Question

How do you run a .py program?

Answer 1

In IDLE: F5. If you run it from Windows, it should open in command prompt.

Answer 2

how does the python shell know where the file is?

Answer 3

I'm not sure what you mean.

If you run IDLE by itself, just press Ctrl+O, pick a file, and IDLE will open it in the code editor. When you press F5 in the code editor, IDLE will run your code in the shell.

Answer 4

or you could use the command line. Open cmd/terminal and browse till you get to the directory that holds your .py application, then run "python NAME_OF_YOUR_APPLICATION.py"

Answer 5

http://docs.python.org/using/cmdline.html#envvar-PYTHONPATH