Problem in running an exe file in command line when there is space in paths of files

I tried to automate archiving folders inside a directory with Winrar through Windows 10 command line either by Python or VBA codes. Considering that there might be spaces, I enclosed all paths in quotations.
However I ran in to the same error in both Python or VBA;
" 'C:/Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."
Here is a sample uncompleted Python code attempt;

def folders_2_Winrar(source_path:str, archive_path:str, password:str='', winrar_path:str='"C:/Program Files/WinRAR/winrar.exe"')->None:
    import os
    
    folder_list = path_entries(source_path)['folders']  ## separate function that returns a list of folders in a directory
    for f in folder_list:
        rar = '"'+ archive_path + os.path.basename(f) +'.rar'+'"'
        f = r'"'+f+'\*.*"'
        cmd = winrar_path+' a -hp' + password + ' -ep1 ' + rar + ' ' + f 
        os.system(cmd)

# test the function
folders_2_Winrar("E:/Test/Source", "E:/Test\\Archive/","123")

what's the problem I could not grasp??!!

Solution

Short answer: Use a shorthanded version of the full path: "C:/Progra~1/WinRAR/winrar.exe"

Longer answer: Command prompts don't like space in between paths. Usually within the prompt itself you will need to use quotation marks to signify the full path that contains space, or use a shorthand convention of the ~1 (tilde notation).

Here is a web archived Microsoft knowledge base that I dug up, which I'll include here as a copy in case it goes down:

Windows generates short file names from long file names in the following manner:

Windows deletes any invalid characters and spaces from the file name. Invalid characters include: . " / \ [ ] : ; = ,

Because short file names can contain only one period (.), Windows removes additional periods from the file name if valid, non-space characters follow the final period in the file name.

For example, Windows generates the short file name Thisis~1.txt from the long file name This is a really long filename.123.456.789.txt

Otherwise, Windows ignores the final period and uses the next to the last period. For example, Windows generates the short file name Thisis~1.789 from the long file name This is a really long filename.123.456.789.

Windows truncates the file name, if necessary, to six characters and appends a tilde (~) and a digit. For example, each unique file name created ends with "~1." Duplicate file names end with "~2," "~3," and so on.

Windows truncates the file name extension to three characters or less.

Windows translates all characters in the file name and extension to uppercase.

Note that if a folder or file name contains a space, but less than eight characters, Windows still creates a short file name. This behavior may cause problems if you attempt to access such a file or folder over a network. To work around this situation, substitute a valid character, such as an underscore (_), for the space. If you do so, Windows does not create a different short file name

For example, "Afile~1.doc" is generated from "A file.doc" because the long file name contains a space.

No short file name is generated from "A_file.doc" because the file name contains less than eight characters and does not contain a space.

The short file name "Alongf~1.txt" is generated from the long file name "A long filename.txt" because the long file name contains more than eight characters.

Alternative answer: you can try adding quotes in the cmd that you intend to run:

# using f-strings for Python 3.6+
cmd = f'"{winrar_path}" a -hp {password} -ep1 {rar} {f}' 

# or using good ol' format:
cmd = '"{path}" a -hp {pw} -ep1 {file} {fl}'.format(path=winrar_path, pw=password, file=rar, fl=f)