terminal:
python test.py blah='blah'
in test.py
print sys.argv
['test.py', 'blah=blah'] <------------
How can blah arg preserve its '' OR
Is there a way to know if an arg is wrap with either "" or ''?
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ealeon
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4That's not something Python controls.. That is your *shell* removing the quotes before passing it on to Python. – Martijn Pieters Oct 01 '13 at 15:33
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2It’s the shell that ‘strips’ the quotes; use `python test.py "blah='blah'"` instead. – Gumbo Oct 01 '13 at 15:33
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1This appears to be an [XY Problem](http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=542341). Why do you want the quotes? – dawg Oct 01 '13 at 15:53
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If you need your application to accept free-form text instead of the symbolic-ish data from command line arguments, it'll likely be easier to read it from stdin. – millimoose Oct 01 '13 at 15:56
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please mention the OS or the shell you are using – Bleeding Fingers Oct 01 '13 at 15:57
2 Answers
13
Your shell removes the quotes before invoking Python. This is not something Python can control.
Add more quotes:
python test.py "blah='blah'"
which can also be placed anywhere in the argument:
python test.py blah="'blah'"
or you could use backslash escapes:
python test.py blah=\'blah\'
to preserve them. This does depend on the exact shell you are using to run the command.
Demo on bash:
$ cat test.py
import sys
print sys.argv
$ python test.py blah='blah'
['test.py', 'blah=blah']
$ python test.py "blah='blah'"
['test.py', "blah='blah'"]
$ python test.py blah="'blah'"
['test.py', "blah='blah'"]
$ python test.py blah=\'blah\'
['test.py', "blah='blah'"]
Martijn Pieters
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@hus787: Very much so. It depends on the shell implementation. On windows, the `cmd` console quoting uses different rules from the `bash` shell. I have little experience with `tsh` or `zsh` but they may well use different rules *again*. – Martijn Pieters Oct 01 '13 at 15:53
