How to Run Python Programs Using Command Prompt – Complete Beginner’s Guide

🐍 Writing Python code is only the beginning! Once you have written your program, the next step is to run it and see the result.

In this beginner-friendly guide, you will learn how to write a Python program, save it as a .py file, run it using Windows Command Prompt, and finally see your output on the screen.

💡 Don’t worry if you are a complete beginner! Just follow the steps and you will run your first Python program in a few minutes. 🚀

🎉 Let’s write your first Python program! You don’t need any complicated software for this example. We will use a simple text editor to write a tiny program and save it as a Python (.py) file.

Open Notepad and type the following code:

💡 The print() function tells Python to display the message “Hello, Python!” on the screen.

⭐ Beginner Tip: Don’t worry about understanding every detail yet. For now, just remember that print() is used to display output.

✨ Now that you have written your first Python program, it’s time to save it as a Python file.

Click File → Save As in Notepad and save the program with the .py extension.

🚀 Click Save and your first Python program is ready to run!

⭐ Important: Make sure the file is saved as hello.py, not hello.py.txt. The .py extension tells Windows that it is a Python program.

👀 Before opening Command Prompt, let’s quickly check whether our Python file hello.py has been saved correctly.

Open the PythonPrograms folder in File Explorer. You should see your Python program inside the folder.

✅ If you can see hello.py, you’re ready for the next step — running your program from Command Prompt! 🚀

⭐ Quick Check: Make sure the file name ends with .py. If you see hello.py.txt, the file was not saved with the correct Python extension.

🚀 Now let’s open Command Prompt. This is where we will tell Python to run our program.

The easiest way is to press Windows + R on your keyboard. A small Run window will appear.

In the Run window, type:

Finally, press Enter or click OK. 🎯 The Command Prompt window will open.

💡 Beginner Tip: Command Prompt may look a little old-fashioned, but don’t worry! 😄 We only need to type a few simple commands to run our Python programs.

🔎 Before running our program, let’s make sure that Python is available from the Command Prompt.

At the Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

If Python is installed and correctly configured, you should see a message similar to:

🎉 Great! If you can see the Python version, your computer is ready to run Python programs from the Command Prompt.

💡 Remember: The exact Python version shown on your computer may be different. For example, you might see Python 3.12.x, Python 3.13.x, or another installed version.

🎯 Our hello.py file is stored inside the C:\PythonPrograms folder. So, before running the program, we need to tell Command Prompt to move to that folder.

In Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

The command cd means Change Directory. It tells Command Prompt which folder you want to work in.

✅ Now Command Prompt is inside the correct folder, and we are ready to run our Python program! 🚀🐍

💡 Beginner Tip: The folder path must match the location where you saved hello.py. If your file is saved somewhere else, use that folder’s path instead.

⚠️ Remember: Do not type the Python file name with cd. The cd command is used to move to a folder, not to run a Python program.

🎉 The moment has arrived! Our Python file is saved, Python is working, and Command Prompt is already inside the correct folder.

Now let’s run our first Python program. Type the following command and press Enter:

If everything is correct, Python will execute the program and display its output in the Command Prompt:

🎊 Congratulations! You have just written, saved, and successfully run your first Python program using Command Prompt. 🐍💻

💡 What just happened?
python tells Windows to start the Python interpreter, while hello.py tells Python which program to execute.

⭐ Remember: The exact output depends on the code written inside your Python file. In our example, the program contains print(“Hello, Python!”), so that message appears on the screen.

🎯 We just ran our first Python program from Command Prompt. But what exactly happened when we typed the command? Let’s break it down into two simple parts.

💡 Beginner Tip: You don’t need to memorize everything right away. Just remember this simple pattern: python + filename.py is a common way to run a Python program from Command Prompt.

🌟 Our first program simply displayed a message. Now let’s make Python interact with us!

In this example, the program will ask for your name and then greet you. Create a new file named name.py and enter the following code:

💻 Save the file and return to Command Prompt. Make sure you are inside the folder containing name.py. Then type:

Python will run the program and wait for you to enter your name:

🚀 Now let’s try something a little more practical! We will create a simple calculator program that performs basic arithmetic operations.

Open Notepad, create a new file named calculator.py, and enter the following code:

💾 Save the file and return to Command Prompt. Make sure you are inside the folder where calculator.py is saved.

Now run the program using:

🎯 You should see the following output:

🎯 You have now seen how to write and run a Python program using Command Prompt. Let’s put all the steps together so you can remember the complete process easily.

🎯 Now it’s your turn! You have learned how to write, save, and run Python programs. Let’s put everything together with one small challenge.

✍️ Enter the following code in your Python file:

🎉 If everything works correctly, you should see something similar to: