Initial code to expand macro in prefilter. Doesn't quite work right with multi-line macros.

IPython/core/macro.py

@@ -8,9 +8,8 b''
 #*****************************************************************************
 
 import IPython.utils.io
-from IPython.core.autocall import IPyAutocall
 
-class Macro(IPyAutocall):
+class Macro(object):
     """Simple class to store the value of macros as strings.
 
     Macro is just a callable that executes a string of IPython
@@ -29,11 +28,6 b' class Macro(IPyAutocall):'
     def __repr__(self):
         return 'IPython.macro.Macro(%s)' % repr(self.value)
     
-    def __call__(self,*args):
-        IPython.utils.io.Term.cout.flush()
-        self._ip.user_ns['_margv'] = args
-        self._ip.run_cell(self.value)
-    
     def __getstate__(self):
         """ needed for safe pickling via %store """
         return {'value': self.value}

IPython/core/prefilter.py

@@ -32,6 +32,7 b' import re'
 from IPython.core.alias import AliasManager
 from IPython.core.autocall import IPyAutocall
 from IPython.config.configurable import Configurable
+from IPython.core.macro import Macro
 from IPython.core.splitinput import split_user_input
 from IPython.core import page
 
@@ -598,6 +599,18 b' class ShellEscapeChecker(PrefilterChecker):'
             return self.prefilter_manager.get_handler_by_name('shell')
 
 
+class MacroChecker(PrefilterChecker):
+    
+    priority = Int(250, config=True)
+    
+    def check(self, line_info):
+        obj = self.shell.user_ns.get(line_info.ifun)
+        if isinstance(obj, Macro):
+            return self.prefilter_manager.get_handler_by_name('macro')
+        else:
+            return None
+
+
 class IPyAutocallChecker(PrefilterChecker):
 
     priority = Int(300, config=True)
@@ -837,6 +850,16 b' class ShellEscapeHandler(PrefilterHandler):'
         return line_out
 
 
+class MacroHandler(PrefilterHandler):
+    handler_name = Str("macro")
+    
+    def handle(self, line_info):
+        obj = self.shell.user_ns.get(line_info.ifun)
+        pre_space = line_info.pre_whitespace
+        line_sep = "\n" + pre_space
+        return pre_space + line_sep.join(obj.value.splitlines())
+
+
 class MagicHandler(PrefilterHandler):
 
     handler_name = Str('magic')
@@ -979,6 +1002,7 b' _default_transformers = ['
 _default_checkers = [
     EmacsChecker,
     ShellEscapeChecker,
+    MacroChecker,
     IPyAutocallChecker,
     MultiLineMagicChecker,
     EscCharsChecker,
@@ -993,6 +1017,7 b' _default_handlers = ['
     PrefilterHandler,
     AliasHandler,
     ShellEscapeHandler,
+    MacroHandler,
     MagicHandler,
     AutoHandler,
     HelpHandler,