Abstract

At present, setting the PYTHONPATH environment variable is the only method for defining additional Python module search directories.

This PEP introduces the ‘-P’ valued option to the python command as an alternative to PYTHONPATH.

Rationale

On Unix:

python -P $SOMEVALUE

will be equivalent to:

env PYTHONPATH=$SOMEVALUE python

On Windows 2K:

python -P %SOMEVALUE%

will (almost) be equivalent to:

set __PYTHONPATH=%PYTHONPATH% && set PYTHONPATH=%SOMEVALUE%\
   && python && set PYTHONPATH=%__PYTHONPATH%

Other Information

This option is equivalent to the ‘java -classpath’ option.

When to use this option

This option is intended to ease and make more robust the use of Python in test or build scripts, for instance.

Reference Implementation

A patch implementing this is available from SourceForge:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php?group_id=5470&atid=305470&file_id=6916&aid=429614

with the patch discussion at:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=305470&aid=429614&group_id=5470

Copyright

This document has been placed in the public domain.