how to run a django python file from command line

Question

I have a simple python file that I eventually want to run from chron.

It looks like this:

from customers.models import Customer, NotificationLogEntry


def hello():
    customers =  Customer.objects.all()
    for c in customers:
        log_entry = NotificationLogEntry(
                                          customer=c,
                                          sent=True,
                                          notification_type=0,
                                          notification_media_type=0,
                                          )
        log_entry.save()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    hello()

When I run this with:

python notifications.py

I get an import error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "notifications.py", line 1, in <module>
    from customers.models import Customer, NotificationLogEntry
ImportError: No module named customers.models

This module exists and I call it without any problem within my django app. Why am I getting this error outside of my app?

James Lin · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-02 01:21:54Z

10

You can create a custom command

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/custom-management-commands/

Or, run ./manage.py shell then import your file

Or, load the django settings

http://www.b-list.org/weblog/2007/sep/22/standalone-django-scripts/

answered Sep 2, 2014 at 1:21

James Lin

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Trémus · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-09 16:49:08Z

6

Here's super simple option if you're running cron jobs:

cat run.py | ./manage.py shell

answered Jul 9, 2018 at 16:49

Trémus

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1 Comment

Trémus Over a year ago

If you have the django-extensions package installed you can use the ./manage.py runscript command. django-extensions.readthedocs.io/en/latest/runscript.html

levi · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-02 01:24:02Z

3

you need to set up project path

import os

os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "your_project_name.settings")

# your imports, e.g. Django models
from customers.models import Customer, NotificationLogEntry

answered Sep 2, 2014 at 1:24

levi

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Hektor Over a year ago

Great answer, works perfectly with Python2 and Django1.7 for running python scripts to interact with Django from the command line.

bfontaine · Accepted Answer · 2025-02-13 11:12:18Z

0

From https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/releases/1.7/ we see:

Standalone scripts

If you’re using Django in a plain Python script — rather than a management command — and you rely on the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable, you must now explicitly initialize Django at the beginning of your script with:
import django

django.setup()

This worked for me perfectly. YMMV.

edited Feb 13 at 11:12

bfontaine

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answered Feb 13 at 0:53

RustyC

1

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