How to open a program from a text file in Python

Question

How would I go about opening a file in Python by referring to a text file. EXAMPLE:

    f.open('openthis.txt')

Then I would have openthis.txt in the same folder that would say:

C:\Folder\myprogram.exe

Therefore the code opens up myprogram.exe from the directory

I want to do this so the code is easily changable, instead of having to edit it in IDLE every time I want to change the file I open.

Kyle Maxwell · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-28 02:50:32Z

1

You want the subprocess module. Specifically, you'd do something like:

import subprocess

with open("inputfile", "rb") as f:
    subprocess.call(f.read())

answered Jan 28, 2013 at 2:50

Kyle Maxwell

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4 Comments

Would I need an 'import subprocess' or something along those lines?

yup, I'll edit the code to make that clear for future readers

@Kyle: not sure about the "rb"... isn't 'inputfile' the text file containing the name of the executable? so why use binary mode?

@isedev: probably not necessary, just habit on my part :)