Pass variable into AppleScript from python

Question

Can someone show me how to pass a variable into an Applescript using osascript in python? I've seen some documentation/samples on doing this but I'm not understanding it at all.

Here is my python code:

# I want to pass this value into my apple script below
myPythonVariable = 10

cmd = """
    osascript -e '
    tell application "System Events"
        set activeApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
        if "MyApp" is in activeApp then
            set stepCount to myPythonVariableIPassIn

            repeat with i from 1 to stepCount
                DoStuff...
            end repeat
        end if
    end tell
    '
    """
os.system(cmd)

Possible duplicate of: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13502836/pass-and-receive-values-between-python-script-and-applescript — Christian Dean, Aug 27 '16 at 20:12
In the solution to that one he's passing in '/Setup.scpt'. I was hoping to inline the applescript code right in my python code rather than having a ton of separate .scpt files I have to manage. — LampShade, Aug 27 '16 at 20:29

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 28 '16 at 15:36

String concatenation with the + operator

myPythonVariable = 10
cmd = """
    osascript -e '
    tell application "System Events"
        set activeApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
        if "MyApp" is in activeApp then
            set stepCount to """ + str(myPythonVariable) + """

            repeat with i from 1 to stepCount
                -- do something
            end repeat
        end if
    end tell
    '
    """

Or, string formatting with the {} :

myPythonVariable = 10
cmd = """
    osascript -e '
    tell application "System Events"
        set activeApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
        if "MyApp" is in activeApp then
            set stepCount to {0}

            repeat with i from 1 to stepCount
                -- do something
            end repeat
        end if
    end tell
    '
    """.format(myPythonVariable)

{0} is the place-holder for the first variable, {1} is the place-holder for the second variable, ....

For multiple variables:

.format(myPythonVariable, var2, var3)

Or, string formatting with the %s operator

myPythonVariable = 10
cmd = """
    osascript -e '
    tell application "System Events"
        set activeApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
        if "MyApp" is in activeApp then
            set stepCount to %s

            repeat with i from 1 to stepCount
                -- do something
            end repeat
        end if
    end tell
    '
    """ % myPythonVariable

For multiple variables:

% (myPythonVariable, var2, var3)

Pass variable into AppleScript from python

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