In python3:
What is the difference between calling python path/to/file.py and
python -m path.to.file ?
How does it affect the working directory ? ( os.getcwd() )
Does it have a link with the presence / absence of an __init__.py
file located in path/to ?
I have been surprised by how little information I found on these of questions. Maybe I am not searching with the correct terms? Thanks in advance!
What is the difference between calling python path/to/file.py and python -m path.to.file ?
Python -m module_name is a shortcut to invoking a particular module. Often this is an installed package with a __main__.py module inside of it. (e.g. python -m pip invokes pip/__main__.py
So python -m pip is equivalent to python path/to/my/python/lib/site-packages/pip/__main__.py
How does it affect the working directory ? ( os.getcwd() )
It does not
Does it have a link with the presence / absence of an init.py file located in path/to ?
First: There might be some confusion worth clearing up: python -m doesn't take a path as an argument. It takes the name of a module to execute.
So, short answer: no.
Long answer: how a module executed by name with python -m depends on whether or not it is a package. The presence of __init__.py can denote that the directory is the name of a package, like pip is, thusly it will look for __main__ inside of the package.
python -m ...
is used for running python library modules, such as pip, IPython etc.
python file.py
however is used to run files with python interpreter.
