starting Python IDLE from command line to edit scripts

Question

I am working on a project which has about 15 files that I edit often. So in the past, when I start up IDLE, I open those 15 files for editing individually.

I simply wonder if there is a way to automate this, via a .bat file or something. I'm not too good with command line, but I did a bit of research. I came across this page: http://docs.python.org/library/idle.html#command-line-usage. I've tried many variations of this command: idle.py -e filepath, but it simply starts IDLE like normal, not opening any extra windows for editing, and not throwing any errors.

So how can I do the equivalent of opening IDLE, file>open>filepath via the command line (or perhaps even a Python module)?

Answer 1

make a new text file, put this on it for example :

C:\Python26\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw "C:\file1.py" "C:\file2.py"

replace "C:\file1.py" by your files path, save as .bat and launch it, it does what you want

Answer 2

you can just program in Python to edit your Python files. A simple example. say you want to search for a word and then replace it with something else.

import fileinput
import os
os.chdir( os.path.join("c:\\","path") )
for file in os.listdir("."):
    for line in fileinput.input(file,inplace=0):
       if "search word" in line :
           line=line.replace("search word","new word")
           print line

(use inplace=1 to do in place editing.). Then save and run the script as normal Python script using the interpreter.