Batch commands on Windows

[Harry George]

"Dave Brueck" <dave at pythonapocrypha.com> writes:

> Moosebumps wrote:
> > So, after reading some messages about os.system, and looking at the popen
> > stuff and trying it a bit, I still have not found a way to keep a command
> > window open for several commands (on Windows 2000/XP), while seeing the
> > normal output in a command window.  All I want to do is do what a batch file
> > does, but I want to actually have functions and associative arrays and all
> > the other niceties of python.
> 
> Can you give an example of what you mean, in Perl as well as what you hoped
> would work in Python? I couldn't quite understand what it is that you're trying
> to do.
> 
> > What's the deal with that?  I thought Python started out as a scripting
> > language.  And that seems like the most basic thing that a scripting
> > language should do.
> 
> Dunno, although MS-DOS shell scripting is certainly a small subset of scripting
> in general. Maybe with a concrete example somebody will be able to give you a
> hand.
> 
> -Dave
> 
> 

I wonder if this is miscommunication over "script" vs "shell window".
This confused me when trying python scripts in MS Windows after using
then in *NIX.
  
Quite often a script will output to stdout.  In *NIX the script is
usually run from a shell, in which case the output goes to the shell
and you can see it.  But in Windows there is no automatic shell -- you
have to explicitly tell the script where to put the output.  Otherwise
a DOS shell wakes up long enough to complain and then goes away. (At
least that's what I think is happening.)

An alternative is to install cygwin and run scripts from the bash
shell -- you will see output.  Even better, install emacs too, then
run scripts from inside am emacs bash shell buffer -- you can then
search, edit, print, etc the output.

Another alternative is to redirect your script output to a file, and
then examine it via notepad or (if linefeeds are screwed up) wordpad.

-- 
harry.g.george at boeing.com
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