How to start IDLE (Python editor) without using the shortcut on Windows Vista?

Question

I'm trying to teach Komodo to fire up IDLE when I hit the right keystrokes. I can use the exact path of the shortcut in start menu in the Windows Explorer location bar to launch IDLE so I was hoping Komodo would be able to use it as well. But, giving this path to Komodo causes it to say that 1 is returned. This appears to be a failure as IDLE doesn't start up.

I thought I'd avoid the shortcut and just use the exact path. I go to the start menu, find the shortcut for IDLE, right click to look at the properties. The target is grayed out, but says "Python 2.5.2". The "Start in" is set to, "C:\Python25\". The "Open File Location" button is also grayed out.

How do I find out where this shortcut is really pointing? I have tried starting python.exe and pythonw.exe both in C:\Python25, but neither starts up IDLE.

Answer 1

There's a file called idle.py in your Python installation directory in Lib\idlelib\idle.py

If you run that file with Python, then IDLE should start.

c:\Python25\pythonw.exe c:\Python25\Lib\idlelib\idle.py

Answer 2

Here's another path you can use. I'm not sure if this is part of the standard distribution or if the file is automatically created on first use of the IDLE.

C:\Python25\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw

Answer 3

You can also assign hotkeys to Windows shortcuts directly (at least in Windows 95 you could, I haven't checked again since then, but I think the option should be still there ^_^).