On Sun, 14 Aug 2011 06:23:45 -0700, Ronald Reynolds wrote: > in my python directory there is a python.exe file which I understand > completely but there is also a pythonw.exe DOS seems to honor the pythonw > command (No error message) but nothing happens. What is pythonw.exe?
Windows distinguishes between "console" and "GUI" executables. python.exe is a console executable, pythonw.exe is a GUI executable. One difference is that GUI executables don't have stdin/stdout/stderr, so you can't use pythonw.exe as an interactive interpreter. The main use for pythonw.exe is if you write a GUI program in Python (using e.g. TkInter, wxPython, etc) and you want it to be able to run it from an icon (desktop, start menu) without it opening a console window (running a console executable from an icon will open a console window). > Also > is there a way to invoke idle from the DOS prompt? I tried idle > filename.py and just idle. Is there any .exe for idle? "C:\Program Files (x86)\Python27\Lib\idlelib\idle.py" filename.py ... or similar, depending upon where Python is installed. BTW, unless you're using Windows 95/98/ME, you don't have a "DOS Prompt". The command prompt in Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 isn't DOS. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
