Phyton Interpreter

2.
Using the Python Interpreter

2.1. Invoking the Interpreter
The Python interpreter is usually installed as /usr/local/bin/python3.5 on those
machines where it is available; putting /usr/local/bin in your Unix shells
search path makes it possible to start it by typing the command:
python3.5
to the shell. [1] Since the choice of the directory where the interpreter lives is
an installation option, other places are possible; check with your local Python
guru or system administrator. (E.g., /usr/local/python is a popular alternative
location.)
On Windows machines, the Python installation is usually placed in

C:\Python35, though you can change this when youre running the installer.
To add this directory to your path, you can type the following command into
the command prompt in a DOS box:
set path=%path%;C:\python35
Typing an end-of-file character (Control-D on Unix, Control-Z on Windows) at
the primary prompt causes the interpreter to exit with a zero exit status. If
that doesnt work, you can exit the interpreter by typing the following
command: quit().
The interpreters line-editing features include interactive editing, history

substitution and code completion on systems that support readline. Perhaps
the quickest check to see whether command line editing is supported is
typing Control-P to the first Python prompt you get. If it beeps, you have
command line editing; see Appendix Interactive Input Editing and History
Substitution for an introduction to the keys. If nothing appears to happen, or
if ^P is echoed, command line editing isnt available; youll only be able to
use backspace to remove characters from the current line.
The interpreter operates somewhat like the Unix shell: when called with
standard input connected to a tty device, it reads and executes commands
interactively; when called with a file name argument or with a file as standard
input, it reads and executes a script from that file.
A second way of starting the interpreter is python -c command [arg] ..., which
executes the statement(s) in command, analogous to the shells -c option.
Since Python statements often contain spaces or other characters that are
special to the shell, it is usually advised to quote command in its entirety with
single quotes.
Some Python modules are also useful as scripts. These can be invoked using
python -m module [arg] ..., which executes the source file for module as if
you had spelled out its full name on the command line.
When a script file is used, it is sometimes useful to be able to run the script
and enter interactive mode afterwards. This can be done by passing -i before
the script.
All command line options are described in Command line and environment.
2.1.1. Argument Passing

When known to the interpreter, the script name and additional arguments
thereafter are turned into a list of strings and assigned to the argv variable in
the sys module. You can access this list by executing import sys. The length
of the list is at least one; when no script and no arguments are given,
sys.argv[0] is an empty string. When the script name is given as '-' (meaning
standard input), sys.argv[0] is set to '-'. When -c command is used,
sys.argv[0] is set to '-c'. When -m module is used, sys.argv[0] is set to the full
name of the located module. Options found after -c command or -m module
are not consumed by the Python interpreters option processing but left in
sys.argv for the command or module to handle.
2.1.2. Interactive Mode

When commands are read from a tty, the interpreter is said to be in
interactive mode. In this mode it prompts for the next command with the
primary prompt, usually three greater-than signs (>>>); for continuation

lines it prompts with the secondary prompt, by default three dots (...). The
interpreter prints a welcome message stating its version number and a
copyright notice before printing the first prompt:
$ python3.5
Python 3.5 (default, Sep 16 2015, 09:25:04)
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
Continuation lines are needed when entering a multi-line construct. As an
example, take a look at this if statement:
>>>
>>> the_world_is_flat = True
>>> if the_world_is_flat:
...
print("Be careful not to fall off!")
...
Be careful not to fall off!
For more on interactive mode, see Interactive Mode.
2.2. The Interpreter and Its Environment

2.2.1. Source Code Encoding
By default, Python source files are treated as encoded in UTF-8. In that
encoding, characters of most languages in the world can be used
simultaneously in string literals, identifiers and comments although the
standard library only uses ASCII characters for identifiers, a convention that
any portable code should follow. To display all these characters properly, your
editor must recognize that the file is UTF-8, and it must use a font that
supports all the characters in the file.
It is also possible to specify a different encoding for source files. In order to do

this, put one more special comment line right after the #! line to define the
source file encoding:
# -*- coding: encoding -*With that declaration, everything in the source file will be treated as having
the encoding encoding instead of UTF-8. The list of possible encodings can be
found in the Python Library Reference, in the section on codecs.
For example, if your editor of choice does not support UTF-8 encoded files
and insists on using some other encoding, say Windows-1252, you can write:
# -*- coding: cp-1252 -*and still use all characters in the Windows-1252 character set in the source
files. The special encoding comment must be in the first or second line within
the file.

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2.

Using the Python Interpreter

On Windows machines, the Python installation is usually placed in

The interpreters line-editing features include interactive editing, history

2.1.1. Argument Passing

2.1.2. Interactive Mode

primary prompt, usually three greater-than signs (>>>); for continuation

print("Be careful not to fall off!")

2.2. The Interpreter and Its Environment

It is also possible to specify a different encoding for source files. In order to do

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