how to clean sys.path

[siggi]

Hi all,

when I do >>>sys.path in IDLE (winXP), i get a horrendously long list of
paths, paths I may have used during a lot of trials and errors. How can I
clean up sys.path? I mean, trim it of unnecessary paths?

So far, I know only the command >>>sys.path.app end(r'c:....etc ...'), but how
to delete or insert at the beginning of the list, I know not.

Thanks,

siggi

[Laszlo Nagy]

>
So far, I know only the command >>>sys.path.app end(r'c:....etc ...'), but how
to delete or insert at the beginning of the list, I know not.

You can delete a slice. For example,

del sys.path[2:5]

More about slicing: http://docs.python.org/ref/slicings.html
sys.path is a regular list. List methods:
http://docs.python.org/tut/node7.html

Best,

Laszlo

[siggi]

Thank you Laszlo!

Take care,

siggi

"Laszlo Nagy" <ga*****@design aproduct.bizsch rieb im Newsbeitrag
news:ma******** *************** *************** *@python.org...

>

>>
So far, I know only the command >>>sys.path.app end(r'c:....etc ...'), but
how to delete or insert at the beginning of the list, I know not.

You can delete a slice. For example,

del sys.path[2:5]

More about slicing: http://docs.python.org/ref/slicings.html
sys.path is a regular list. List methods:
http://docs.python.org/tut/node7.html

Best,

Laszlo

[Tim Roberts]

"siggi" <sm***********@ yahoo.comwrote:

>
when I do >>>sys.path in IDLE (winXP), i get a horrendously long list of
paths, paths I may have used during a lot of trials and errors. How can I
clean up sys.path? I mean, trim it of unnecessary paths?

What do mean by "used during a lot of trials and errors"? sys.path is
recreated from scratch every time Python starts. It doesn't accumulate
over time, other than from new packages that you install.
--
Tim Roberts, ti**@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

[siggi]

"Tim Roberts" wrote:

>>
when I do >>>sys.path in IDLE (winXP), i get a horrendously long list of
paths, paths I may have used during a lot of trials and errors. How can I
clean up sys.path? I mean, trim it of unnecessary paths?

What do mean by "used during a lot of trials and errors"? sys.path is
recreated from scratch every time Python starts. It doesn't accumulate
over time, other than from new packages that you install.
--
Tim Roberts, ti**@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

Sorry Tim, my statement was not correct, due to my inexperience with Python.
And sorry, too, for my somewhat lengthy reply:
After having had inspected my current sys.path...

['C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\My Python files',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\Lib\\idle lib',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\python25. zip',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\DLLs',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\plat-win',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\lib-tk',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25', 'C:\\Documents
and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My
Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\PIL', 'C:\\Documents and
Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\win32 ',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My
Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\win32 \\lib', 'C:\\Documents and
Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\Pytho nwin',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My
Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\wx-2.8-msw-ansi']

or in plain DOS:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\Lib\idlelib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\python25.zi p
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\DLLs
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\plat-win
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\lib-tk
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\PIL
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\win32
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\win32\ lib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\Python win
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

....it just looked horrible to me at first sight!

If I interpret your explanation correctly, all these paths are necessary,
and not relics of previous installations and deinstallations .

What puzzles me, though, is, that e.g., when I run the wxPython application
"AnalogClock.py " with IDLE or in the command line , this works only in the
directory "...\My Python files\wxDemos\" . This directory contains all files
and folders from the original "\wx-2.8-msw-ansi\demos\").

When I copy AnalogClock.py to ...\My Python Files\ , nothing happens after
running it with IDLE or in the command line.
Appending 'C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python
files\wxDemos ' to the sys.path does not help either.

Thinking that I am clever, I changed my sys.path with sclicing and
concatenation such that my sys.path starts with

'C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files', 'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. Now \wxDemos\ is
being searched very early.

.... no way! After running AnalogClock.py again, this error message appears:

------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Documen ts and Settings\My Documents\My Python
files\wxAnalogC lock.py", line 14, in <module>
import wx
ImportError: No module named wx.
------------------------------------------

Very strange! Because all this wx stuff IS IN the directory 'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. And AnalogClock.py
does work when residing in that directory.

Can you help me again?

Thanks,

siggi

P.S. On another PC where the python program is in c:\programs\pyt hon25\,
same as above!

[Tim Roberts]

"siggi" <sm***********@ yahoo.comwrote:

>
or in plain DOS:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\Lib\idlelib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\python25.zi p
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\DLLs
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\plat-win
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\lib-tk
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\PIL
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\win32
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyth on25\lib\site-packages\win32\ lib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyth on25\lib\site-packages\Python win
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyth on25\lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

...it just looked horrible to me at first sight!

It looks horrible to me, too. That's why I install applications like that
in "\Apps" instead of a document off of Documents and setings. This looks
much better:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files
C:\Apps\Python2 5\Lib\idlelib
C:\Apps\Python2 5\python25.zip
C:\Apps\Python2 5\DLLs
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\plat-win
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\lib-tk
C:\Apps\Python2 5
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\PIL
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\win32
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\win32\ lib
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\Python win
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

Searching these doesn't really take very long. Remember that it doesn't
have to read all the files -- it only has to read the directories.

>'C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files', 'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. Now \wxDemos\ is
being searched very early.

