How to start an executable from a variable path

Question

I'm not able to start an executable from a variable path. I've tried:

os.system(destPath + '/BHC.exe')
os.system(destPath/BHC.exe)

the destPath is set correctly and the BHC.exe is in there.

How can I start the external program?

1) Do not use `os.system` but `subprocess.call` instead 2) Use `os.path.join` instead of manually joinining the file paths: `import os, subprocess; subprocess.call([os.path.join(destPath, 'BHC.exe')])`. — Bakuriu, Nov 10 '15 at 15:29
On Windows, `os.system` uses Windows components like `cmd.exe` which don't understand paths with forward slashes in them. Assuming `destpath` doesn't have any, try `+ '\\BHC.exe'` (or better yet do as @Erica suggests). — martineau, Nov 10 '15 at 15:54
@martineau `os.system` understands forward slashes for absolute paths but not relative paths. We'll know what's going on when OP finally answers @Undo's question. Why people post questions and then ignore requests for more information is the puzzling part! — tdelaney, Nov 10 '15 at 16:42
Thanks for your information (and solution :-)! It works fine. — Vroluk, Nov 11 '15 at 20:52

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

1

Use os.path.join to avoid any slash confusion:

os.system(os.path.join(destPath, 'BHC.exe'))

If that doesn't resolve the problem, further troubleshooting is best answered by running an outside program (executable) in python?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

Community

answered Nov 10 '15 at 15:30

Erica

@tdelaney: But obviously doesn't, hence the question. – martineau Nov 10 '15 at 15:56
@martineau this answer Is extremely unlikely to fix the problem. Whatever causes OPs problem will still fail.mIt should be a comment. – tdelaney Nov 10 '15 at 16:16
1

@Erica Thank you! The `os.path.join` did the right thing :) – Vroluk Nov 11 '15 at 20:58

1 Answers1