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1 IPython is licensed under the terms of the new or revised BSD license, as follows:
2
3 Copyright (c) 2008, IPython Development Team
4
5 All rights reserved.
6
7 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
8 are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
9
10 Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of
11 conditions and the following disclaimer.
12
13 Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list
14 of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
15 materials provided with the distribution.
16
17 Neither the name of the IPython Development Team nor the names of its contributors
18 may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
19 specific prior written permission.
20
21 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY
22 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
23 WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
24 IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
25 INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
26 NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
27 PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
28 WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
29 ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
30 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
31
32 About the IPython Development Team
33 ----------------------------------
34
35 Fernando Perez began IPython in 2001 based on code from Janko Hauser <jhauser@zscout.de>
36 and Nathaniel Gray <n8gray@caltech.edu>. Fernando is still the project lead.
37
38 The IPython Development Team is the set of all contributors to the IPython project.
39 This includes all of the IPython subprojects. Here is a list of the currently active contributors:
40
41 * Matthieu Brucher
42 * Ondrej Certik
43 * Laurent Dufrechou
44 * Robert Kern
45 * Brian E. Granger
46 * Fernando Perez (project leader)
47 * Benjamin Ragan-Kelley
48 * Ville M. Vainio
49 * Gael Varoququx
50 * Stefan van der Walt
51 * Tech-X Corporation
52 * Barry Wark
53
54 If your name is missing, please add it.
55
56 Our Copyright Policy
57 --------------------
58
59 IPython uses a shared copyright model. Each contributor maintains copyright over
60 their contributions to IPython. But, it is important to note that these
61 contributions are typically only changes to the repositories. Thus, the IPython
62 source code, in its entirety is not the copyright of any single person or
63 institution. Instead, it is the collective copyright of the entire IPython
64 Development Team. If individual contributors want to maintain a record of what
65 changes/contributions they have specific copyright on, they should indicate their
66 copyright in the commit message of the change, when they commit the change to
67 one of the IPython repositories.
68
69 With this in mind, the following banner should be used in any source code file to
70 indicate the copyright and license terms:
71
72 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
73 # Copyright (C) 2008 The IPython Development Team
74 #
75 # Distributed under the terms of the BSD License. The full license is in
76 # the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
77 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,179 b''
1 """Load and store configuration objects.
2
3 Test this module using
4
5 nosetests -v --with-doctest --doctest-tests IPython.config
6
7 """
8
9 from __future__ import with_statement
10 from contextlib import contextmanager
11
12 import inspect
13 import types
14 from IPython.config import traitlets
15 from traitlets import Traitlet
16 from IPython.external.configobj import ConfigObj
17
18 def debug(s):
19 import sys
20 sys.stderr.write(str(s) + '\n')
21
22 @contextmanager
23 def raw(config):
24 """Context manager for accessing traitlets directly.
25
26 """
27 config.__getattribute__('',raw_access=True)
28 yield config
29 config.__getattribute__('',raw_access=False)
30
31 class Config(object):
32 """
33 Implementation Notes
34 ====================
35 All instances of the same Config class share properties. Therefore,
36
37 >>> class Sample(Config):
38 ... my_float = traitlets.Float(3)
39
40 >>> s0 = Sample()
41 >>> s1 = Sample()
42 >>> s0.my_float = 5
43 >>> s0.my_float == s1.my_float
44 True
45
46 """
47 def __init__(self):
48 # Instantiate subconfigs
49 with raw(self):
50 subconfigs = [(n,v) for n,v in
51 inspect.getmembers(self, inspect.isclass)
52 if not n.startswith('__')]
53
54 for n,v in subconfigs:
55 setattr(self, n, v())
56
57 def __getattribute__(self,attr,raw_access=None,
58 _ns={'raw_access':False}):
59 if raw_access is not None:
60 _ns['raw_access'] = raw_access
61 return
62
63 obj = object.__getattribute__(self,attr)
64 if isinstance(obj,Traitlet) and not _ns['raw_access']:
65 return obj.__call__()
66 else:
67 return obj
68
69 def __setattr__(self,attr,value):
70 obj = object.__getattribute__(self,attr)
71 if isinstance(obj,Traitlet):
72 obj(value)
73 else:
74 self.__dict__[attr] = value
75
76 def __str__(self,level=1,only_modified=True):
77 ci = ConfigInspector(self)
78 out = ''
79 spacer = ' '*(level-1)
80
81 # Add traitlet representations
82 for p,v in ci.properties:
83 if (v.modified and only_modified) or not only_modified:
84 out += spacer + '%s = %s\n' % (p,v)
85
86 # Add subconfig representations
87 for (n,v) in ci.subconfigs:
88 sub_str = v.__str__(level=level+1,only_modified=only_modified)
89 if sub_str:
90 out += '\n' + spacer + '[' * level + ('%s' % n) \
91 + ']'*level + '\n'
92 out += sub_str
93
94 return out
95
96 def __iadd__(self,source):
97 """Load configuration from filename, and update self.
98
99 """
100 if not isinstance(source,dict):
101 source = ConfigObj(source, unrepr=True)
102 update_from_dict(self,source)
103 return self
104
105
106 class ConfigInspector(object):
107 """Allow the inspection of Config objects.
108
109 """
110 def __init__(self,config):
111 self._config = config
112
113 @property
114 def properties(self):
115 "Return all traitlet names."
116 with raw(self._config):
117 return inspect.getmembers(self._config,
118 lambda obj: isinstance(obj, Traitlet))
119
120 @property
121 def subconfigs(self):
122 "Return all subconfig names and values."
123 with raw(self._config):
124 return [(n,v) for n,v in
125 inspect.getmembers(self._config,
126 lambda obj: isinstance(obj,Config))
127 if not n.startswith('__')]
128
129 def reset(self):
130 for (p,v) in self.properties:
131 v.reset()
132
133 for (s,v) in self.subconfigs:
134 ConfigInspector(v).reset()
135
136 def update_from_dict(config,d):
137 """Propagate the values of the dictionary to the given configuration.
138
139 Useful to load configobj instances.
140
141 """
142 for k,v in d.items():
143 try:
144 prop_or_subconfig = getattr(config, k)
145 except AttributeError:
146 print "Invalid section/property in config file: %s" % k
147 else:
148 if isinstance(v,dict):
149 update_from_dict(prop_or_subconfig,v)
150 else:
151 setattr(config, k, v)
152
153 def dict_from_config(config,only_modified=True):
154 """Create a dictionary from a Config object."""
155 ci = ConfigInspector(config)
156 out = {}
157
158 for p,v in ci.properties:
159 if (v.modified and only_modified) or not only_modified:
160 out[p] = v
161
162 for s,v in ci.subconfigs:
163 d = dict_from_config(v,only_modified)
164 if d != {}:
165 out[s] = d
166
167 return out
168
169 def write(config, target):
170 """Write a configuration to file.
