how to execute a python script file with an argument from inside another python script file
<p>my problem is that I want to execute a python file with an argument  from inside another python file to get the returned values....</p>

<p>I don't know if I've explained it well...</p>

<p>example:</p>

<p>from the shell I execute this:</p>

<pre><code>          getCameras.py "path_to_the_scene"
</code></pre>

<p>and this return me a list of cameras....</p>

<p>so how can I call this script (including the argument) from another script ???</p>

<p>I've been trying to figure it out by myself by reading some other questions here , but I didn't get it well, should I use the execfile() function?? how exactly??</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for helping a newbie like me!!</p>

<p>Ok, after take a look at your answers, I have to edit my question to make it more concise and  because I don't understand some answers(sorry, like I said I'm a newbie!!!):</p>

<p>Well, I have this 2 scripts  "getMayaCameras.py" and "doRender.py" and one more called "renderUI.py" that implements the first 2 scripts in a GUI.</p>

<p>"getMayaCameras.py" and "doRender.py" are both scipts that  you can execute directly from the system shell  by adding an argument ( or flags, in the "doRender.py" case) and, If it is possible, I want to still having this posibility so I can choose between execute the UI or execute the script dirctly from the shell</p>

<p>I've made already  some modifications for them to work by importing them from the "renderUI.py" script but now they don't work by themselves....</p>

<p>So is possible to have this scripts working by themselves and still having the possiblity of calling them from another script? how exactly?  This  <strong>"separating the logic from the command line argument handling"</strong> that you told me before sounds good to me but I don't know how to implement it on my script ( I tried but without succes) ....</p>

<p>That's why I'm posting here the original code for you to see how I made it, feel free both to make critics and/or correct the code to explain me how  should I make it for the script to work properly...</p>

<pre><code>#!/usr/bin/env python

import re,sys

if len(sys.argv) != 2:
    print 'usage : getMayaCameras.py &lt;path_to_originFile&gt; \nYou must specify the path to the origin file as the first arg'
    sys.exit(1)


def getMayaCameras(filename = sys.argv[1]): 
    try:
        openedFile = open(filename, 'r')
    except Exception:
        print "This file doesn't exist or can't be read from"
        import sys
        sys.exit(1)

    cameras = []    
    for line in openedFile: 
        cameraPattern = re.compile("createNode camera")     
        cameraTest = cameraPattern.search(line) 
        if cameraTest:      
            cameraNamePattern = re.compile("-p[\s]+\"(.+)\"")           
            cameraNameTest = cameraNamePattern.search(line)         
            name = cameraNameTest.group(1)          
            cameras.append(name)            
    openedFile.close()

    return cameras      

getMayaCameras()
</code></pre>

<p>Thanks again, </p>

<p>David</p>
