1. The os.system function

import os
os.system('explorer "c:\program files"')

This has the disadvantage that a cmd.exe windows is also opened,
because os.system executes the command in a subshell.

But using this approach the explorer starts in front of all other windows.

2. The os.startfile function

import os
os.startfile("C:\program files")

Using startfile doesn't open a cmd.exe window, but the folder window
is not started in front of the other windows

3. The subprocess.Popen function

import subprocess
subprocess.Popen('explorer "C:\program files"')

With subprocess.Popen no cmd.exe window is opened and the explorer
starts in front of the other windows.
But the subprocess module is new in Python 2.4.

os.system("explorer " + folder_path)

import os
os.startfile(r'c:\windows')

Folders like My Documents, My Pictures, etc. are special and you need to
determine their actual path before you can open them. The pywin32
extensions
(https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=78018) include a
way to get at this:

from win32com.shell import shellcon, shell
path = shell.SHGetFolderPath(0, shellcon.CSIDL_MYPICTURES, 0, 0)
os.startfile(path)

Google for CSIDL to find the constants to use for other special folders.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shel...

--

Vincent Wehren

works for me.