CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
Jason
Jason

Reputation: 3266

How to use the -c flag in python

I noticed in the python doc that there is a -c flag. Here is what python doc says:

Execute the Python code in command. command can be one or more statements separated by newlines, with significant leading whitespace as in normal module code.

There is no example in the doc and I couldn't figure out how to make this work, and also in what situations it may help.

Anyone have any clue?

Upvotes: 45

Views: 40730

Answers (2)

Bhargav Rao
Bhargav Rao

Reputation: 52071

Easiest example

python -c "print 'example'"

It is useful whenever your program has a single line of code, for example, list comprehensions, etc.

Another example can be

python -c "a='example';print a"

As you can see, multiple statements are separated by ;

Upvotes: 20

Thomas Orozco
Thomas Orozco

Reputation: 55197

Just pass regular Python code as the argument to the flag:

python -c 'print 1
print 2'

Import modules works, and blank lines are OK, too:

python -c '
import pprint
pprint.pprint(1)
'

When using this feature, just be mindful of shell quoting (and indentation), and keep in mind that if you're using this outside of a few shell scripts, you might be doing it wrong.

Upvotes: 42

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