Make your Python script executable from anywhere in Linux

Python makes life so easy to write scripts for our desired outputs. Sometimes, we simply write a Python utility program that we want access from anywhere in the whole system. I will go through the series of steps you can follow to make your Python script executable in Linux (or Unix-like) system.

Define the shebang as the python path

We use shebang (or #!) a lot in computing. When a text file with a shebang is used as if it is an executable in a Linux, the program loader mechanism parses the rest of the file’s initial line as an interpreter directive.

We can make use of this concept. I added the path to the anaconda python (for the specific environment) as the first line of my Python script. The python script will look like below:

#!/home/utpal/miniconda3/envs/stadenv/bin/python
import os, glob
### rest of the script

In addition to this, you will have to make the script executable in linux:

chmod +x myscript.py

Create environment in the home directory

In your terminal, type:

cd ~/ #navigate to the home directory
mkdir bin

Now, open the ~/.bashrc file in your favourite editor.

code ~/.bashrc #to open the bashrc file using vscode

Now, add your bin directory to the system PATH.

export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"

Bring the python script in the system path

Finally, all we have to do is to copy the script to the system path (the bin directory).

cp myscript.py ~/bin/

Now, restart your terminal and you should have access to the Python script from any location on your system.