First the Summary

If you type movpy -h at the command line, you get the following help message :

usage: movpy [option] ... [-c cmd | file | -] [arg] ...
Options and arguments :
-c cmd : program passed in as string (terminates option list)
-f     : Change working directory to the script directory
-h     : print this help message and exit
-i     : inspect interactively after running script,
         uses InteractiveConsole or IPython - probably needs a real stdin
-m mod : run library module as a script (terminates option list)
-u     : unbuffered stdout and stderr
-V     : print the movpy version and Python version number and exit
-x     : skip first line of source, allowing use of non-Unix forms of #!cmd
-IPOFF : Don't use IPython, even if it is available, default to InteractiveConsole
-p     : Attempt pysco.full() (incompatible with IPython interactive shell)
-b     : Pause for <enter> after terminating script
-o     : override saved options, only use comand line options
-koff  : A command line option for the GUI, force no console
-k     : A command line option for the GUI, force a console
-la file : Log output to file, open append in write mode
-lw file : Log output to file, open logfile in write mode
file   : program read from script file
-      : drop straight into InteractiveConsole or IPython
-pylab : Launch IPython in pylab mode
--config dir : Directory for config files (~ will be expanded)
arg ...: arguments passed to program in sys.argv[1:]
Run movpy without a file argument to bring up a lightweight GUI to choose a script
('-c', '-', '-V' or '-h' options override this behaviour)
Python environment variables are ignored.

As you can see, this rather terse text documents all the command line options. If you need more of an explanation, read the rest of this page...

Python-Like Options

Some of the command line options are the same as the normal Python command line options. (Type python -h at the command line to see what I mean.) This means that programs which call sys.executable, followed by come command line options will still usually work. IDLE does this for example.

The following options are intended to have the same effect (more-or-less) as when used with normal Python.

• c - Run a program passed in as a string
• h - Print the help information
• i - Enter interactive mode after running
• u - Run with unbuffered stdout and stderr
• V - Print the version numbers and exit
• x - Skip the first line of the source code
• - - Enter interactive mode immediately
• m - Run library module as a script (terminates option list)

For a discussion of Python command line options that are unsupported see Unsupported Python Command Line Options.

c

This option allows you to pass a small program as a string. It is executed and then Movable Python terminates. IDLE uses this option to launch its subprocess.

f

Run the program in its directory. A lot of scripts expect the current directory to be the directory in which they are located.

h

Prints the help message.

i

Enter the interactive interpreter mode after running the program. This allows you to inspect the objects used by the program.

If IPOFF and p are both off, then the interpreter used will be IPython.

The b option is ignored if i is set.

A console box is always used if you specify i.

m

Run a module as a script. The module must be somewhere on sys.path.

u

Run with unbuffered stdout and stderr. This is simulated on the Python level, and so doesn't apply to the underlying C stdout and stderr.

V

Print the version of Movable Python and the version of Python.

x

Skip the first line of the script.

IPOFF

If IPOFF is set then IPython isn't used as the interactive interpreter.

p

Switch psyco the specializing compiler on. (Do a psyco.full()). This accelerates most Python programs.

It is not compatible with IPython, so using p with i will switch IPython off.

b

Pause for <enter> after running the script. This is useful if the script is a command line script that terminates immediately after running. Selecting b allows you to see the results before the console window vanishes.

o

Override config.txt. You can save default options in the Special File config.txt. (Also through the GUI.) o allows you to run a program without using the default options.

die

If the GUI is launched with the die option, it will exit immediately it runs a program.

koff

If koff is selected, then movpy.exe will not launch programs with a console box.

k

If k is selected, then movpyw.exe will launch programs with a console box.

-

- forces Movable Python straight into interactive interpreter mode. Whether IPython is used depends on the IPOFF option.

All Movpy command line options other than IPOFF (and o) are ignored when going straight into interactive interpreter mode. (And a console box is forced even if you didn't specify one !)

Additional command line options after the - are passed to IPython.

la

Log the output of the file, in append mode.

lw

Log the output of the file, in write mode.

config

The config option allows you to specify a directory for config files. ~ will be expanded to the users home directory :

movpy --config ~/movpy

If no config files exist in that directory then the default values will be used.

dir : Directory for config files (~ will be expanded)

Environment Variables

Python allows its behaviour to be affected by several environment variables. In order to isolate Movable Python [1] from the current Python install (which may be a different version of Python), these environment variables aren't accessible. It would be possible to create an alternative set of environment variables specific to Movable Python. As Movable Python is designed to be a portable distribution, it doesn't seem worthwhile. (In other words, no-one would use them.)

The environment variables supported by a normal Python installation are :

• PYTHONVERBOSE

Has the same effect as the -v command line option.

• PYTHONINSPECT

Has the same effect as the -i command line option.

• PYTHONDEBUG

Has the same effect as the -d command line option.

• PYTHONUNBUFFERED

  Has the same effect as the -u command line option.

• PYTHONOPTIMIZE

  Has the same effect as the -O and -OO command line options.

• PYTHONSTARTUP

  File executed on interactive startup (no default)

• PYTHONPATH [2]

';'-separated list of directories prefixed to the default module search path. The result is sys.path.

• PYTHONHOME

Alternate <prefix> directory (or <prefix>;<exec_prefix>). The default module search path uses <prefix>lib.

• PYTHONCASEOK

Ignore case in 'import' statements (Windows).

It would be possible to implement options or environment variables to support some of these, if there was a particular need. Again, make your case on the Mailing List.