How to call a Python script from PowerShell
March 2023
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A quick post to remind me how to call a Python script via PowerShell, passing in an argument and saving the output of the script to a variable in PowerShell using a couple of demo scripts that do nothing more than pass a string to the Python script and return it with text added.
Test machine specs:
Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS
PSVersion 7.3.2
Python 3.10.5
This should work as is with Python 3.6+ (uses f-string formatting).
I have a virtual environment created with the required Python packages installed. The Python script simply outputs the text I need via the print function and exits.
Here is the Python script that takes an argument and prints it out.
| # Print out input text from command line argument and exit. | |
| # Used as demo to get data from Python Script in PowerShell. | |
| import argparse | |
| import sys | |
| parser = argparse.ArgumentParser() | |
| parser.add_argument("text") | |
| args = parser.parse_args() | |
| print(f"{args.text} From Python script.") | |
| sys.exit() |
The output can be saved to a variable in PowerShell by calling the script like so.
| # Calls a Python script. The output of the print statement is saved in a Variable. | |
| $pythonProgramPath = ".venv/bin/python" # location of the Python executable | |
| $pythonScriptPath = "/python/powershell-call-python/main.py" # location of script file. | |
| $arg = "hello" | |
| $pythonOutput = & $pythonProgramPath $pythonScriptPath $arg | |
| $pythonOutput |
The PythonProgramPath can either point to the main install of Python (or just Python if it is added to the Path environment variable) or a virtual environment if extra packages are required / installed for the script to run.
I was using this method to work with JWTs. I was struggling to so with PowerShell and already had the Python scripts written so I only had to grab the output of the script to use the JWT values in my PowerShell script.