... no way! After running AnalogClock.py again, this error message appears:

------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Documen ts and Settings\My Documents\My Python
files\wxAnalog Clock.py", line 14, in <module>
import wx
ImportError: No module named wx.
------------------------------------------

Very strange! Because all this wx stuff IS IN the directory 'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. And AnalogClock.py
does work when residing in that directory.

wxDemos contains the demos. The "wx" module lives in
site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi. Did you leave that in?
--
Tim Roberts, ti**@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

[Siggi]

"Tim Roberts" wrote:

>wxDemos contains the demos. The "wx" module lives in
site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi. Did you leave that in?

Yes! Even on this computer I am writing now with - where the whole Python
programs stuff is in a programs folder, such as

C:\Programs\Pyt hon25\Lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

- it is the same problem!

"siggi" <sm***********@ yahoo.comwrote:

>>
or in plain DOS:

C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\Lib\idlelib
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\python25.zi p
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\DLLs
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\plat-win
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\lib-tk
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\PIL
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyt hon25\lib\site-packages\win32
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyt hon25\lib\site-packages\win32\ lib
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyt hon25\lib\site-packages\Python win
C:\Document s and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pyt hon25\lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

...it just looked horrible to me at first sight!

It looks horrible to me, too. That's why I install applications like that
in "\Apps" instead of a document off of Documents and setings. This looks
much better:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files
C:\Apps\Python2 5\Lib\idlelib
C:\Apps\Python2 5\python25.zip
C:\Apps\Python2 5\DLLs
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\plat-win
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\lib-tk
C:\Apps\Python2 5
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\PIL
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\win32
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\win32\ lib
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\Python win
C:\Apps\Python2 5\lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

Searching these doesn't really take very long. Remember that it doesn't
have to read all the files -- it only has to read the directories.

>>'C:\Documen ts and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files',
'C:\Documen ts
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. Now \wxDemos\ is
being searched very early.

... no way! After running AnalogClock.py again, this error message
appears:

------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Documen ts and Settings\My Documents\My Python
files\wxAnalo gClock.py", line 14, in <module>
import wx
ImportError : No module named wx.
------------------------------------------

Very strange! Because all this wx stuff IS IN the directory 'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. And
AnalogClock.p y
does work when residing in that directory.

wxDemos contains the demos. The "wx" module lives in
site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi. Did you leave that in?
--
Tim Roberts, ti**@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

[siggi]

I included the "...\wxDemo s" path in PYTHONPATH. Everthing fine now!

"siggi" <sm***********@ yahoo.comschrie b im Newsbeitrag
news:eo******** ***@zam602.zam. kfa-juelich.de...

"Tim Roberts" wrote:

>>>
when I do >>>sys.path in IDLE (winXP), i get a horrendously long list of
paths, paths I may have used during a lot of trials and errors. How can I
clean up sys.path? I mean, trim it of unnecessary paths?

What do mean by "used during a lot of trials and errors"? sys.path is
recreated from scratch every time Python starts. It doesn't accumulate
over time, other than from new packages that you install.
--
Tim Roberts, ti**@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

Sorry Tim, my statement was not correct, due to my inexperience with
Python.
And sorry, too, for my somewhat lengthy reply:
After having had inspected my current sys.path...

['C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\My Python files',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\Lib\\idle lib',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\python25. zip',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\DLLs',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\plat-win',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\lib-tk',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25', 'C:\\Documents
and Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My
Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\PIL', 'C:\\Documents and
Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\win32 ',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My
Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\win32 \\lib', 'C:\\Documents and
Settings\\User\ \My Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\Pytho nwin',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\ \My
Documents\\Pyth on25\\lib\\site-packages\\wx-2.8-msw-ansi']

or in plain DOS:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\Lib\idlelib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\python25.zi p
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\DLLs
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\plat-win
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\lib-tk
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\PIL
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\win32
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\win32\ lib
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\Python win
C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y
Documents\Pytho n25\lib\site-packages\wx-2.8-msw-ansi

...it just looked horrible to me at first sight!

If I interpret your explanation correctly, all these paths are necessary,
and not relics of previous installations and deinstallations .

What puzzles me, though, is, that e.g., when I run the wxPython
application
"AnalogClock.py " with IDLE or in the command line , this works only in the
directory "...\My Python files\wxDemos\" . This directory contains all
files
and folders from the original "\wx-2.8-msw-ansi\demos\").

When I copy AnalogClock.py to ...\My Python Files\ , nothing happens
after
running it with IDLE or in the command line.
Appending 'C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python
files\wxDemos ' to the sys.path does not help either.

Thinking that I am clever, I changed my sys.path with sclicing and
concatenation such that my sys.path starts with

'C:\Documents and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files',
'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. Now \wxDemos\ is
being searched very early.

... no way! After running AnalogClock.py again, this error message
appears:

------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Documen ts and Settings\My Documents\My Python
files\wxAnalogC lock.py", line 14, in <module>
import wx
ImportError: No module named wx.
------------------------------------------

Very strange! Because all this wx stuff IS IN the directory 'C:\Documents
and Settings\User\M y Documents\My Python files\wxDemos'. And
AnalogClock.py
does work when residing in that directory.

Can you help me again?

Thanks,

siggi

P.S. On another PC where the python program is in c:\programs\pyt hon25\,
same as above!