171
172 """
173 if isinstance(target, str):
174 target = open(target, 'w+')
175 target.flush()
176 target.seek(0)
177
178 confobj = ConfigObj(dict_from_config(config), unrepr=True)
179 confobj.write(target)
@@ -0,0 +1,19 b''
1 from IPython.config.api import *
2
3 class SubSubSample(Config):
4 my_int = Int(3)
5
6
7 class Sample(Config):
8 my_float = Float(3)
9 my_choice = Enum('a','b','c')
10
11 class MiddleSection(Config):
12 left_alone = Enum('1','2','c')
13 unknown_mod = Module('asd')
14
15 class SubSample(Config):
16 subsample_uri = URI('http://localhost:8080')
17
18 # Example of how to include external config
19 SubSubSample = SubSubSample()
@@ -0,0 +1,135 b''
1 """
2 # Test utilities
3
4 >>> import os
5
6 >>> def dict_as_sorted_list(d):
7 ... for k in d:
8 ... if isinstance(d[k],dict):
9 ... d[k] = dict_as_sorted_list(d[k])
10 ... return sorted(d.items())
11
12 >>> def pprint(d,level=0):
13 ... if isinstance(d,dict):
14 ... d = dict_as_sorted_list(d)
15 ... for item,value in d:
16 ... if isinstance(value,list):
17 ... print "%s%s" % (' '*level, item)
18 ... pprint(value,level+2)
19 ... else:
20 ... print "%s%s: %s" % (' '*level, item, value)
21
22
23 # Tests
24
25 >>> from IPython.config.api import *
26 >>> from sample_config import *
27
28 >>> s = Sample()
29 >>> print s.my_float
30 3.0
31 >>> s.my_float = 4
32 >>> print s.my_float
33 4.0
34 >>> print type(s.my_float)
35 <type 'float'>
36 >>> s.SubSample.SubSubSample.my_int = 5.0
37 >>> print s.SubSample.SubSubSample.my_int
38 5
39
40 >>> i = ConfigInspector(s)
41 >>> print i.properties
42 [('my_choice', 'a'), ('my_float', 4.0)]
43 >>> print tuple(s for s,v in i.subconfigs)
44 ('MiddleSection', 'SubSample')
45
46 >>> print s
47 my_float = 4.0
48 <BLANKLINE>
49 [SubSample]
50 <BLANKLINE>
51 [[SubSubSample]]
52 my_int = 5
53 <BLANKLINE>
54
55 >>> import tempfile
56 >>> fn = tempfile.mktemp()
57 >>> f = open(fn,'w')
58 >>> f.write(str(s))
59 >>> f.close()
60
61 >>> s += fn
62
63 >>> from IPython.external.configobj import ConfigObj
64 >>> c = ConfigObj(fn)
65 >>> c['SubSample']['subsample_uri'] = 'http://ipython.scipy.org'
66
67 >>> s += c
68 >>> print s
69 my_float = 4.0
70 <BLANKLINE>
71 [SubSample]
72 subsample_uri = 'http://ipython.scipy.org'
73 <BLANKLINE>
74 [[SubSubSample]]
75 my_int = 5
76 <BLANKLINE>
77
78 >>> pprint(dict_from_config(s,only_modified=False))
79 MiddleSection
80 left_alone: '1'
81 unknown_mod: 'asd'
82 SubSample
83 SubSubSample
84 my_int: 5
85 subsample_uri: 'http://ipython.scipy.org'
86 my_choice: 'a'
87 my_float: 4.0
88
89 >>> pprint(dict_from_config(s))
90 SubSample
91 SubSubSample
92 my_int: 5
93 subsample_uri: 'http://ipython.scipy.org'
94 my_float: 4.0
95
96 Test roundtripping:
97
98 >>> fn = tempfile.mktemp()
99 >>> f = open(fn, 'w')
100 >>> f.write('''
101 ... [MiddleSection]
102 ... # some comment here
103 ... left_alone = 'c'
104 ... ''')
105 >>> f.close()
106
107 >>> s += fn
108
109 >>> pprint(dict_from_config(s))
110 MiddleSection
111 left_alone: 'c'
112 SubSample
113 SubSubSample
114 my_int: 5
115 subsample_uri: 'http://ipython.scipy.org'
116 my_float: 4.0
117
118 >>> write(s, fn)
119 >>> f = file(fn,'r')
120 >>> ConfigInspector(s).reset()
121 >>> pprint(dict_from_config(s))
122
123 >>> s += fn
124 >>> os.unlink(fn)
125 >>> pprint(dict_from_config(s))
126 MiddleSection
127 left_alone: 'c'
128 SubSample
129 SubSubSample
130 my_int: 5
131 subsample_uri: 'http://ipython.scipy.org'
132 my_float: 4.0
133
134
135 """
@@ -0,0 +1,322 b''
1 """Traitlets -- a light-weight meta-class free stand-in for Traits.
2
3 Traitlet behaviour
4 ==================
5 - Automatic casting, equivalent to traits.C* classes, e.g. CFloat, CBool etc.
6
7 - By default, validation is done by attempting to cast a given value
8 to the underlying type, e.g. bool for Bool, float for Float etc.
9
10 - To set or get a Traitlet value, use the ()-operator. E.g.
11
12 >>> b = Bool(False)
13 >>> b(True)
14 >>> print b # returns a string representation of the Traitlet
15 True
16 >>> print b() # returns the underlying bool object
17 True
18
19 This makes it possible to change values "in-place", unlike an assigment
20 of the form
21
22 >>> c = Bool(False)
23 >>> c = True
24
25 which results in
26
27 >>> print type(b), type(c)
28 <class 'IPython.config.traitlets.Bool'> <type 'bool'>
29
30 - Each Traitlet keeps track of its modification state, e.g.
31
32 >>> c = Bool(False)
33 >>> print c.modified
34 False
35 >>> c(False)
36 >>> print c.modified
37 False
38 >>> c(True)
39 >>> print c.modified
40 True
41
42 How to customize Traitlets
43 ==========================
44
45 The easiest way to create a new Traitlet is by wrapping an underlying
46 Python type. This is done by setting the "_type" class attribute. For
47 example, creating an int-like Traitlet is done as follows:
48
49 >>> class MyInt(Traitlet):
50 ... _type = int
51
52 >>> i = MyInt(3)
53 >>> i(4)
54 >>> print i
55 4
56
57 >>> try:
58 ... i('a')
59 ... except ValidationError:
60 ... pass # this is expected
61 ... else:
62 ... "This should not be reached."
63
64 Furthermore, the following methods are provided for finer grained
65 control of validation and assignment:
66
67 - validate(self,value)
68 Ensure that "value" is valid. If not, raise an exception of any kind
69 with a suitable error message, which is reported to the user.
70
71 - prepare_value(self)
72 When using the ()-operator to query the underlying Traitlet value,
73 that value is first passed through prepare_value. For example:
74
75 >>> class Eval(Traitlet):
76 ... _type = str
77 ...
78 ... def prepare_value(self):
79 ... return eval(self._value)
80
81 >>> x = Eval('1+1')
82 >>> print x
83 '1+1'
84 >>> print x()
85 2
86
87 - __repr__(self)
88 By default, repr(self._value) is returned. This can be customised
89 to, for example, first call prepare_value and return the repr of
90 the resulting object.
91
92 """
93
94 import re
95 import types
96
97 class ValidationError(Exception):
98 pass
99
100 class Traitlet(object):
101 """Traitlet which knows its modification state.
102
103 """
104 def __init__(self, value):
105 "Validate and store the default value. State is 'unmodified'."
106 self._type = getattr(self,'_type',None)
107 value = self._parse_validation(value)
108 self._default_value = value
109 self.reset()
110
111 def reset(self):
112 self._value = self._default_value
113 self._changed = False
114
115 def validate(self, value):
116 "Validate the given value."
117 if self._type is not None:
118 self._type(value)
119
120 def _parse_validation(self, value):
121 """Run validation and return a descriptive error if needed.
122
123 """
124 try:
125 self.validate(value)
126 except Exception, e:
127 err_message = 'Cannot convert "%s" to %s' % \
128 (value, self.__class__.__name__.lower())
129 if e.message:
130 err_message += ': %s' % e.message
131 raise ValidationError(err_message)
132 else:
133 # Cast to appropriate type before storing
134 if self._type is not None:
135 value = self._type(value)
136 return value
137
138 def prepare_value(self):
139 """Run on value before it is ever returned to the user.
140
141 """
142 return self._value
143
144 def __call__(self,value=None):
145 """Query or set value depending on whether `value` is specified.
146
147 """
148 if value is None:
149 return self.prepare_value()
150
151 self._value = self._parse_validation(value)
152 self._changed = (self._value != self._default_value)
153
154 @property
155 def modified(self):
156 "Whether value has changed from original definition."
157 return self._changed
158
159 def __repr__(self):
160 """This class is represented by the underlying repr. Used when
161 dumping value to file.
162
163 """
164 return repr(self._value)
165
166 class Float(Traitlet):
167 """
168 >>> f = Float(0)
169 >>> print f.modified
170 False
171
172 >>> f(3)
173 >>> print f()
174 3.0
175 >>> print f.modified
176 True
177
178 >>> f(0)
179 >>> print f()
180 0.0
181 >>> print f.modified
182 False
183
184 >>> try:
185 ... f('a')
186 ... except ValidationError:
187 ... pass
188
189 """
190 _type = float
191
192 class Enum(Traitlet):
193 """
194 >>> c = Enum('a','b','c')
195 >>> print c()
196 a
197
198 >>> try:
199 ... c('unknown')
200 ... except ValidationError:
201 ... pass
202
203 >>> print c.modified
204 False
205
206 >>> c('b')
207 >>> print c()
208 b
209
210 """
211 def __init__(self, *options):
212 self._options = options
213 super(Enum,self).__init__(options[0])
214
215 def validate(self, value):
216 if not value in self._options:
217 raise ValueError('must be one of %s' % str(self._options))
218
219 class Module(Traitlet):
220 """
221 >>> m = Module('some.unknown.module')
222 >>> print m
223 'some.unknown.module'
224
225 >>> m = Module('re')
226 >>> assert type(m()) is types.ModuleType
227
228 """
229 _type = str
230
231 def prepare_value(self):
232 try:
233 module = eval(self._value)
234 except:
235 module = None
236
237 if type(module) is not types.ModuleType:
238 raise ValueError("Invalid module name: %s" % self._value)
239 else:
240 return module
241
242
243 class URI(Traitlet):
244 """
245 >>> u = URI('http://')
246
247 >>> try:
248 ... u = URI('something.else')
249 ... except ValidationError:
250 ... pass
251
252 >>> u = URI('http://ipython.scipy.org/')
253 >>> print u
254 'http://ipython.scipy.org/'
255
256 """
257 _regexp = re.compile(r'^[a-zA-Z]+:\/\/')
258 _type = str
259
260 def validate(self, uri):
261 if not self._regexp.match(uri):
262 raise ValueError()
263
264 class Int(Traitlet):
265 """
266 >>> i = Int(3.5)
267 >>> print i
268 3
269 >>> print i()
270 3
271
272 >>> i = Int('4')
273 >>> print i
274 4
275
276 >>> try:
277 ... i = Int('a')
278 ... except ValidationError:
279 ... pass
280 ... else:
281 ... raise "Should fail"
282
283 """
284 _type = int
285
286 class Bool(Traitlet):
287 """
288 >>> b = Bool(2)
289 >>> print b
290 True
291 >>> print b()
292 True
293
294 >>> b = Bool('True')
295 >>> print b
296 True
297 >>> b(True)
298 >>> print b.modified
299 False
300
301 >>> print Bool(0)
302 False
303
304 """
305 _type = bool
306
307 class Unicode(Traitlet):
308 """
309 >>> u = Unicode(123)
310 >>> print u
311 u'123'
312
313 >>> u = Unicode('123')
314 >>> print u.modified
315 False
316
317 >>> u('hello world')
318 >>> print u
319 u'hello world'
320
321 """
322 _type = unicode
@@ -0,0 +1,11 b''
1 ===============
2 IPython1 README
3 ===============
4
5 .. contents::
6
7 Overview
8 ========
9
10 Welcome to IPython. New users should consult our documentation, which can be found
11 in the docs/source subdirectory.
