Run a Python script from Python prompt such that variables are loaded into the interactive environment

Question

Say I have a (somewhat pointless) Python script

#!/usr/bin/python

a = 5

Is there a way to run this script from the interactive prompt such that after running if I type a I get

>>> a
5

and not

>>> a
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'a' is not defined

More generally, if my script calculates something through a series of steps, is there a way to access that something after the script has finished (in the same kind of manner).

Does "run this script from the interactive prompt in a shell" mean "run this script from the interactive prompt", or "run this script in a shell and end up in the interactive prompt"? They're contradictory things, and the question seems ambiguous between them. For the first, it's from pointless import * (or, very rarely, execfile); for the second, it's python -i pointless.py. — abarnert
– abarnert, Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 20:10
I only included the word "shell" to define how I was starting the interactive prompt, so the correct interpretation is, "run this script from the [interactive prompt in a shell]" - i.e. the interactive prompt is running in a shell. I guess in hindsight this is both ambiguous and irrelevant, but I figured there are different ways to run the interactive prompt (e.g. from within other programs) which may change the answer. — Alex
– Alex, Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 20:48

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-20 19:20:05Z

7

Import it:

from yourscriptname import a

Each and every .py file in python is a module, and you can simply import it. If the file is called foo.py, import foo.

answered Nov 20, 2012 at 19:20

Martijn Pieters

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1 Comment

Alex Over a year ago

What about if you're actually calculating something (i.e. it's not a hardcoded value) [oh snap, never mind]

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