Python scripts in /usr/bin

Question

I'm writing a pretty basic application in python (it's only one file at the moment). My question is how do I get it so the python script is able to be run in /usr/bin without the .py extension?

For example, instead of running

python htswap.py args

from the directory where it currently is, I want to be able to cd to any directory and do

htswap args

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The first line of the file should be

#!/usr/bin/env python

You should remove the .py extension, and make the file executable, using

chmod ugo+x htswap

EDIT: Thomas points out correctly that such scripts should be placed in /usr/local/bin rather than in /usr/bin. Please upvote his answer (at the expense of mine, perhaps. Seven upvotes (as we speak) for this kind of stuff is ridiculous)

Answer 2

Simply strip off the .py extension by renaming the file. Then, you have to put the following line at the top of your file:

#!/usr/bin/env python

env is a little program that sets up the environment so that the right python interpreter is executed.

You also have to make your file executable, with the command

chmod a+x htswap

And dump it into /usr/local/bin. This is cleaner than /usr/bin, because the contents of that directory are usually managed by the operating system.