What is script mode in Python?

We can integrate systems more efficiently and work very quickly with the help of the Python programming language. Python is a high-level, widely used general-purpose programming language, and it was designed with an emphasis on improving the readability of the code. The syntax of Python allows the programmers to express a concept in just a few lines of code rather than writing many lines of code like in other programming languages. We have the following two types of ways by which we can run our code in the Python programming language:

1. Using interactive mode
2. Using script mode

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about script mode in Python. We will learn what script mode is, how we can run our Python program using script mode, and the advantages of script mode. Let’s start with first by understanding what script mode in Python is.

Script mode in Python

A system of writing scripts or anything is referred to as script etymologically. We first write a Python program inside a file (like a script) in the script mode, and then we execute the file after saving it in our system. So, Script mode in Python is where we first write the Python program inside a script file and execute it after that. We can execute the script of code either using the command prompt or using Python IDE installed in our system.

In the script mode, anytime we can view the code that we have written inside the file, and we can modify it before executing it next time. That’s why editing a Python code becomes quite easy in script mode, and we can edit or view the code as many times as we want. We can write long pieces of code with script mode, and that’s why many expert programmers prefer it over the interactive mode of execution. The Python file we create using the script mode is usually saved by default inside the folder where our Python IDE is installed, and it is saved with the Python file (“.py”) extension.

Running a Python program in script mode

After we have learned about the script mode of execution in Python, now the question that comes to our mind is that how we can run a Python program using script mode. In this section, we will answer this question and learn the ways by which we can execute a Python script. But before executing a Python program script, let’s first create one and save it in our system.

Creating and saving a Python program script file:

We have to follow the following steps in sequence in order to create and save a Python program script in our device:

Step 1: Open the text editor of Python or any other text editor of our choice (We will be using Python file editor here).

Step 2: Write the following Python program inside the text editor:

as we have written down:

Step 3: After writing the Python program, we have to save the file inside the folder where our Python IDE is installed, and we have to save it with Python file extension, i.e., ‘.py’ extension. We have saved the file with the ‘code.py’ name in our device for this program.

A Python script having a Python program is successfully created and saved in our device, and now we can move forward to execute the script.

Executing a Python Program Script

Now, we have to execute the Python program script in order to get the output of the program, and we have two ways for it. We are going to use the following two ways to execute a Python program script:

1. Executing using command prompt terminal
2. Executing using Python IDE

Let’s learn about each method separately and execute the script file.

Method 1: Executing Python script using command prompt terminal:

We can execute the script file (code.py) using the command prompt terminal of our system. The output of the file will also be displayed in the terminal shell. To execute the Python script file, we have to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Open the command prompt terminal and locate the directory where Python IDE is installed in our system (same where we have saved the Python script file). To locate the directory, we can use the directory path with ‘cd’ as we did:

Now, after writing the directory path, press the enter key to locate the directory in the command prompt.

Step 2: Now, we have to write the script file name (with extension), and we have to write python before the script file name as follows:

Step 3: When we press the enter key, Python will start executing the script file in the command prompt terminal.

When we give the input values required in the code, we can even see the output of the program inside the command prompt.

That’s how we can execute our Python script file in the command prompt terminal of our system.

Method 2: Executing Python script using Python IDE

Other than executing the Python script through the command prompt terminal, we can also execute the script file by directly using the Python IDE installed in our system. To execute the Python script file using the Python IDE, we have to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Open the Python IDE and open the script file in Python IDE using the open option given.

Step 2: Now, after opening the file, we will see the run option at the top:

Or, we can even use the ‘F5’ button shortcut to run the script file in the Python IDE.

We can see that our script file (code.py) is started executing in the Python IDE, and once we give the required input values, we can see the output of the program inside the Python shell like following:

Output:

Enter a number of integer value: 38
Enter second integer number: 26
The addition of two numbers given by you is:  64

That’s how we can run or execute our Python script file using the Python IDE installed in our system.

Advantages of script mode

Now, last, let’s look at the advantages of using the script mode of execution of a Python program over the interactive mode of execution. Following are the advantages of script mode of execution:

• Script mode of execution is very much suitable for us to write long Python programs (programs having more than a single code line).
• We can easily do the editing of our Python program inside the script mode.
• We can open our Python program as many times as we want inside the script mode.
• In script mode, we can even save the code we have written to use in the future.
• Script mode is execution is mostly preferred by all the experts and Python programmers.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned about the script mode execution in Python. We have learned the ways by which we can use the script mode execution to execute our Python program.

In last, we have seen the advantages of script mode execution in Python, and by looking at these advantages, we can easily say that why experts and programmers prefer script mode of execution over the interactive mode of execution.