As a beginner in Python, I'm reading a book written by Bill Lubanovic
I found something weird.
In that book, After saving simple code in test1.py, which is
print("This standalone program works!")
it says python can run it by typing in
$ python test1.py
However, whenever I try to use that, syntax error happens.
Although I know there are other methods like using exec() which I found in this website, I wanna know why book uses that method which doesn't work at least for me.
It means you need to type everything but the $ in the terminal.
python test1.py
It's just a convention though. Authors also use > python test1.py and other notations.
I don't know which version of his book you're reading, but he mentions it in this version.
In the example that follows, $ is a sample system prompt for you to type a command like python in the terminal window. We’ll use it for the code examples in this book, although your prompt might be different.
You are not supposed to enter the $.
The $ represents the shell/terminal prompt. This is the string of characters that appear in your terminal when it is waiting for input, although $ typically indicates some flavour of unix, e.g. linux.
Your terminal will probably use a different prompt, e.g.
[user@localhost ~]$
Or, if you are using a Windows terminal you might see :
C:\>
or
C:\WINDOWS>
Question was answered in following stackoverflow post: What does the $ mean when running commands?
What does the $ mean when running commands?
As of now, Python does not implement $ in its syntax. So, it has nothing to do with Python. Instead, what you are seeing is the terminal prompt of a Unix-based system (Mac, Linux, etc.)
So basically is terminal prompt and you should type in only: python test1.py without $ sign. another example is ~ when using oh-my-zsh.
