Open a Python program with a subprocess

Question

I am trying to open a python file on my Windows computer with a subprocess, but I can't make it work.

import subprocess
subprocess.Popen('python C:\Users\Kristian\Desktop\Python\Ja\Bakkom var her.py',shell=True)

This is my code. when I run it I get a window on my screen saying:

(unicode error)'unicodeescape' codec can´t decode bytes in position 9-10: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape

Then it will ignore all the \s which normally signal special operators inside a string (`r'string'` is called a raw string) — Flob, Dec 24 '18 at 14:26

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 24 '18 at 14:54

This is a famous problem with Windows, since it uses backslashes instead of forward as file delimiters. Python is trying to parse text preceded by \U (as in 'Users') as a Unicode character, which it isn't.

You can work around it by:

using double-slashes ('python C:\\Users\\Kristian\\Desktop\\Python\\Ja\\Bakkom var her.py')
using forward-slashes ('python C:/Users/Kristian/Desktop/Python/Ja/Bakkom var her.py')
prepending r to indicate raw text. (r'python C:\Users\Kristian\Desktop\Python\Ja\Bakkom var her.py')

1 Answers1