How to run Python egg files directly without installing them?

A python egg is a "a single-file importable distribution format". Which is typically a python package.

You can import the package in the egg as long as you know it's name and it's in your path.

You can execute a package using the "-m" option and the package name.

However, python packages generally do not do anything when executed, and you may get an error. The -c option can be used to run code. (See http://docs.python.org/using/cmdline.html for details on command line options)

> python -m sphinxsphinx is a package and cannot be directly executed> python -c "import <package in an egg>; <function>();"> python -c "import sphinx; print sphinx.package_dir"C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\sphinx-0.6.1-py2.6.egg\sphinx

As of Python 2.6, you can use python some.egg and it will be executed if it includes a module named __main__.

For earlier versions of Python, you can use PYTHONPATH=some.egg python -m some module, and somemodule from the egg will be run as the main module. (Note: if you're on Windows, you'd need to do a separate SET PYTHONPATH=some.egg.)

For example, if you want to import the suds module which is available as .egg file:

egg_path='/home/shahid/suds_2.4.egg'sys.path.append(egg_path)import suds#... rest of code