diff --git a/IPython/hooks.py b/IPython/hooks.py
index 761a771..0e7098e 100644
--- a/IPython/hooks.py
+++ b/IPython/hooks.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ ip_set_hook('editor',myiphooks.calljed)
 The ip_set_hook function is put by IPython into the builtin namespace, so it
 is always available from all running code.
 
-$Id: hooks.py 1076 2006-01-24 17:27:05Z vivainio $"""
+$Id: hooks.py 1087 2006-01-27 17:02:42Z vivainio $"""
 
 #*****************************************************************************
 #       Copyright (C) 2005 Fernando Perez. <fperez@colorado.edu>
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ from pprint import pformat
 
 # List here all the default hooks.  For now it's just the editor functions
 # but over time we'll move here all the public API for user-accessible things.
-__all__ = ['editor', 'fix_error_editor', 'result_display']
+__all__ = ['editor', 'fix_error_editor', 'result_display',
+           'input_prefilter']
 
 def editor(self,filename, linenum=None):
     """Open the default editor at the given filename and linenumber.
@@ -135,6 +136,11 @@ class CommandChainDispatcher:
         bisect.insort(self.chain,(priority,func))
 
 def result_display(self,arg):
+    """ Default display hook.
+    
+    Called for displaying the result to the user.
+    """
+    
     if self.rc.pprint:
         out = pformat(arg)
         if '\n' in out:
@@ -147,4 +153,17 @@ def result_display(self,arg):
         print >>Term.cout, arg
     # the default display hook doesn't manipulate the value to put in history    
     return None 
-        
\ No newline at end of file
+
+def input_prefilter(self,line):     
+    """ Default input prefilter
+    
+    This returns the line as unchanged, so that the interpreter
+    knows that nothing was done and proceeds with "classic" prefiltering
+    (%magics, !shell commands etc.). 
+    
+    Note that leading whitespace is not passed to this hook. Prefilter
+    can't alter indentation.
+    
+    """
+    #print "attempt to rewrite",line #dbg
+    return line
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/IPython/iplib.py b/IPython/iplib.py
index d02cd12..61a63f1 100644
--- a/IPython/iplib.py
+++ b/IPython/iplib.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Requires Python 2.3 or newer.
 
 This file contains all the classes and helper functions specific to IPython.
 
-$Id: iplib.py 1079 2006-01-24 21:52:31Z vivainio $
+$Id: iplib.py 1087 2006-01-27 17:02:42Z vivainio $
 """
 
 #*****************************************************************************
@@ -198,7 +198,6 @@ class InteractiveShell(object,Magic):
 
         self.api = IPython.ipapi.IPApi(self)
         
-        
         # some minimal strict typechecks.  For some core data structures, I
         # want actual basic python types, not just anything that looks like
         # one.  This is especially true for namespaces.
@@ -411,6 +410,7 @@ class InteractiveShell(object,Magic):
         for hook_name in hooks.__all__:
             # default hooks have priority 100, i.e. low; user hooks should have 0-100 priority
             self.set_hook(hook_name,getattr(hooks,hook_name), 100)
+            print "bound hook",hook_name
 
         # Flag to mark unconditional exit
         self.exit_now = False
@@ -1824,7 +1824,9 @@ want to merge them back into the new files.""" % locals()
         #print '***line: <%s>' % line # dbg
         
         # the input history needs to track even empty lines
-        if not line.strip():
+        stripped = line.strip()
+        
+        if not stripped:
             if not continue_prompt:
                 self.outputcache.prompt_count -= 1
             return self.handle_normal(line,continue_prompt)
@@ -1835,8 +1837,20 @@ want to merge them back into the new files.""" % locals()
         if continue_prompt and not self.rc.multi_line_specials:
             return self.handle_normal(line,continue_prompt)
 
+
         # For the rest, we need the structure of the input
         pre,iFun,theRest = self.split_user_input(line)
+
+        # See whether any pre-existing handler can take care of it
+        
+        rewritten = self.hooks.input_prefilter(stripped)
+        if rewritten != stripped: # ok, some prefilter did something
+            rewritten = pre + rewritten  # add indentation
+            return self.handle_normal(rewritten)
+            
+        
+        
+
         #print 'pre <%s> iFun <%s> rest <%s>' % (pre,iFun,theRest)  # dbg
 
         # First check for explicit escapes in the last/first character