Creating a CLI (Shell?) in Python

Question

I am very newbie in Python but I have to implement for school a command line interpreter in Python language, but I am kinda lost in how to do that.

I have already read some tutorials and created a simple file called functions.py where i include some simple functions like this:

def delete(loc):
    if os.path.exists(loc) == True:
        os.remove(loc)
        print "Removed"
    else:
        print "File not exists"

Now.. here is the thing.. in order to use this I must import it inside the python command interpreter, like...

import functions
functions.delete("file to delete")

How can I make a Shell/CLI so instead of have to write all of this I can just write like:

delete file_name

Thanks!

I think my definition of "CLI" differs somewhat. You want to write an interpreter for a small "programming language" (DSL), right? — AndiDog
– AndiDog, Commented Jan 23, 2011 at 8:30

Jakob Bowyer · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-23 13:31:24Z

9

Or if you want a cmd shell, you could use the cmd lib. It offers python interfaces to making command lines. http://docs.python.org/library/cmd.html

answered Jan 23, 2011 at 13:31

Jakob Bowyer

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sultan · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-23 08:28:03Z

4

I think you should now to use simple argparse module to get command line arguments


import argparse

from functions import delete

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('-f', '--file')

args = parser.parse_args()

delete(args.file)

Hope this should work for you

Sultan

answered Jan 23, 2011 at 8:28

sultan

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1 Comment

sultan Over a year ago

After just add execution bit chmod +x delete.py and run it ./delete -f SOME_FILE

Juho Vepsäläinen · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-23 08:54:02Z

1

You might want to check my personal REPL for some inspiration. I wrote it during a tutorial series. Actual source may be found here. It probably does a few things you won't need... Still it could be a good read. :)

answered Jan 23, 2011 at 8:54

Juho Vepsäläinen

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