...

--
Gabriel Genellina