Use a Python Module to Open Explorer on a file

Question

I'm a python newbie, and I'm having some difficulty making a module out of some very useful code located at: Open explorer on a file.

I can't figure out what I am doing wrong.

I get the following error messages:

line 31: C:\Apps\E_drive\Python_win32Clipboard.pdf line 34: r'explorer /select, "C:\Apps\E_drive\Python_win32Clipboard.pdf"' Traceback (most recent call last): File "P:\Data\VB\Python_MarcsPrgs\Python_ItWorks\Open_Win_Explorer_and_Select_File.py", line 42, in Open_Win_Explorer_and_Select_Fil(filepath) File "P:\Data\VB\Python_MarcsPrgs\Python_ItWorks\Open_Win_Explorer_and_Select_File.py", line 35, in Open_Win_Explorer_and_Select_Fil subprocess.Popen(Popen_arg) File "C:\Python27\lib\subprocess.py", line 679, in init errread, errwrite) File "C:\Python27\lib\subprocess.py", line 893, in _execute_child startupinfo) WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified

here's my module:

"""
Open Win Explorer and Select File
# "C:\Apps\E_drive\Python_win32Clipboard.pdf"
"""
import sys
import os, subprocess, pdb

def fn_get_txt_sysarg():
    "Harvest a single (the only) command line argument"
    # pdb.set_trace()
    try:
        arg_from_cmdline = sys.argv[1]
        arg_from_cmdline = str(arg_from_cmdline)
        
    except:
        this_scriptz_FULLName = sys.argv[0]
        
        ErrorMsg = "Message from fn_get_txt_sysarg() in Script (" + this_scriptz_FULLName + '):\n' \
        + "\tThe Script did not receive a command line argument (arg_from_cmdline)"
        
    returnval = arg_from_cmdline

    return returnval


def Open_Win_Explorer_and_Select_Fil(filepathe):
    # harvested from... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/281888/open-explorer-on-a-file
    #import subprocess 
    #subprocess.Popen(r'explorer /select,"C:\path\of\folder\file"') 
    f = str(filepathe)
    print "line 31: " + f
    Popen_arg = "r'explorer /select, " + '"' + f + '"' + "'"
    Popen_arg = str(Popen_arg)
    print "line 34: " + Popen_arg
    subprocess.Popen(Popen_arg)


if __name__ == '__main__': 

    filepath = fn_get_txt_sysarg()
    
    Open_Win_Explorer_and_Select_Fil(filepath)    

Answer 1

I think the problem is with the initialisation of Popen_arg. Notice from the output that the value of Popen_arg is:

r'explorer /select, "C:\Apps\E_drive\Python_win32Clipboard.pdf"'

This is actually a python raw string literal. You want Popen_arg to have the value which this string literal represents, not this string literal itself. I think if you change it to

Popen_arg = r'explorer /select, "' + f + '"'

it will work better. Note also that the line:

Popen_arg = str(Popen_arg)

has no effect and can be safely removed.