@@ -0,0 +1,70 b''
1 # Makefile for Sphinx documentation
2 #
3
4 # You can set these variables from the command line.
5 SPHINXOPTS =
6 SPHINXBUILD = sphinx-build
7 PAPER =
8
9 # Internal variables.
10 PAPEROPT_a4 = -D latex_paper_size=a4
11 PAPEROPT_letter = -D latex_paper_size=letter
12 ALLSPHINXOPTS = -d build/doctrees $(PAPEROPT_$(PAPER)) $(SPHINXOPTS) source
13
14 .PHONY: help clean html web pickle htmlhelp latex changes linkcheck
15
16 help:
17 @echo "Please use \`make <target>' where <target> is one of"
18 @echo " html to make standalone HTML files"
19 @echo " pickle to make pickle files (usable by e.g. sphinx-web)"
20 @echo " htmlhelp to make HTML files and a HTML help project"
21 @echo " latex to make LaTeX files, you can set PAPER=a4 or PAPER=letter"
22 @echo " changes to make an overview over all changed/added/deprecated items"
23 @echo " linkcheck to check all external links for integrity"
24
25 clean:
26 -rm -rf build/*
27
28 html:
29 mkdir -p build/html build/doctrees
30 $(SPHINXBUILD) -b html $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) build/html
31 @echo
32 @echo "Build finished. The HTML pages are in build/html."
33
34 pickle:
35 mkdir -p build/pickle build/doctrees
36 $(SPHINXBUILD) -b pickle $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) build/pickle
37 @echo
38 @echo "Build finished; now you can process the pickle files or run"
39 @echo " sphinx-web build/pickle"
40 @echo "to start the sphinx-web server."
41
42 web: pickle
43
44 htmlhelp:
45 mkdir -p build/htmlhelp build/doctrees
46 $(SPHINXBUILD) -b htmlhelp $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) build/htmlhelp
47 @echo
48 @echo "Build finished; now you can run HTML Help Workshop with the" \
49 ".hhp project file in build/htmlhelp."
50
51 latex:
52 mkdir -p build/latex build/doctrees
53 $(SPHINXBUILD) -b latex $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) build/latex
54 @echo
55 @echo "Build finished; the LaTeX files are in build/latex."
56 @echo "Run \`make all-pdf' or \`make all-ps' in that directory to" \
57 "run these through (pdf)latex."
58
59 changes:
60 mkdir -p build/changes build/doctrees
61 $(SPHINXBUILD) -b changes $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) build/changes
62 @echo
63 @echo "The overview file is in build/changes."
64
65 linkcheck:
66 mkdir -p build/linkcheck build/doctrees
67 $(SPHINXBUILD) -b linkcheck $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) build/linkcheck
68 @echo
69 @echo "Link check complete; look for any errors in the above output " \
70 "or in build/linkcheck/output.txt."
@@ -0,0 +1,161 b''
1 .. _changes:
2
3 ==========
4 What's new
5 ==========
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 Release 0.9
10 ===========
11
12 New features
13 ------------
14
15 * All of the parallel computing capabilities from `ipython1-dev` have been merged into
16 IPython proper. This resulted in the following new subpackages:
17 :mod:`IPython.kernel`, :mod:`IPython.kernel.core`, :mod:`IPython.config`,
18 :mod:`IPython.tools` and :mod:`IPython.testing`.
19 * As part of merging in the `ipython1-dev` stuff, the `setup.py` script and friends
20 have been completely refactored. Now we are checking for dependencies using
21 the approach that matplotlib uses.
22 * The documentation has been completely reorganized to accept the documentation
23 from `ipython1-dev`.
24 * We have switched to using Foolscap for all of our network protocols in
25 :mod:`IPython.kernel`. This gives us secure connections that are both encrypted
26 and authenticated.
27 * We have a brand new `COPYING.txt` files that describes the IPython license
28 and copyright. The biggest change is that we are putting "The IPython
29 Development Team" as the copyright holder. We give more details about exactly
30 what this means in this file. All developer should read this and use the new
31 banner in all IPython source code files.
32
33 Bug fixes
34 ---------
35
36 * A few subpackages has missing `__init__.py` files.
37 * The documentation is only created is Sphinx is found. Previously, the `setup.py`
38 script would fail if it was missing.
39
40 Backwards incompatible changes
41 ------------------------------
42
43 * IPython has a larger set of dependencies if you want all of its capabilities.
44 See the `setup.py` script for details.
45 * The constructors for :class:`IPython.kernel.client.MultiEngineClient` and
46 :class:`IPython.kernel.client.TaskClient` no longer take the (ip,port) tuple.
47 Instead they take the filename of a file that contains the FURL for that
48 client. If the FURL file is in your IPYTHONDIR, it will be found automatically
49 and the constructor can be left empty.
50 * The asynchronous clients in :mod:`IPython.kernel.asyncclient` are now created
51 using the factory functions :func:`get_multiengine_client` and
52 :func:`get_task_client`. These return a `Deferred` to the actual client.
53 * The command line options to `ipcontroller` and `ipengine` have changed to
54 reflect the new Foolscap network protocol and the FURL files. Please see the
55 help for these scripts for details.
56 * The configuration files for the kernel have changed because of the Foolscap stuff.
57 If you were using custom config files before, you should delete them and regenerate
58 new ones.
59
60 Changes merged in from IPython1
61 -------------------------------
62
63 New features
64 ............
65
66 * Much improved ``setup.py`` and ``setupegg.py`` scripts. Because Twisted
67 and zope.interface are now easy installable, we can declare them as dependencies
68 in our setupegg.py script.
69 * IPython is now compatible with Twisted 2.5.0 and 8.x.
70 * Added a new example of how to use :mod:`ipython1.kernel.asynclient`.
71 * Initial draft of a process daemon in :mod:`ipython1.daemon`. This has not
72 been merged into IPython and is still in `ipython1-dev`.
73 * The ``TaskController`` now has methods for getting the queue status.
74 * The ``TaskResult`` objects not have information about how long the task
75 took to run.
76 * We are attaching additional attributes to exceptions ``(_ipython_*)`` that
77 we use to carry additional info around.
78 * New top-level module :mod:`asyncclient` that has asynchronous versions (that
79 return deferreds) of the client classes. This is designed to users who want
80 to run their own Twisted reactor
81 * All the clients in :mod:`client` are now based on Twisted. This is done by
82 running the Twisted reactor in a separate thread and using the
83 :func:`blockingCallFromThread` function that is in recent versions of Twisted.
84 * Functions can now be pushed/pulled to/from engines using
85 :meth:`MultiEngineClient.push_function` and :meth:`MultiEngineClient.pull_function`.
86 * Gather/scatter are now implemented in the client to reduce the work load
87 of the controller and improve performance.
88 * Complete rewrite of the IPython docuementation. All of the documentation
89 from the IPython website has been moved into docs/source as restructured
90 text documents. PDF and HTML documentation are being generated using
91 Sphinx.
92 * New developer oriented documentation: development guidelines and roadmap.
93 * Traditional ``ChangeLog`` has been changed to a more useful ``changes.txt`` file
94 that is organized by release and is meant to provide something more relevant
95 for users.
96
97 Bug fixes
98 .........
99
100 * Created a proper ``MANIFEST.in`` file to create source distributions.
101 * Fixed a bug in the ``MultiEngine`` interface. Previously, multi-engine
102 actions were being collected with a :class:`DeferredList` with
103 ``fireononeerrback=1``. This meant that methods were returning
104 before all engines had given their results. This was causing extremely odd
105 bugs in certain cases. To fix this problem, we have 1) set
106 ``fireononeerrback=0`` to make sure all results (or exceptions) are in
107 before returning and 2) introduced a :exc:`CompositeError` exception
108 that wraps all of the engine exceptions. This is a huge change as it means
109 that users will have to catch :exc:`CompositeError` rather than the actual
110 exception.
111
112 Backwards incompatible changes
113 ..............................
114
115 * All names have been renamed to conform to the lowercase_with_underscore
116 convention. This will require users to change references to all names like
117 ``queueStatus`` to ``queue_status``.
