How to auto-run a script

John picture John · Dec 6, 2009 · Viewed 33.9k times · Source

I created a script that will tell me what to wear in the morning based on the weather (i.e. rain slicker if it will rain, heavy jacket if it will be cold, etc). I have fairly basic programming experience with python and the script works perfectly, but I want to be able to create a file that I can just double-click from my desktop and the script will automatically run.

My goal is to be able to simply double click [something] in the morning and it will automatically run the script and thus tell me what to wear. How could I go about doing this?

System Specifications:

  • python
  • Mac OSX

Answer

RJC picture RJC · Dec 6, 2009

This worked for me on Snow Leopard:

-Put the python script on the desktop.

-Right click on the script file, and choose "Get info"

-Find "Open With", and choose "Python Launcher" from the dropdown box

Now double-clicking the script file will run the script in a new terminal window.

I'm not sure what versions of OS X come with the Python Launcher application. If you don't have that, you can solve it with a couple extra steps:

-Put the python script anywhere

-Create a shell script on the desktop with one line:

python "/Users/john/scripts/what-to-wear.py"

(Where I've assumed your script is called what-to-wear.py and is in /Users/john/scripts. Be aware that you do need to use an absolute path.)

-Make the shell script executable. In a terminal:

chmod 755 what-to-wear-shell-script

-Double clicking the shell script should run it in a terminal, running your python script.