How can I check the syntax of Python script without executing it?

Question

I used to use perl -c programfile to check the syntax of a Perl program and then exit without executing it. Is there an equivalent way to do this for a Python script?

Answer 1

You can check the syntax by compiling it:

python -m py_compile script.py

Answer 2

You can use these tools:

• PyChecker
• Pyflakes
• Pylint

Answer 3

import sys
filename = sys.argv[1]
source = open(filename, 'r').read() + '\n'
compile(source, filename, 'exec')

Save this as checker.py and run python checker.py yourpyfile.py.

Answer 4

Perhaps useful online checker PEP8 : http://pep8online.com/

Answer 5

Here's another solution, using the ast module:

python -c "import ast; ast.parse(open('programfile').read())"

To do it cleanly from within a Python script:

import ast, traceback

filename = 'programfile'
with open(filename) as f:
    source = f.read()
valid = True
try:
    ast.parse(source)
except SyntaxError:
    valid = False
    traceback.print_exc()  # Remove to silence any errros
print(valid)

Answer 6

for some reason ( I am a py newbie ... ) the -m call did not work ...

so here is a bash wrapper func ...

# ---------------------------------------------------------
# check the python synax for all the *.py files under the
# <<product_version_dir/sfw/python
# ---------------------------------------------------------
doCheckPythonSyntax(){

    doLog "DEBUG START doCheckPythonSyntax"

    test -z "$sleep_interval" || sleep "$sleep_interval"
    cd $product_version_dir/sfw/python
    # python3 -m compileall "$product_version_dir/sfw/python"

    # foreach *.py file ...
    while read -r f ; do \

        py_name_ext=$(basename $f)
        py_name=${py_name_ext%.*}

        doLog "python3 -c \"import $py_name\""
        # doLog "python3 -m py_compile $f"

        python3 -c "import $py_name"
        # python3 -m py_compile "$f"
        test $! -ne 0 && sleep 5

    done < <(find "$product_version_dir/sfw/python" -type f -name "*.py")

    doLog "DEBUG STOP  doCheckPythonSyntax"
}
# eof func doCheckPythonSyntax