How to add additional shell command in VS code task build?

Question

Environment: Windows 10 x64 VSCode Version 1.23.1 python 3.6.4

I've been trying to switch from sublime text 3 to VS code. I have python 3.6.4 installed in my computer, all set with the PATH and other stuff.

In my sublime text 3, I set the build for python 3 (*.sublime-build) as:

{ 
"shell_cmd": "python --version && echo. && python -u \"$file\"",

"cmd": ["C:/Users/jxie0/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python36/python.exe", "-u", "$file"], 
"file_regex": "^[ ]*File \"(...*?)\", line ([0-9])*", 
"selector": "source.python" 
}

this will add a python version output with a blank line, before running the python code, take print('hello world') as an example:

Python 3.6.4

hello world
[Finished in 0.1s]

And sublime automatic add a timer for the code at the end.

In my current task.json for VS code, I have:

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "command": "python",
    "isShellCommand": true,
    "args": ["${file}"],
    "showOutput": "always"
}

This will work, but just simply show the output of the python codes:

hello world

Is there anyway I can tune it into something that can give me same kind of output style as I got from sublime text? If the timer is not possible, at least can I add a shell command as a header to show the python 3 version?

Additional question: what does that "version": "0.1.0", do in VS code? Which version does it refer to?

Thanks!

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 24 '18 at 21:26

You can use the same command as you were using before, the difference is in how the file to be passed is referenced. In vscode the equivalent would be

python --version && echo && python -u ${file}

This command can be broken up into three commmands, the first, python --version, prints the python version. The second, echo, prints the empty line. The third, python -u ${file}, actually runs the python script.

As for the timer, I don't know of a way to make that occur in vscode but it would not be too difficult to implement this in the script itself, such as in Measure time elapsed in Python?

A simple configuration for this task could be as follows:

{
"version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "python",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "python --version && echo && python -u ${file}",
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            },
            "presentation": {
                "echo": true,
                "reveal": "always",
                "focus": false,
                "panel": "shared"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Note that this assumes you have python on your path, otherwise you will have to specify the path to python.exe when the python command is used in command.

How to add additional shell command in VS code task build?

1 Answers1