Reorder info fields to put most useful first

Closes gh-7817
Closes gh-7759

IPython/core/interactiveshell.py

@@ -34,7 +34,7 b' from IPython.core import page'
 from IPython.core import prefilter
 from IPython.core import shadowns
 from IPython.core import ultratb
-from IPython.core.alias import AliasManager, AliasError
+from IPython.core.alias import Alias, AliasManager
 from IPython.core.autocall import ExitAutocall
 from IPython.core.builtin_trap import BuiltinTrap
 from IPython.core.events import EventManager, available_events
@@ -1502,6 +1502,7 b' class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable):'
                 found = True
                 ospace = 'IPython internal'
                 ismagic = True
+                isalias = isinstance(obj, Alias)
 
         # Last try: special-case some literals like '', [], {}, etc:
         if not found and oname_head in ["''",'""','[]','{}','()']:

IPython/core/oinspect.py

@@ -554,23 +554,6 b' class Inspector:'
                 title = header((title+":").ljust(title_width))
             out.append(cast_unicode(title) + cast_unicode(content))
         return "\n".join(out)
-
-    # The fields to be displayed by pinfo: (fancy_name, key_in_info_dict)
-    pinfo_fields1 = [("Type", "type_name"),
-                    ]
-                    
-    pinfo_fields2 = [("String form", "string_form"),
-                    ]
-
-    pinfo_fields3 = [("Length", "length"),
-                    ("File", "file"),
-                    ("Definition", "definition"),
-                    ]
-
-    pinfo_fields_obj = [("Class docstring", "class_docstring"),
-                        ("Init docstring", "init_docstring"),
-                        ("Call def", "call_def"),
-                        ("Call docstring", "call_docstring")]
     
     def _format_info(self, obj, oname='', formatter=None, info=None, detail_level=0):
         """Format an info dict as text"""
@@ -582,41 +565,62 b' class Inspector:'
                 field = info[key]
                 if field is not None:
                     displayfields.append((title, field.rstrip()))
-        
-        add_fields(self.pinfo_fields1)
-        
-        # Base class for old-style instances
-        if (not py3compat.PY3) and isinstance(obj, types.InstanceType) and info['base_class']:
-            displayfields.append(("Base Class", info['base_class'].rstrip()))
-        
-        add_fields(self.pinfo_fields2)
-        
-        # Namespace
-        if info['namespace'] != 'Interactive':
-            displayfields.append(("Namespace", info['namespace'].rstrip()))
-
-        add_fields(self.pinfo_fields3)
-        if info['isclass'] and info['init_definition']:
-            displayfields.append(("Init definition",
-                            info['init_definition'].rstrip()))
-        
-        # Source or docstring, depending on detail level and whether
-        # source found.
-        if detail_level > 0 and info['source'] is not None:
-            displayfields.append(("Source", 
-                                  self.format(cast_unicode(info['source']))))
-        elif info['docstring'] is not None:
-            displayfields.append(("Docstring", info["docstring"]))
-
-        # Constructor info for classes
-        if info['isclass']:
-            if info['init_docstring'] is not None:
-                displayfields.append(("Init docstring",
-                                    info['init_docstring']))
-
-        # Info for objects:
+
+        if info['isalias']:
+            add_fields([('Repr', "string_form")])
+
+        elif info['ismagic']:
+            add_fields([("Docstring", "docstring"),
+                        ("File", "file")
+                       ])
+
+        elif info['isclass'] or is_simple_callable(obj):
+            # Functions, methods, classes
+            add_fields([("Signature", "definition"),
+                        ("Init signature", "init_definition"),
+                       ])
+            if detail_level > 0 and info['source'] is not None:
+                add_fields([("Source", "source")])
+            else:
+                add_fields([("Docstring", "docstring"),
+                            ("Init docstring", "init_docstring"),
+                           ])
+
+            add_fields([('File', 'file'),
+                        ('Type', 'type_name'),
+                       ])
+
         else:
-            add_fields(self.pinfo_fields_obj)
+            # General Python objects
+            add_fields([("Type", "type_name")])
+
+            # Base class for old-style instances
+            if (not py3compat.PY3) and isinstance(obj, types.InstanceType) and info['base_class']:
+                displayfields.append(("Base Class", info['base_class'].rstrip()))
+
+            add_fields([("String form", "string_form")])
+
+            # Namespace
+            if info['namespace'] != 'Interactive':
+                displayfields.append(("Namespace", info['namespace'].rstrip()))
+
+            add_fields([("Length", "length"),
+                        ("File", "file"),
+                        ("Definition", "definition"),
+                       ])
+
+            # Source or docstring, depending on detail level and whether
+            # source found.
+            if detail_level > 0 and info['source'] is not None:
+                displayfields.append(("Source",
+                                      self.format(cast_unicode(info['source']))))
+            elif info['docstring'] is not None:
+                displayfields.append(("Docstring", info["docstring"]))
+
+            add_fields([("Class docstring", "class_docstring"),
+                        ("Init docstring", "init_docstring"),
+                        ("Call def", "call_def"),
+                        ("Call docstring", "call_docstring")])
         
         if displayfields:
             return self._format_fields(displayfields)