118 * Previously, methods like :meth:`MultiEngineClient.push` and
119 :meth:`MultiEngineClient.push` used ``*args`` and ``**kwargs``. This was
120 becoming a problem as we weren't able to introduce new keyword arguments into
121 the API. Now these methods simple take a dict or sequence. This has also allowed
122 us to get rid of the ``*All`` methods like :meth:`pushAll` and :meth:`pullAll`.
123 These things are now handled with the ``targets`` keyword argument that defaults
124 to ``'all'``.
125 * The :attr:`MultiEngineClient.magicTargets` has been renamed to
126 :attr:`MultiEngineClient.targets`.
127 * All methods in the MultiEngine interface now accept the optional keyword argument
128 ``block``.
129 * Renamed :class:`RemoteController` to :class:`MultiEngineClient` and
130 :class:`TaskController` to :class:`TaskClient`.
131 * Renamed the top-level module from :mod:`api` to :mod:`client`.
132 * Most methods in the multiengine interface now raise a :exc:`CompositeError` exception
133 that wraps the user's exceptions, rather than just raising the raw user's exception.
134 * Changed the ``setupNS`` and ``resultNames`` in the ``Task`` class to ``push``
135 and ``pull``.
136
137 Release 0.8.4
138 =============
139
140 Someone needs to describe what went into 0.8.4.
141
142 Release 0.8.2
143 =============
144
145 * %pushd/%popd behave differently; now "pushd /foo" pushes CURRENT directory
146 and jumps to /foo. The current behaviour is closer to the documented
147 behaviour, and should not trip anyone.
148
149 Release 0.8.3
150 =============
151
152 * pydb is now disabled by default (due to %run -d problems). You can enable
153 it by passing -pydb command line argument to IPython. Note that setting
154 it in config file won't work.
155
156 Older releases
157 ==============
158
159 Changes in earlier releases of IPython are described in the older file ``ChangeLog``.
160 Please refer to this document for details.
161
@@ -0,0 +1,284 b''
1 .. _customization:
2
3 ========================
4 Customization of IPython
5 ========================
6
7 There are 2 ways to configure IPython - the old way of using ipythonrc
8 files (an INI-file like format), and the new way that involves editing
9 your ipy_user_conf.py. Both configuration systems work at the same
10 time, so you can set your options in both, but if you are hesitating
11 about which alternative to choose, we recommend the ipy_user_conf.py
12 approach, as it will give you more power and control in the long
13 run. However, there are few options such as pylab_import_all that can
14 only be specified in ipythonrc file or command line - the reason for
15 this is that they are needed before IPython has been started up, and
16 the IPApi object used in ipy_user_conf.py is not yet available at that
17 time. A hybrid approach of specifying a few options in ipythonrc and
18 doing the more advanced configuration in ipy_user_conf.py is also
19 possible.
20
21 The ipythonrc approach
22 ======================
23
24 As we've already mentioned, IPython reads a configuration file which can
25 be specified at the command line (-rcfile) or which by default is
26 assumed to be called ipythonrc. Such a file is looked for in the current
27 directory where IPython is started and then in your IPYTHONDIR, which
28 allows you to have local configuration files for specific projects. In
29 this section we will call these types of configuration files simply
30 rcfiles (short for resource configuration file).
31
32 The syntax of an rcfile is one of key-value pairs separated by
33 whitespace, one per line. Lines beginning with a # are ignored as
34 comments, but comments can not be put on lines with data (the parser is
35 fairly primitive). Note that these are not python files, and this is
36 deliberate, because it allows us to do some things which would be quite
37 tricky to implement if they were normal python files.
38
39 First, an rcfile can contain permanent default values for almost all
40 command line options (except things like -help or -Version). Sec
41 `command line options`_ contains a description of all command-line
42 options. However, values you explicitly specify at the command line
43 override the values defined in the rcfile.
44
45 Besides command line option values, the rcfile can specify values for
46 certain extra special options which are not available at the command
47 line. These options are briefly described below.
48
49 Each of these options may appear as many times as you need it in the file.
50
51 * include <file1> <file2> ...: you can name other rcfiles you want
52 to recursively load up to 15 levels (don't use the <> brackets in
53 your names!). This feature allows you to define a 'base' rcfile
54 with general options and special-purpose files which can be loaded
55 only when needed with particular configuration options. To make
56 this more convenient, IPython accepts the -profile <name> option
57 (abbreviates to -p <name>) which tells it to look for an rcfile
58 named ipythonrc-<name>.
59 * import_mod <mod1> <mod2> ...: import modules with 'import
60 <mod1>,<mod2>,...'
61 * import_some <mod> <f1> <f2> ...: import functions with 'from
62 <mod> import <f1>,<f2>,...'
63 * import_all <mod1> <mod2> ...: for each module listed import
64 functions with ``from <mod> import *``.
65 * execute <python code>: give any single-line python code to be
66 executed.
67 * execfile <filename>: execute the python file given with an
68 'execfile(filename)' command. Username expansion is performed on
69 the given names. So if you need any amount of extra fancy
70 customization that won't fit in any of the above 'canned' options,
71 you can just put it in a separate python file and execute it.
72 * alias <alias_def>: this is equivalent to calling
73 '%alias <alias_def>' at the IPython command line. This way, from
74 within IPython you can do common system tasks without having to
75 exit it or use the ! escape. IPython isn't meant to be a shell
76 replacement, but it is often very useful to be able to do things
77 with files while testing code. This gives you the flexibility to
78 have within IPython any aliases you may be used to under your
79 normal system shell.
80
81 ipy_user_conf.py
82 ================
83
84 There should be a simple template ipy_user_conf.py file in your
85 ~/.ipython directory. It is a plain python module that is imported
86 during IPython startup, so you can do pretty much what you want there
87 - import modules, configure extensions, change options, define magic
88 commands, put variables and functions in the IPython namespace,
89 etc. You use the IPython extension api object, acquired by
90 IPython.ipapi.get() and documented in the "IPython extension API"
91 chapter, to interact with IPython. A sample ipy_user_conf.py is listed
92 below for reference::
93
94 # Most of your config files and extensions will probably start
95 # with this import
96
97 import IPython.ipapi
98 ip = IPython.ipapi.get()
99
100 # You probably want to uncomment this if you did %upgrade -nolegacy
101 # import ipy_defaults
102
103 import os
104
105 def main():
106
107 #ip.dbg.debugmode = True
108 ip.dbg.debug_stack()
109
110 # uncomment if you want to get ipython -p sh behaviour
111 # without having to use command line switches
112 import ipy_profile_sh
113 import jobctrl
114
115 # Configure your favourite editor?
116 # Good idea e.g. for %edit os.path.isfile
117
118 #import ipy_editors
119
120 # Choose one of these:
121
122 #ipy_editors.scite()
123 #ipy_editors.scite('c:/opt/scite/scite.exe')
124 #ipy_editors.komodo()
125 #ipy_editors.idle()
126 # ... or many others, try 'ipy_editors??' after import to see them
127
128 # Or roll your own:
129 #ipy_editors.install_editor("c:/opt/jed +$line $file")
130
131
132 o = ip.options
133 # An example on how to set options
134 #o.autocall = 1
135 o.system_verbose = 0
136
137 #import_all("os sys")
138 #execf('~/_ipython/ns.py')
139
140
141 # -- prompt
142 # A different, more compact set of prompts from the default ones, that
143 # always show your current location in the filesystem:
144
145 #o.prompt_in1 = r'\C_LightBlue[\C_LightCyan\Y2\C_LightBlue]\C_Normal\n\C_Green|\#>'
146 #o.prompt_in2 = r'.\D: '
147 #o.prompt_out = r'[\#] '
148
149 # Try one of these color settings if you can't read the text easily
150 # autoexec is a list of IPython commands to execute on startup
151 #o.autoexec.append('%colors LightBG')
152 #o.autoexec.append('%colors NoColor')
153 o.autoexec.append('%colors Linux')
154
155
156 # some config helper functions you can use
157 def import_all(modules):
158 """ Usage: import_all("os sys") """
159 for m in modules.split():
160 ip.ex("from %s import *" % m)
161
162 def execf(fname):
163 """ Execute a file in user namespace """
164 ip.ex('execfile("%s")' % os.path.expanduser(fname))
165
166 main()
167
168 .. _Prompts:
169
170 Fine-tuning your prompt
171 =======================
172
173 IPython's prompts can be customized using a syntax similar to that of
174 the bash shell. Many of bash's escapes are supported, as well as a few
175 additional ones. We list them below::
176
177 \#
178 the prompt/history count number. This escape is automatically
179 wrapped in the coloring codes for the currently active color scheme.
180 \N
181 the 'naked' prompt/history count number: this is just the number
182 itself, without any coloring applied to it. This lets you produce
183 numbered prompts with your own colors.
184 \D
185 the prompt/history count, with the actual digits replaced by dots.
