Question

Following on from my previous question, is it possible to make a Python script which persistently changes a Windows environment variable?

Changes to os.environ do not persist once the python interpreter terminates. If I were scripting this on UNIX, I might do something like:

set foo=`myscript.py` 

But alas, cmd.exe does not have anything that works like sh’s back-tick behavior. I have seen a very long-winded solution… it ‘aint pretty so surely we can improve on this:

for /f 'tokens=1* delims=' %%a in ('python  ..\myscript.py') do set path=%path%;%%a 

Surely the minds at Microsoft have a better solution than this!

Note: exact duplicate of this question.

Answer 1

Your long-winded solution is probably the best idea; I don’t believe this is possible from Python directly. This article suggests another way, using a temporary batch file:

http://code.activestate.com/recipes/159462/