Using Terminal/Command Line to Execute Python Notebook Shells on Google Colab

Question

I'm new to programming and I am using Google Colab to go through the exercises from "Learning Python the Hard Way".

I am stuck on exercise 13 as I need to run it using the command line (i.e. $ python3.6 ex13.py first 2nd 3rd).

So I would like to execute a code on a notebook cell using the Colab Terminal if possible.

If this is not possible, please suggest another way if you know any (for example, saving the code to a text file in google drive, and using the Terminal to execute the file). I'm not able to figure this out either.

This is where I'm stuck:

Notebook Cell

And I would like to run this code using the Colab terminal (Here, I tried to save the file as a text file in Google Drive because I was not able to run the code on the Notebook cell using the command line):

Colab Terminal

Python text file saved on Google Drive

Here is the code for your reference:

# p. 72 - Parameters, Unpacking, Variables
from sys import argv
# read the WYSS section for how to run this
script, first, second, third = argv

print("This script is called:", script)
print("Your first variable is:", first)
print("Your second variable is:", second)
print("Your third variable is:", third)

#This is the command to execute the coder using command line: $ python3.6 ex13.py first 2nd 3rd

However, I would like to do this using Google Colab terminal.

margusl · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-14 09:20:20Z

4

To execute in shell you can use ! :

!python ex13.py aaa bbb ccc

Or %%shell magic:

%%shell
python ex13.py aaa bbb ccc

Though for this to work your ex13.py must by be in your working directory (or at least accessible) and this can be bit counter-intuitive:
your default working directory is not the location on your Google Drive where you have stored your Notebook (and ex13.py) , instead it's /content on Colab's temporary session storage.

So first you either upload your ex13.py to /content ( drag-and-drop from your local filesystem will do) or mount your GDrive to Colab (there's Mount Drive button) and change your working directory to the location of your script with %cd, e.g. %cd "/content/drive/MyDrive/Colab Notebooks"

Colab screenshot

answered Jun 14, 2022 at 9:20

margusl

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3 Comments

Tanoj Over a year ago

Thank you! That worked. The screenshot in the answer really helped to work out the solution.

Tanoj Over a year ago

Just one more question. Is there a way to execute the command using the terminal? I am getting this error: xercises# !python ex13.py first 2nd 3rd -bash: !python: event not found /content/drive/MyDrive/Colab_Notebooks/Python_Exercises#

margusl Over a year ago

@Tanoj , try python ex13.py first 2nd 3rd , in terminal you don't need to add !, that's just for Colab code block.

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