Question 224871 in Visual Studio Code Question posted in
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Visual Studio Code – I cannot run the program directly in VSCode but can run it using the terminal in VScode

Environment Data

Windows 11
python 3.11.4
VS Code

Program Information

Here is some basic information about my program:
This program`s path: d:LearningProgrammingpython_workFile_Readerfile_reader.py

file_path = 'File\pi_digits.txt'
with open(file_path) as file_object:
    contents = file_object.read()
    print(contents)
#This program try to open the file:d:LearningProgrammingpython_workFile_ReaderFilepi_digits.txt
#and print the numbers stored in this file

So both file_reader.py and the folder File are in the folder File_Reader.
pi_digits.txt is in the folder File.
I want to use relative path to tell my program where pi_digits.txt is.
I run the code two times and I think at least my code is correct.

First Try

I run it in the terminal in VS Code

PS D:LearningProgrammingpython_workFile_Reader> python file_reader.py

And the result is exactly what I want

3.1415926535
  8979323846
  2643383279

Second Try

I run it using the Run Code button(Crtl+Alt+N)
But it seems that it fails to find where pi_digits.txt is.

[Running] python -u "d:LearningProgrammingpython_workFile_Readerfile_reader.py"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "d:LearningProgrammingpython_workFile_Readerfile_reader.py", line 2, in <module>
    with open(file_path) as file_object:
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'File\pi_digits.txt'

[Done] exited with code=1 in 0.097 seconds

The Last Try

I rewrite the program using the absolute path

file_path = 'd:\Learning\Programming\python_work\File_Reader\File\pi_digits.txt'
with open(file_path) as file_object:
    contents = file_object.read()
    print(contents)

Both methods above work well

I cannot figure out why when I use relative path, the program doesn`t work in my Second Try

Tags:

2

Answers


  1. 0

    When you specify a relative path, it matters which directory you are in when running python file_reader.py.

    1. When you use Visual Studio, it will automatically load a shell in the project’s base directory. That project directory also contains the file py_digits.txt, so everything works fine.
    2. When you use any other terminal, it will by default load a shell in your user’s home directory. And that home directory does not contain a file py_digits.txt, so it cannot be found.

    When you specify an absolute path, it does not matter which directory you are in when running python file_reader.py. The file can always be found.

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  2. 0

    As was mentioned by jraufeisen, this is to do with the different paths from vscode and the terminal.

    I therefore tend to do something like this to have general code, but an unambiguous path.

    import os

current_file = os.path.abspath(__file__)
print(current_file)
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