186 Used mainly in continuation prompts (prompt_in2)
187 \w
188 the current working directory
189 \W
190 the basename of current working directory
191 \Xn
192 where $n=0\ldots5.$ The current working directory, with $HOME
193 replaced by ~, and filtered out to contain only $n$ path elements
194 \Yn
195 Similar to \Xn, but with the $n+1$ element included if it is ~ (this
196 is similar to the behavior of the %cn escapes in tcsh)
197 \u
198 the username of the current user
199 \$
200 if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
201 \h
202 the hostname up to the first '.'
203 \H
204 the hostname
205 \n
206 a newline
207 \r
208 a carriage return
209 \v
210 IPython version string
211
212 In addition to these, ANSI color escapes can be insterted into the
213 prompts, as \C_ColorName. The list of valid color names is: Black, Blue,
214 Brown, Cyan, DarkGray, Green, LightBlue, LightCyan, LightGray,
215 LightGreen, LightPurple, LightRed, NoColor, Normal, Purple, Red, White,
216 Yellow.
217
218 Finally, IPython supports the evaluation of arbitrary expressions in
219 your prompt string. The prompt strings are evaluated through the syntax
220 of PEP 215, but basically you can use $x.y to expand the value of x.y,
221 and for more complicated expressions you can use braces: ${foo()+x} will
222 call function foo and add to it the value of x, before putting the
223 result into your prompt. For example, using
224 prompt_in1 '${commands.getoutput("uptime")}\nIn [\#]: '
225 will print the result of the uptime command on each prompt (assuming the
226 commands module has been imported in your ipythonrc file).
227
228
229 Prompt examples
230
231 The following options in an ipythonrc file will give you IPython's
232 default prompts::
233
234 prompt_in1 'In [\#]:'
235 prompt_in2 ' .\D.:'
236 prompt_out 'Out[\#]:'
237
238 which look like this::
239
240 In [1]: 1+2
241 Out[1]: 3
242
243 In [2]: for i in (1,2,3):
244 ...: print i,
245 ...:
246 1 2 3
247
248 These will give you a very colorful prompt with path information::
249
250 #prompt_in1 '\C_Red\u\C_Blue[\C_Cyan\Y1\C_Blue]\C_LightGreen\#>'
251 prompt_in2 ' ..\D>'
252 prompt_out '<\#>'
253
254 which look like this::
255
256 fperez[~/ipython]1> 1+2
257 <1> 3
258 fperez[~/ipython]2> for i in (1,2,3):
259 ...> print i,
260 ...>
261 1 2 3
262
263
264 .. _Profiles:
265
266 IPython profiles
267 ================
268
269 As we already mentioned, IPython supports the -profile command-line
270 option (see sec. `command line options`_). A profile is nothing more
271 than a particular configuration file like your basic ipythonrc one,
272 but with particular customizations for a specific purpose. When you
273 start IPython with 'ipython -profile <name>', it assumes that in your
274 IPYTHONDIR there is a file called ipythonrc-<name> or
275 ipy_profile_<name>.py, and loads it instead of the normal ipythonrc.
276
277 This system allows you to maintain multiple configurations which load
278 modules, set options, define functions, etc. suitable for different
279 tasks and activate them in a very simple manner. In order to avoid
280 having to repeat all of your basic options (common things that don't
281 change such as your color preferences, for example), any profile can
282 include another configuration file. The most common way to use profiles
283 is then to have each one include your basic ipythonrc file as a starting
284 point, and then add further customizations. No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,10 b''
1 ===============================
2 Configuration and customization
3 ===============================
4
5 .. toctree::
6 :maxdepth: 1
7
8 initial_config.txt
9 customization.txt
10 new_config.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,238 b''
1 .. _initial config:
2
3 =========================================
4 Initial configuration of your environment
5 =========================================
6
7 This section will help you set various things in your environment for
8 your IPython sessions to be as efficient as possible. All of IPython's
9 configuration information, along with several example files, is stored
10 in a directory named by default $HOME/.ipython. You can change this by
11 defining the environment variable IPYTHONDIR, or at runtime with the
12 command line option -ipythondir.
13
14 If all goes well, the first time you run IPython it should
15 automatically create a user copy of the config directory for you,
16 based on its builtin defaults. You can look at the files it creates to
17 learn more about configuring the system. The main file you will modify
18 to configure IPython's behavior is called ipythonrc (with a .ini
19 extension under Windows), included for reference in `ipythonrc`_
20 section. This file is very commented and has many variables you can
21 change to suit your taste, you can find more details in
22 Sec. customization_. Here we discuss the basic things you will want to
23 make sure things are working properly from the beginning.
24
25
26 .. _Accessing help:
27
28 Access to the Python help system
29 ================================
30
31 This is true for Python in general (not just for IPython): you should
32 have an environment variable called PYTHONDOCS pointing to the directory
33 where your HTML Python documentation lives. In my system it's
34 /usr/share/doc/python-docs-2.3.4/html, check your local details or ask
35 your systems administrator.
36
37 This is the directory which holds the HTML version of the Python
38 manuals. Unfortunately it seems that different Linux distributions
39 package these files differently, so you may have to look around a bit.
40 Below I show the contents of this directory on my system for reference::
41
42 [html]> ls
43 about.dat acks.html dist/ ext/ index.html lib/ modindex.html
44 stdabout.dat tut/ about.html api/ doc/ icons/ inst/ mac/ ref/ style.css
45
46 You should really make sure this variable is correctly set so that
47 Python's pydoc-based help system works. It is a powerful and convenient
48 system with full access to the Python manuals and all modules accessible
49 to you.
50
51 Under Windows it seems that pydoc finds the documentation automatically,
52 so no extra setup appears necessary.
53
54
55 Editor
56 ======
57
58 The %edit command (and its alias %ed) will invoke the editor set in your
59 environment as EDITOR. If this variable is not set, it will default to
60 vi under Linux/Unix and to notepad under Windows. You may want to set
61 this variable properly and to a lightweight editor which doesn't take
62 too long to start (that is, something other than a new instance of
63 Emacs). This way you can edit multi-line code quickly and with the power
64 of a real editor right inside IPython.
65
66 If you are a dedicated Emacs user, you should set up the Emacs server so
67 that new requests are handled by the original process. This means that
68 almost no time is spent in handling the request (assuming an Emacs
69 process is already running). For this to work, you need to set your
70 EDITOR environment variable to 'emacsclient'. The code below, supplied
71 by Francois Pinard, can then be used in your .emacs file to enable the
72 server::
73
74 (defvar server-buffer-clients)
75 (when (and (fboundp 'server-start) (string-equal (getenv "TERM") 'xterm))
76 (server-start)
77 (defun fp-kill-server-with-buffer-routine ()
78 (and server-buffer-clients (server-done)))
79 (add-hook 'kill-buffer-hook 'fp-kill-server-with-buffer-routine))
80
81 You can also set the value of this editor via the commmand-line option
82 '-editor' or in your ipythonrc file. This is useful if you wish to use
83 specifically for IPython an editor different from your typical default
84 (and for Windows users who tend to use fewer environment variables).
85
86
87 Color
88 =====
89
90 The default IPython configuration has most bells and whistles turned on
91 (they're pretty safe). But there's one that may cause problems on some
92 systems: the use of color on screen for displaying information. This is
93 very useful, since IPython can show prompts and exception tracebacks
94 with various colors, display syntax-highlighted source code, and in
95 general make it easier to visually parse information.
96
97 The following terminals seem to handle the color sequences fine:
98
99 * Linux main text console, KDE Konsole, Gnome Terminal, E-term,
100 rxvt, xterm.
101 * CDE terminal (tested under Solaris). This one boldfaces light colors.
102 * (X)Emacs buffers. See the emacs_ section for more details on
103 using IPython with (X)Emacs.
104 * A Windows (XP/2k) command prompt with pyreadline_.
105 * A Windows (XP/2k) CygWin shell. Although some users have reported
106 problems; it is not clear whether there is an issue for everyone
107 or only under specific configurations. If you have full color
108 support under cygwin, please post to the IPython mailing list so
109 this issue can be resolved for all users.
110
111 These have shown problems:
112
113 * Windows command prompt in WinXP/2k logged into a Linux machine via
114 telnet or ssh.
115 * Windows native command prompt in WinXP/2k, without Gary Bishop's
116 extensions. Once Gary's readline library is installed, the normal
117 WinXP/2k command prompt works perfectly.
118
119 Currently the following color schemes are available:
120
121 * NoColor: uses no color escapes at all (all escapes are empty '' ''
122 strings). This 'scheme' is thus fully safe to use in any terminal.
123 * Linux: works well in Linux console type environments: dark
124 background with light fonts. It uses bright colors for
125 information, so it is difficult to read if you have a light
126 colored background.
127 * LightBG: the basic colors are similar to those in the Linux scheme
128 but darker. It is easy to read in terminals with light backgrounds.
129
130 IPython uses colors for two main groups of things: prompts and
131 tracebacks which are directly printed to the terminal, and the object
132 introspection system which passes large sets of data through a pager.
