How to open python file in default editor from Python script

Question

When I try on Windows webbrowser.open(fname) or os.startfile(fname) or os.system ('cmd /c "start %s"' % fname) my python script is getting executed.

How to open it for edit in default editor (like SQL script)

Edit:

import ctypes shell32 = ctypes.windll.shell32 fname = r'C:\Scripts\delete_records.py' shell32.ShellExecuteA(0,"open",fname,0,0,5) 

it opens file explorer at C:\Program Files\ibm\gsk8\lib64\C

Answer 1

""" Open the current file in the default editor """ import os import subprocess DEFAULT_EDITOR = '/usr/bin/vi' # backup, if not defined in environment vars path = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(__file__)) editor = os.environ.get('EDITOR', DEFAULT_EDITOR) subprocess.call([editor, path]) 

Answer 2

Default open and edit actions are handled by ShellExecute WinAPI function (actions are defined in registry in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subtree).

There are couple of way to access WinAPI from Python script.

1. Using nicer wrapper like pywin32. It is safer than ctypes, but it is non-standard Python module. I.e:

   import win32api win32api.ShellExecute(None, "edit", "C:\\Public\\calc.bat", None, "C:\\Public\\", 1) 

2. Using ctypes. It is trickier and doesn't control arguments, so may cause fault (unless you provide result type and arguments type manually).

   import ctypes ShellExecuteA = ctypes.windll.shell32.ShellExecuteA ShellExecuteA(None, "edit", "C:\\Public\\calc.bat", None, "C:\\Public\\", 1) 

To check which actions are supported for desired filetype, do the following:

1. Run regedit.exe
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and pick desired extension, i.e. .py. Read (Default) value on left pane - it would be class name, i.e. Python.File.
3. Open that class name subtree in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. It should contain shell subtree, under which you will find available shell actions. For me and Python scripts they are Edit with IDLE and Edit with Pythonwin.
4. Pass these values as second parameter of ShellExecute()

Answer 3

As per the documentation of os.startfile, you can define an operation to execute. So os.startfile(fname,operation='edit') shoudl work for what you want. See also this answer.