Py2exe – Generate Single Executable File

Py2exe is a Python library that allows you to convert Python scripts into standalone executable files. This can be very useful when you want to distribute your Python application to users who may not have Python installed on their machines.

Installation

To use py2exe, you first need to install it. You can do this using pip, the Python package manager. Simply open a command prompt and run the following command:

pip install py2exe

Usage

Once py2exe is installed, you can use it to convert your Python script into a single executable file. Here’s a simple example of how to do this:

import py2exe
from distutils.core import setup

setup(console=['your_script.py'])
    

Replace ‘your_script.py’ with the name of your Python script. Save this code in a file called ‘setup.py’ and run the following command in the command prompt:

python setup.py py2exe

This will generate a ‘dist’ folder containing your single executable file.

Options

Py2exe also allows you to specify various options when generating the executable file. For example, you can include additional files and DLLs, customize the icon and version information, and specify which Python interpreter to use. You can find more information about these options in the py2exe documentation.

Conclusion

Py2exe is a powerful tool for converting Python scripts into standalone executable files. It allows you to easily distribute your Python applications to users who may not have Python installed. With py2exe, you can create a single executable file that contains everything the user needs to run your application. This makes it easy for users to install and use your application, without having to worry about dependencies or compatibility issues.