133
134
135 Input/Output prompts and exception tracebacks
136 =============================================
137
138 You can test whether the colored prompts and tracebacks work on your
139 system interactively by typing '%colors Linux' at the prompt (use
140 '%colors LightBG' if your terminal has a light background). If the input
141 prompt shows garbage like::
142
143 [0;32mIn [[1;32m1[0;32m]: [0;00m
144
145 instead of (in color) something like::
146
147 In [1]:
148
149 this means that your terminal doesn't properly handle color escape
150 sequences. You can go to a 'no color' mode by typing '%colors NoColor'.
151
152 You can try using a different terminal emulator program (Emacs users,
153 see below). To permanently set your color preferences, edit the file
154 $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc and set the colors option to the desired value.
155
156
157 Object details (types, docstrings, source code, etc.)
158 =====================================================
159
160 IPython has a set of special functions for studying the objects you
161 are working with, discussed in detail in Sec. `dynamic object
162 information`_. But this system relies on passing information which is
163 longer than your screen through a data pager, such as the common Unix
164 less and more programs. In order to be able to see this information in
165 color, your pager needs to be properly configured. I strongly
166 recommend using less instead of more, as it seems that more simply can
167 not understand colored text correctly.
168
169 In order to configure less as your default pager, do the following:
170
171 1. Set the environment PAGER variable to less.
172 2. Set the environment LESS variable to -r (plus any other options
173 you always want to pass to less by default). This tells less to
174 properly interpret control sequences, which is how color
175 information is given to your terminal.
176
177 For the csh or tcsh shells, add to your ~/.cshrc file the lines::
178
179 setenv PAGER less
180 setenv LESS -r
181
182 There is similar syntax for other Unix shells, look at your system
183 documentation for details.
184
185 If you are on a system which lacks proper data pagers (such as Windows),
186 IPython will use a very limited builtin pager.
187
188 .. _emacs:
189
190 (X)Emacs configuration
191 ======================
192
193 Thanks to the work of Alexander Schmolck and Prabhu Ramachandran,
194 currently (X)Emacs and IPython get along very well.
195
196 Important note: You will need to use a recent enough version of
197 python-mode.el, along with the file ipython.el. You can check that the
198 version you have of python-mode.el is new enough by either looking at
199 the revision number in the file itself, or asking for it in (X)Emacs via
200 M-x py-version. Versions 4.68 and newer contain the necessary fixes for
201 proper IPython support.
202
203 The file ipython.el is included with the IPython distribution, in the
204 documentation directory (where this manual resides in PDF and HTML
205 formats).
206
207 Once you put these files in your Emacs path, all you need in your .emacs
208 file is::
209
210 (require 'ipython)
211
212 This should give you full support for executing code snippets via
213 IPython, opening IPython as your Python shell via C-c !, etc.
214
215 If you happen to get garbage instead of colored prompts as described in
216 the previous section, you may need to set also in your .emacs file::
217
218 (setq ansi-color-for-comint-mode t)
219
220
221 Notes:
222
223 * There is one caveat you should be aware of: you must start the
224 IPython shell before attempting to execute any code regions via
225 ``C-c |``. Simply type C-c ! to start IPython before passing any code
226 regions to the interpreter, and you shouldn't experience any
227 problems.
228 This is due to a bug in Python itself, which has been fixed for
229 Python 2.3, but exists as of Python 2.2.2 (reported as SF bug [
230 737947 ]).
231 * The (X)Emacs support is maintained by Alexander Schmolck, so all
232 comments/requests should be directed to him through the IPython
233 mailing lists.
234 * This code is still somewhat experimental so it's a bit rough
235 around the edges (although in practice, it works quite well).
236 * Be aware that if you customize py-python-command previously, this
237 value will override what ipython.el does (because loading the
238 customization variables comes later). No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,27 b''
1 ========================
2 New configuration system
3 ========================
4
5 IPython has a configuration system. When running IPython for the first time,
6 reasonable defaults are used for the configuration. The configuration of IPython
7 can be changed in two ways:
8
9 * Configuration files
10 * Commands line options (which override the configuration files)
11
12 IPython has a separate configuration file for each subpackage. Thus, the main
13 configuration files are (in your ``~/.ipython`` directory):
14
15 * ``ipython1.core.ini``
16 * ``ipython1.kernel.ini``
17 * ``ipython1.notebook.ini``
18
19 To create these files for the first time, do the following::
20
21 from ipython1.kernel.config import config_manager as kernel_config
22 kernel_config.write_default_config_file()
23
24 But, you should only need to do this if you need to modify the defaults. If needed
25 repeat this process with the ``notebook`` and ``core`` configuration as well. If you
26 are running into problems with IPython, you might try deleting these configuration
27 files. No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,139 b''
1 .. _credits:
2
3 =======
4 Credits
5 =======
6
7 IPython is mainly developed by Fernando Pérez
8 <Fernando.Perez@colorado.edu>, but the project was born from mixing in
9 Fernando's code with the IPP project by Janko Hauser
10 <jhauser-AT-zscout.de> and LazyPython by Nathan Gray
11 <n8gray-AT-caltech.edu>. For all IPython-related requests, please
12 contact Fernando.
13
14 As of early 2006, the following developers have joined the core team:
15
16 * [Robert Kern] <rkern-AT-enthought.com>: co-mentored the 2005
17 Google Summer of Code project to develop python interactive
18 notebooks (XML documents) and graphical interface. This project
19 was awarded to the students Tzanko Matev <tsanko-AT-gmail.com> and
20 Toni Alatalo <antont-AT-an.org>
21 * [Brian Granger] <bgranger-AT-scu.edu>: extending IPython to allow
22 support for interactive parallel computing.
23 * [Ville Vainio] <vivainio-AT-gmail.com>: Ville is the new
24 maintainer for the main trunk of IPython after version 0.7.1.
25
26 The IPython project is also very grateful to:
27
28 Bill Bumgarner <bbum-AT-friday.com>: for providing the DPyGetOpt module
29 which gives very powerful and convenient handling of command-line
30 options (light years ahead of what Python 2.1.1's getopt module does).
31
32 Ka-Ping Yee <ping-AT-lfw.org>: for providing the Itpl module for
33 convenient and powerful string interpolation with a much nicer syntax
34 than formatting through the '%' operator.
35
36 Arnd Baecker <baecker-AT-physik.tu-dresden.de>: for his many very useful
37 suggestions and comments, and lots of help with testing and
38 documentation checking. Many of IPython's newer features are a result of
39 discussions with him (bugs are still my fault, not his).
40
41 Obviously Guido van Rossum and the whole Python development team, that
42 goes without saying.
43
44 IPython's website is generously hosted at http://ipython.scipy.orgby
45 Enthought (http://www.enthought.com). I am very grateful to them and all
46 of the SciPy team for their contribution.
47
48 Fernando would also like to thank Stephen Figgins <fig-AT-monitor.net>,
49 an O'Reilly Python editor. His Oct/11/2001 article about IPP and
50 LazyPython, was what got this project started. You can read it at:
51 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2001/10/11/pythonnews.html.
52
53 And last but not least, all the kind IPython users who have emailed new
54 code, bug reports, fixes, comments and ideas. A brief list follows,
55 please let me know if I have ommitted your name by accident:
56
57 * [Jack Moffit] <jack-AT-xiph.org> Bug fixes, including the infamous
58 color problem. This bug alone caused many lost hours and
59 frustration, many thanks to him for the fix. I've always been a
60 fan of Ogg & friends, now I have one more reason to like these folks.
61 Jack is also contributing with Debian packaging and many other
62 things.
63 * [Alexander Schmolck] <a.schmolck-AT-gmx.net> Emacs work, bug
64 reports, bug fixes, ideas, lots more. The ipython.el mode for
65 (X)Emacs is Alex's code, providing full support for IPython under
66 (X)Emacs.
67 * [Andrea Riciputi] <andrea.riciputi-AT-libero.it> Mac OSX
68 information, Fink package management.
69 * [Gary Bishop] <gb-AT-cs.unc.edu> Bug reports, and patches to work
70 around the exception handling idiosyncracies of WxPython. Readline
71 and color support for Windows.
72 * [Jeffrey Collins] <Jeff.Collins-AT-vexcel.com> Bug reports. Much
73 improved readline support, including fixes for Python 2.3.
74 * [Dryice Liu] <dryice-AT-liu.com.cn> FreeBSD port.
75 * [Mike Heeter] <korora-AT-SDF.LONESTAR.ORG>
76 * [Christopher Hart] <hart-AT-caltech.edu> PDB integration.
77 * [Milan Zamazal] <pdm-AT-zamazal.org> Emacs info.
78 * [Philip Hisley] <compsys-AT-starpower.net>
79 * [Holger Krekel] <pyth-AT-devel.trillke.net> Tab completion, lots
80 more.
81 * [Robin Siebler] <robinsiebler-AT-starband.net>
82 * [Ralf Ahlbrink] <ralf_ahlbrink-AT-web.de>
83 * [Thorsten Kampe] <thorsten-AT-thorstenkampe.de>
84 * [Fredrik Kant] <fredrik.kant-AT-front.com> Windows setup.
85 * [Syver Enstad] <syver-en-AT-online.no> Windows setup.
86 * [Richard] <rxe-AT-renre-europe.com> Global embedding.
87 * [Hayden Callow] <h.callow-AT-elec.canterbury.ac.nz> Gnuplot.py 1.6
88 compatibility.
