Running a python method/function directly from a file

Question

I would like to know if there is a way to directly run a python function directly from a file by just mentioning the filename followed by the function in a single line.

For example, lets say I have a file 'test.py' with a function 'newfunction()'.

----------test.py-----------

def newfunction(): print 'welcome'

Can I run the newfunction() doing something similar to this.

 python test.py newfunction

I know how to import and to call functions etc.Having seen similar commands in django etc (python manage.py runserver), I felt there is a way to directly call a function like this. Let me know if something similar is possible.

I want to be able to use it with django. But an answer that is applicable everywhere would be great.

I think your question may already be answered by http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3987041/python-run-function-from-the-command-line — EngineerCamp
– EngineerCamp, Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 5:28
That is not actually what I want to know. I want to know if it can be done in a similar way to the 'python manage.py migrate' etc. — Mukund Gandlur
– Mukund Gandlur, Commented Apr 18, 2016 at 5:30

Andrés Pérez-Albela H. · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-18 05:43:11Z

Try with globals() and arguments (sys.argv):

#coding:utf-8 import sys def moo(): print 'yewww! printing from "moo" function' def foo(): print 'yeeey! printing from "foo" function' try: function = sys.argv[1] globals()[function]() except IndexError: raise Exception("Please provide function name") except KeyError: raise Exception("Function {} hasn't been found".format(function))

Results:

➜ python calling.py foo yeeey! printing from "foo" function ➜ python calling.py moo yewww! printing from "moo" function ➜ python calling.py something_else Traceback (most recent call last): File "calling.py", line 18, in <module> raise Exception("Function {} hasn't been found".format(function)) Exception: Function something_else hasn't been found ➜ python calling.py Traceback (most recent call last): File "calling.py", line 16, in <module> raise Exception("Please provide function name") Exception: Please provide function name

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

I think you should take a look at:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/howto/custom-management-commands/

All those commands like migrate, runserver or dbshell etc. are implemented like how it was described in that link:

Applications can register their own actions with manage.py. To do this, just add a management/commands directory to the application.

Django will register a manage.py command for each Python module in that directory whose name doesn’t begin with an underscore.

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