On 2/9/21, Inada Naoki <songofacandy@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, Feb 9, 2021 at 7:42 PM M.-A. Lemburg <mal@egenix.com> wrote:
But it affects to all Python installs. Can teachers recommend to set PYTHONUTF8 environment variable for students?
Users can simply create a shortcut that targets `cmd /k set PYTHONUTF8=1`. Optionally change the shortcut's "start in" directory to the desired working directory.
Here's a good blog post about setting env vars on Windows:
https://www.dowdandassociates.com/blog/content/ howto-set-an-environment-variable-in-windows-command-line-and-registry/
Command-line modification of the persistent environment is rarely required. Using setx.exe is okay for setting simple variables in CMD [1], such as `setx PYTHONUTF8 1`, combined with `set PYTHONUTF8=1` for the current shell. To do this in the GUI in Windows 10, click on the start button (or tap the WIN key) to show the start menu; type "environ"; and click on "Edit environment variables for your account". In the window that opens, click the "New" button; type "PYTHONUTF8" as the name and "1" (without quotes) as the value. Click the "OK" button on the dialog, and then click the "OK" button on the editor window. To test the value, assuming you have the py launcher installed, press WIN+R to open the run dialog. Type "py", and in the Python shell confirm that executing `import locale; locale.getpreferredencoding()` returns 'UTF-8'. --- [1] I would feel remiss in discussing "setx.exe" without warning about naively trying to modify PATH. For example, DO NOT execute a command like `setx.exe PATH "C:\Program Files\Python39;%PATH%"`. This is wrong because it sets the current PATH value, including the system part, as the user "Path" value, truncated to 1024 characters, and without the original dependence on system variables and independent (REG_SZ) user variables. Properly modifying the persistent "Path" from CMD is difficult and requires careful use of both reg.exe and setx.exe. It's easier in PowerShell. It's far easier to use the GUI editor, which in Windows 10 even provides an exploded list view that makes it simple to add/remove directories and move them up and down in the list.