89 * [Leonardo Santagada] <retype-AT-terra.com.br> Fixes for Windows
90 installation.
91 * [Christopher Armstrong] <radix-AT-twistedmatrix.com> Bugfixes.
92 * [Francois Pinard] <pinard-AT-iro.umontreal.ca> Code and
93 documentation fixes.
94 * [Cory Dodt] <cdodt-AT-fcoe.k12.ca.us> Bug reports and Windows
95 ideas. Patches for Windows installer.
96 * [Olivier Aubert] <oaubert-AT-bat710.univ-lyon1.fr> New magics.
97 * [King C. Shu] <kingshu-AT-myrealbox.com> Autoindent patch.
98 * [Chris Drexler] <chris-AT-ac-drexler.de> Readline packages for
99 Win32/CygWin.
100 * [Gustavo Cordova Avila] <gcordova-AT-sismex.com> EvalDict code for
101 nice, lightweight string interpolation.
102 * [Kasper Souren] <Kasper.Souren-AT-ircam.fr> Bug reports, ideas.
103 * [Gever Tulley] <gever-AT-helium.com> Code contributions.
104 * [Ralf Schmitt] <ralf-AT-brainbot.com> Bug reports & fixes.
105 * [Oliver Sander] <osander-AT-gmx.de> Bug reports.
106 * [Rod Holland] <rhh-AT-structurelabs.com> Bug reports and fixes to
107 logging module.
108 * [Daniel 'Dang' Griffith] <pythondev-dang-AT-lazytwinacres.net>
109 Fixes, enhancement suggestions for system shell use.
110 * [Viktor Ransmayr] <viktor.ransmayr-AT-t-online.de> Tests and
111 reports on Windows installation issues. Contributed a true Windows
112 binary installer.
113 * [Mike Salib] <msalib-AT-mit.edu> Help fixing a subtle bug related
114 to traceback printing.
115 * [W.J. van der Laan] <gnufnork-AT-hetdigitalegat.nl> Bash-like
116 prompt specials.
117 * [Antoon Pardon] <Antoon.Pardon-AT-rece.vub.ac.be> Critical fix for
118 the multithreaded IPython.
119 * [John Hunter] <jdhunter-AT-nitace.bsd.uchicago.edu> Matplotlib
120 author, helped with all the development of support for matplotlib
121 in IPyhton, including making necessary changes to matplotlib itself.
122 * [Matthew Arnison] <maffew-AT-cat.org.au> Bug reports, '%run -d' idea.
123 * [Prabhu Ramachandran] <prabhu_r-AT-users.sourceforge.net> Help
124 with (X)Emacs support, threading patches, ideas...
125 * [Norbert Tretkowski] <tretkowski-AT-inittab.de> help with Debian
126 packaging and distribution.
127 * [George Sakkis] <gsakkis-AT-eden.rutgers.edu> New matcher for
128 tab-completing named arguments of user-defined functions.
129 * [Jörgen Stenarson] <jorgen.stenarson-AT-bostream.nu> Wildcard
130 support implementation for searching namespaces.
131 * [Vivian De Smedt] <vivian-AT-vdesmedt.com> Debugger enhancements,
132 so that when pdb is activated from within IPython, coloring, tab
133 completion and other features continue to work seamlessly.
134 * [Scott Tsai] <scottt958-AT-yahoo.com.tw> Support for automatic
135 editor invocation on syntax errors (see
136 http://www.scipy.net/roundup/ipython/issue36).
137 * [Alexander Belchenko] <bialix-AT-ukr.net> Improvements for win32
138 paging system.
139 * [Will Maier] <willmaier-AT-ml1.net> Official OpenBSD port. No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,315 b''
1 .. _development:
2
3 ==================================
4 IPython development guidelines
5 ==================================
6
7 .. contents::
8 ..
9 1 Overview
10 2 Project organization
11 2.1 Subpackages
12 2.2 Installation and dependencies
13 2.3 Specific subpackages
14 3 Version control
15 4 Documentation
16 4.1 Standalone documentation
17 4.2 Docstring format
18 5 Coding conventions
19 5.1 General
20 5.2 Naming conventions
21 6 Testing
22 7 Configuration
23 ..
24
25
26 Overview
27 ========
28
29 IPython is the next generation of IPython. It is named such for two reasons:
30
31 - Eventually, IPython will become IPython version 1.0.
32 - This new code base needs to be able to co-exist with the existing IPython until
33 it is a full replacement for it. Thus we needed a different name. We couldn't
34 use ``ipython`` (lowercase) as some files systems are case insensitive.
35
36 There are two, no three, main goals of the IPython effort:
37
38 1. Clean up the existing codebase and write lots of tests.
39 2. Separate the core functionality of IPython from the terminal to enable IPython
40 to be used from within a variety of GUI applications.
41 3. Implement a system for interactive parallel computing.
42
43 While the third goal may seem a bit unrelated to the main focus of IPython, it turns
44 out that the technologies required for this goal are nearly identical with those
45 required for goal two. This is the main reason the interactive parallel computing
46 capabilities are being put into IPython proper. Currently the third of these goals is
47 furthest along.
48
49 This document describes IPython from the perspective of developers.
50
51
52 Project organization
53 ====================
54
55 Subpackages
56 -----------
57
58 IPython is organized into semi self-contained subpackages. Each of the subpackages will have its own:
59
60 - **Dependencies**. One of the most important things to keep in mind in
61 partitioning code amongst subpackages, is that they should be used to cleanly
62 encapsulate dependencies.
63 - **Tests**. Each subpackage shoud have its own ``tests`` subdirectory that
64 contains all of the tests for that package. For information about writing tests
65 for IPython, see the `Testing System`_ section of this document.
66 - **Configuration**. Each subpackage should have its own ``config`` subdirectory
67 that contains the configuration information for the components of the
68 subpackage. For information about how the IPython configuration system
69 works, see the `Configuration System`_ section of this document.
70 - **Scripts**. Each subpackage should have its own ``scripts`` subdirectory that
71 contains all of the command line scripts associated with the subpackage.
72
73 Installation and dependencies
74 -----------------------------
75
76 IPython will not use `setuptools`_ for installation. Instead, we will use standard
77 ``setup.py`` scripts that use `distutils`_. While there are a number a extremely nice
78 features that `setuptools`_ has (like namespace packages), the current implementation
79 of `setuptools`_ has performance problems, particularly on shared file systems. In
80 particular, when Python packages are installed on NSF file systems, import times
81 become much too long (up towards 10 seconds).
82
83 Because IPython is being used extensively in the context of high performance
84 computing, where performance is critical but shared file systems are common, we feel
85 these performance hits are not acceptable. Thus, until the performance problems
86 associated with `setuptools`_ are addressed, we will stick with plain `distutils`_. We
87 are hopeful that these problems will be addressed and that we will eventually begin
88 using `setuptools`_. Because of this, we are trying to organize IPython in a way that
89 will make the eventual transition to `setuptools`_ as painless as possible.
90
91 Because we will be using `distutils`_, there will be no method for automatically installing dependencies. Instead, we are following the approach of `Matplotlib`_ which can be summarized as follows:
92
93 - Distinguish between required and optional dependencies. However, the required
94 dependencies for IPython should be only the Python standard library.
95 - Upon installation check to see which optional dependencies are present and tell
96 the user which parts of IPython need which optional dependencies.
97
98 It is absolutely critical that each subpackage of IPython has a clearly specified set
99 of dependencies and that dependencies are not carelessly inherited from other IPython
100 subpackages. Furthermore, tests that have certain dependencies should not fail if
101 those dependencies are not present. Instead they should be skipped and print a
102 message.
103
104 .. _setuptools: http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/setuptools
105 .. _distutils: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-distutils.html
106 .. _Matplotlib: http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/
107
108 Specific subpackages
109 --------------------
110
111 ``core``
112 This is the core functionality of IPython that is independent of the
113 terminal, network and GUIs. Most of the code that is in the current
114 IPython trunk will be refactored, cleaned up and moved here.
115
116 ``kernel``
117 The enables the IPython core to be expose to a the network. This is
118 also where all of the parallel computing capabilities are to be found.
119
120 ``config``
121 The configuration package used by IPython.
122
123 ``frontends``
124 The various frontends for IPython. A frontend is the end-user application
125 that exposes the capabilities of IPython to the user. The most basic frontend
126 will simply be a terminal based application that looks just like today 's
127 IPython. Other frontends will likely be more powerful and based on GUI toolkits.
128
129 ``notebook``
130 An application that allows users to work with IPython notebooks.
131
132 ``tools``
133 This is where general utilities go.
134
135
136 Version control
137 ===============
138
139 In the past, IPython development has been done using `Subversion`__. We are currently trying out `Bazaar`__ and `Launchpad`__.
