dumper.py: #!/usr/bin/python import sys print sys.argv print "name:", __name__ print "file:", __file__ $ ./dumper.py ['./dumper.py'] name: __main__ file: ./dumper.py $ ./dumper.py -x -y -z foo.file ['./dumper.py', '-x', '-y', '-z', 'foo.file'] name: __main__ file: ./dumper.py shebang: #!./dumper.py -x -y -z foo.file $ ./shebang ['./dumper.py', '-x -y -z foo.file', './shebang'] name: __main__ file: ./dumper.py