How to be able to not to specify the full directory for the subprocess library in python

Question

So I have this pretty simple line of code that opens up a .exe file that gets put inside the subprocess.call bracket. However, I always need to specify in full length the location of the .exe file that I'm trying to run. How do I make it so that I don't have to specify it by putting the .py file with the code below inside the same directory with the .exe file that I'm running?

import subprocess

def openHC():
    try:
        subprocess.call("R:/Codes/crackingAtHome/crackingAtHomeClient/hashcat.exe")
    except:
        print("something wrong happened")


openHC()

I tried to put the .py file in the same directory with no success. I still have to fully specify it for it to run.

Answer 1

When python runs a script, it usually includes the __file__ variable, naming the .py file being run. You can use that name to find other files in the same directory. This is usually an absolute path, but I don't think its required to be so, so its a good idea to make it absolute anyway. The pathlib provides a convenient way to do the calculations.

import subprocess
from pathlib import Path

try:
    parent_path = Path(__file__).absolute().parent
except:
    # parent path unknown, hope cwd works
    parent_path = Path(".")
    
def openHC():
    try:
        subprocess.call(f'{parent_path/"hashcat.exe"} --help', 
            shell=True)
    except:
        print("something wrong happened")

openHC()