Can I use tools like Task scheduler?
Yes. Any tool that can run arbitrary programs can run your Python script. Pick the one you like best.
If I can use it,what do I need to put in the batch file?
What batch file? Task Scheduler takes anything that can be run, with arguments—a C program, a .NET program, even a document with a default app associated with it. So, there's no reason you need a batch file. Use C:\Python33\python.exe
(or whatever the appropriate path is) as your executable, and your script's path (and its arguments, if any) as the arguments. Just as you do when running the script from the command line.
See Using the Task Scheduler in MSDN for some simple examples, and Task Scheduler Schema Elements or Task Scheduler Scripting Objects for reference (depending on whether you want to create the schedule in XML, or via the scripting interface).
You want to create an ExecAction
with Path
set to "C:\Python33\python.exe"
and Arguments
set to "C:\MyStuff\myscript.py"
, and a RepetitionPattern
with Interval
set to "PT1H"
. You should be able to figure out the rest from there.
As sr2222 points out in the comments, often you end up scheduling tasks frequently, and needing to programmatically control their scheduling. If you need this, you can control Task Scheduler's scripting interface from Python, or build something on top of Task Scheduler, or use a different tool that's a bit easier to get at from Python and has more helpful examples online, etc.—but when you get to that point, take a step back and look at whether you're over-using OS task scheduling. (If you start adding delays or tweaking times to make sure the daily foo1.py
job never runs until 5 minutes after the most recent hourly foo0.py
has finished its job, you're over-using OS task scheduling—but it's not always that obvious.)