FAQ ​

This section lists some frequently asked questions.

How to Get the Current Path ​

The current path can be represented by '.', and then converted to an absolute path using os.path.abspath():

# -*- coding:utf-8 -*-
# test.py

import os

print(os.path.abspath('.'))

Running the script gives:

$ python3 test.py
/Users/michael/workspace/testing

How to Get the File Name of the Current Module ​

You can get the file name of the current module using the special variable __file__:

# -*- coding:utf-8 -*-
# test.py

print(__file__)

Output:

$ python3 test.py
test.py

How to Get Command Line Arguments ​

Command line arguments can be accessed using the sys module's argv:

# -*- coding:utf-8 -*-
# test.py

import sys

print(sys.argv)

Output:

$ python3 test.py -a -s "Hello world"
['test.py', '-a', '-s', 'Hello world']

The first element of argv is always the .py file name used to execute the script.

How to Get the Path of the Current Python Command Executable ​

The executable variable in the sys module provides the path to the Python command's executable:

# -*- coding:utf-8 -*-
# test.py

import sys

print(sys.executable)

On macOS, the result may look like:

$ python3 test.py
/usr/local/opt/python3/bin/python3.12