Python sys.argv to preserve ' ' or ""

Question

terminal:

python test.py blah='blah'

in test.py

print sys.argv
['test.py', 'blah=blah'] <------------ 

How can blah arg preserve its '' OR
Is there a way to know if an arg is wrap with either "" or ''?

Fredericksburg

That's not something Python controls.. That is your shell removing the quotes before passing it on to Python. – Circassia

It’s the shell that ‘strips’ the quotes; use python test.py "blah='blah'" instead. – Sleep

This appears to be an XY Problem. Why do you want the quotes? – Murcia

If you need your application to accept free-form text instead of the symbolic-ish data from command line arguments, it'll likely be easier to read it from stdin. – Deppy

please mention the OS or the shell you are using – Javier

Answer 1

Your shell removes the quotes before invoking Python. This is not something Python can control.

Add more quotes:

python test.py "blah='blah'"

which can also be placed anywhere in the argument:

python test.py blah="'blah'"

or you could use backslash escapes:

python test.py blah=\'blah\'

to preserve them. This does depend on the exact shell you are using to run the command.

Demo on bash:

$ cat test.py 
import sys
print sys.argv
$ python test.py blah='blah'
['test.py', 'blah=blah']
$ python test.py "blah='blah'"
['test.py', "blah='blah'"]
$ python test.py blah="'blah'"
['test.py', "blah='blah'"]
$ python test.py blah=\'blah\'
['test.py', "blah='blah'"]

Circassia

is the behavior OS independent? – Javier

@hus787: Very much so. It depends on the shell implementation. On windows, the cmd console quoting uses different rules from the bash shell. I have little experience with tsh or zsh but they may well use different rules again. – Circassia

Answer 2

maybe

python test.py blah="'blah'"

Rattat