VSCode invalid syntax (launch.json, line 2)

Question

What do I need to put in this file in order to run my program. From the command line normally I navigate to the folder (as my test file is there too) and type:

python main.py test_file.xlsx

So my python script is called main.py and I am sending an excel file as an argument. I can't work out what you are supposed to put in the launch.json file to get it to work I found the args bit from another post, but I have no idea if I have done it correctly as vscode is objecting to its own default launch file comment?:

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Python: Current File",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${file}",
            "args"
            "console": "integratedTerminal"
        }
    ]
}

Completely lost with this, why is there not some documentation around this?

it's a json file, you can't put comments in it. Remove those 3 lines. Also there is a extension called code runner or something like that in vscode which you can use to run files of various different languages — Vaibhav Vishal
– Vaibhav Vishal, Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 12:23
You need to specify the "args" bit. Right now you just have the key with no value and no comma between it and "console" — tehhowch
– tehhowch, Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 12:27
VSCode uses a different JSON standard, which allows for comments. See my answer re the args bit. — Stefan Bobev
– Stefan Bobev, Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 12:27

Stefan Bobev · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-20 12:27:23Z

1

Let's start from the top:

The JSON you have pasted above is not valid - objects must be key-value pairs. Your args key does not have a value.

args is an array of strings that are passed in to the command in your configuration. In your case this would be ["${workspaceFolder}/main.py"] if your main is in the root directory of the workspace.

To have a nice dynamic list of secondary arguments (in your case files) you can use the runtimeArgs key. It is also a list of strings, in your case it would be ["test_file.xlsx"]

Documentation about the VSCode debugger can be found here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging

Hope this helps :)

answered Aug 20, 2019 at 12:27

Stefan Bobev

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1 Comment

iFunction Over a year ago

That's my bad, I forgot to remove all the args line from what I had tried previously. Your answer was correct, all I was missing was the square brackets, I didn't know it was taking in a list. But it works, thank you very much for your prompt reply.

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