Command-line interface

Last modified: 08 March 2021

Use PyCharm features from the command line: open files and projects, view diffs, merge files, apply code style formatting, and inspect the source code.

tip

For information about running command-line tools from inside PyCharm, see Terminal emulator.

Launcher for a standalone instance

The installation directory contains batch scripts and executables for launching PyCharm, formatting the source code, and running inspections. To use them from the Command Prompt cmd.exe, add the location of the PyCharm bin folder to the PATH environment variable. For example, if you installed PyCharm to C:\Program Files\JetBrains\PyCharm, you can use the following command:

>
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\JetBrains\PyCharm\bin

This command changes the PATH environment variable for the current shell only (the current instance of cmd.exe). If you want to update it permanently for the current user, run setx. To update it system-wide for all users, run setx /M.

tip

The installer can do this for you if you select Add launchers dir to the PATH on the Installation Options step of the setup wizard.

After you configure the PATH variable, you can run the corresponding executable from any working directory in the Command Prompt: pycharm64.exe for 64-bit versions or pycharm.exe for 32-bit versions. Alternatively, you can use the batch script: pycharm.bat.

Shell scripts generated by the Toolbox App

If you are using the Toolbox App to install and manage JetBrains products, it can create shell scripts for launching your IDEs from the command line.

Generate shell scripts

  1. Open the Toolbox App and click The screw nut icon in the top right corner.

  2. In the Toolbox App Settings, enable Generate shell scripts.

  3. If necessary, change the shell scripts location.

Set scripts path in Toolbox

If you have several versions of the same IDE, the Toolbox App generates a shell script for each version with a unique name. You can change the name of the shell script for an IDE instance in the settings for this specific instance.

Change the name of the shell script

  1. Open the Toolbox App.

  2. Click The screw nut icon next to the relevant IDE instance and select Settings.

  3. At the bottom, change the Shell script name field.

Generation in Toolbox

By default, the Toolbox App puts shell scripts in a directory from the system PATH environment variable, so you can run the name of the script as a command to launch PyCharm from any working directory.

Command-line arguments

The launcher script accepts commands, options, and other arguments to modify its behavior:

ArgumentDescription
No argumentLaunch PyCharm.
Path to file or directoryOpen the file or directory specified as the argument.
For more information, see Open files from the command line.
Commands
diffOpen the diff viewer to see differences between two specified files.
For more information, see Compare files from the command line.
mergeOpen the Merge dialog to merge the specified files.
For more information, see Merge files from the command line.
formatApply code style formatting to the specified files.
For more information, see Format files from the command line.
inspectPerform code inspection on the specified project.
For more information, see Run code inspections from the command line.
Options
nosplashDo not show the splash screen when loading PyCharm.
dontReopenProjectsDo not reopen projects and show the welcome screen. This can help if a project that was open crashes PyCharm for some reason.
disableNonBundledPluginsDo not load manually installed plugins. This can help if a plugin that you installed crashes PyCharm for some reason. You will be able to start the IDE and either disable or uninstall the problematic plugin.
--wait

Wait for the files to be closed before returning to the command prompt.

For example, you can open file.txt with the following command:

pycharm64.exe --wait file.txt

The shell will be waiting until file.txt is closed.