140
141 .. __: http://subversion.tigris.org/
142 .. __: http://bazaar-vcs.org/
143 .. __: http://www.launchpad.net/ipython
144
145 Documentation
146 =============
147
148 Standalone documentation
149 ------------------------
150
151 All standalone documentation should be written in plain text (``.txt``) files using
152 `reStructuredText`_ for markup and formatting. All such documentation should be placed
153 in the top level directory ``docs`` of the IPython source tree. Or, when appropriate,
154 a suitably named subdirectory should be used. The documentation in this location will
155 serve as the main source for IPython documentation and all existing documentation
156 should be converted to this format.
157
158 In the future, the text files in the ``docs`` directory will be used to generate all
159 forms of documentation for IPython. This include documentation on the IPython website
160 as well as *pdf* documentation.
161
162 .. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
163
164 Docstring format
165 ----------------
166
167 Good docstrings are very important. All new code will use `Epydoc`_ for generating API
168 docs, so we will follow the `Epydoc`_ conventions. More specifically, we will use
169 `reStructuredText`_ for markup and formatting, since it is understood by a wide
170 variety of tools. This means that if in the future we have any reason to change from
171 `Epydoc`_ to something else, we'll have fewer transition pains.
172
173 Details about using `reStructuredText`_ for docstrings can be found `here
174 <http://epydoc.sourceforge.net/manual-othermarkup.html>`_.
175
176 .. _Epydoc: http://epydoc.sourceforge.net/
177
178 Additional PEPs of interest regarding documentation of code:
179
180 - `Docstring Conventions <http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0257.html>`_
181 - `Docstring Processing System Framework <http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0256.html>`_
182 - `Docutils Design Specification <http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0258.html>`_
183
184
185 Coding conventions
186 ==================
187
188 General
189 -------
190
191 In general, we'll try to follow the standard Python style conventions as described here:
192
193 - `Style Guide for Python Code <http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0008.html>`_
194
195
196 Other comments:
197
198 - In a large file, top level classes and functions should be
199 separated by 2-3 lines to make it easier to separate them visually.
200 - Use 4 spaces for indentation.
201 - Keep the ordering of methods the same in classes that have the same
202 methods. This is particularly true for classes that implement
203 similar interfaces and for interfaces that are similar.
204
205 Naming conventions
206 ------------------
207
208 In terms of naming conventions, we'll follow the guidelines from the `Style Guide for
209 Python Code`_.
210
211 For all new IPython code (and much existing code is being refactored), we'll use:
212
213 - All ``lowercase`` module names.
214
215 - ``CamelCase`` for class names.
216
217 - ``lowercase_with_underscores`` for methods, functions, variables and attributes.
218
219 This may be confusing as most of the existing IPython codebase uses a different convention (``lowerCamelCase`` for methods and attributes). Slowly, we will move IPython over to the new
220 convention, providing shadow names for backward compatibility in public interfaces.
221
222 There are, however, some important exceptions to these rules. In some cases, IPython
223 code will interface with packages (Twisted, Wx, Qt) that use other conventions. At some level this makes it impossible to adhere to our own standards at all times. In particular, when subclassing classes that use other naming conventions, you must follow their naming conventions. To deal with cases like this, we propose the following policy:
224
225 - If you are subclassing a class that uses different conventions, use its
226 naming conventions throughout your subclass. Thus, if you are creating a
227 Twisted Protocol class, used Twisted's ``namingSchemeForMethodsAndAttributes.``
228
229 - All IPython's official interfaces should use our conventions. In some cases
230 this will mean that you need to provide shadow names (first implement ``fooBar``
231 and then ``foo_bar = fooBar``). We want to avoid this at all costs, but it
232 will probably be necessary at times. But, please use this sparingly!
233
234 Implementation-specific *private* methods will use ``_single_underscore_prefix``.
235 Names with a leading double underscore will *only* be used in special cases, as they
236 makes subclassing difficult (such names are not easily seen by child classes).
237
238 Occasionally some run-in lowercase names are used, but mostly for very short names or
239 where we are implementing methods very similar to existing ones in a base class (like
240 ``runlines()`` where ``runsource()`` and ``runcode()`` had established precedent).
241
242 The old IPython codebase has a big mix of classes and modules prefixed with an
243 explicit ``IP``. In Python this is mostly unnecessary, redundant and frowned upon, as
244 namespaces offer cleaner prefixing. The only case where this approach is justified is
245 for classes which are expected to be imported into external namespaces and a very
246 generic name (like Shell) is too likely to clash with something else. We'll need to
247 revisit this issue as we clean up and refactor the code, but in general we should
248 remove as many unnecessary ``IP``/``ip`` prefixes as possible. However, if a prefix
249 seems absolutely necessary the more specific ``IPY`` or ``ipy`` are preferred.
250
251 .. _devel_testing:
252
253 Testing system
254 ==============
255
256 It is extremely important that all code contributed to IPython has tests. Tests should
257 be written as unittests, doctests or as entities that the `Nose`_ testing package will
258 find. Regardless of how the tests are written, we will use `Nose`_ for discovering and
259 running the tests. `Nose`_ will be required to run the IPython test suite, but will
260 not be required to simply use IPython.
261
262 .. _Nose: http://code.google.com/p/python-nose/
263
264 Tests of `Twisted`__ using code should be written by subclassing the ``TestCase`` class
265 that comes with ``twisted.trial.unittest``. When this is done, `Nose`_ will be able to
266 run the tests and the twisted reactor will be handled correctly.
267
268 .. __: http://www.twistedmatrix.com
269
270 Each subpackage in IPython should have its own ``tests`` directory that contains all
271 of the tests for that subpackage. This allows each subpackage to be self-contained. If
272 a subpackage has any dependencies beyond the Python standard library, the tests for
273 that subpackage should be skipped if the dependencies are not found. This is very
274 important so users don't get tests failing simply because they don't have dependencies.
275
276 We also need to look into use Noses ability to tag tests to allow a more modular
277 approach of running tests.
278
279 .. _devel_config:
280
281 Configuration system
282 ====================
283
284 IPython uses `.ini`_ files for configuration purposes. This represents a huge
285 improvement over the configuration system used in IPython. IPython works with these
286 files using the `ConfigObj`_ package, which IPython includes as
287 ``ipython1/external/configobj.py``.
288
289 Currently, we are using raw `ConfigObj`_ objects themselves. Each subpackage of IPython
290 should contain a ``config`` subdirectory that contains all of the configuration
291 information for the subpackage. To see how configuration information is defined (along
292 with defaults) see at the examples in ``ipython1/kernel/config`` and
293 ``ipython1/core/config``. Likewise, to see how the configuration information is used,
294 see examples in ``ipython1/kernel/scripts/ipengine.py``.
295
296 Eventually, we will add a new layer on top of the raw `ConfigObj`_ objects. We are
297 calling this new layer, ``tconfig``, as it will use a `Traits`_-like validation model.
298 We won't actually use `Traits`_, but will implement something similar in pure Python.
299 But, even in this new system, we will still use `ConfigObj`_ and `.ini`_ files
300 underneath the hood. Talk to Fernando if you are interested in working on this part of
301 IPython. The current prototype of ``tconfig`` is located in the IPython sandbox.
302
303 .. _.ini: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-ConfigParser.html
304 .. _ConfigObj: http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html
305 .. _Traits: http://code.enthought.com/traits/
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
@@ -0,0 +1,9 b''
1 ==================
2 Development
3 ==================
4
5 .. toctree::
6 :maxdepth: 2
7
8 development.txt
9 roadmap.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,96 b''
1 .. _roadmap:
2
3 ===================
4 Development roadmap
5 ===================
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 IPython is an ambitious project that is still under heavy development. However, we want IPython to become useful to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. To help us accomplish this, we are laying out a roadmap of where we are headed and what needs to happen to get there. Hopefully, this will help the IPython developers figure out the best things to work on for each upcoming release.
10
11 Speaking of releases, we are going to begin releasing a new version of IPython every four weeks. We are hoping that a regular release schedule, along with a clear roadmap of where we are headed will propel the project forward.
12
13 Where are we headed
14 ===================
15
16 Our goal with IPython is simple: to provide a *powerful*, *robust* and *easy to use* framework for parallel computing. While there are other secondary goals you will hear us talking about at various times, this is the primary goal of IPython that frames the roadmap.
17
18 Steps along the way
19 ===================
20
21 Here we describe the various things that we need to work on to accomplish this goal.
22
23 Setting up for regular release schedule
24 ---------------------------------------
25
26 We would like to begin to release IPython regularly (probably a 4 week release cycle). To get ready for this, we need to revisit the development guidelines and put in information about releasing IPython.
27
28 Process startup and management
29 ------------------------------
30
31 IPython is implemented using a distributed set of processes that communicate using TCP/IP network channels. Currently, users have to start each of the various processes separately using command line scripts. This is both difficult and error prone. Furthermore, there are a number of things that often need to be managed once the processes have been started, such as the sending of signals and the shutting down and cleaning up of processes.
32
33 We need to build a system that makes it trivial for users to start and manage IPython processes. This system should have the following properties:
34
35 * It should possible to do everything through an extremely simple API that users
36 can call from their own Python script. No shell commands should be needed.
37 * This simple API should be configured using standard .ini files.
38 * The system should make it possible to start processes using a number of different
39 approaches: SSH, PBS/Torque, Xgrid, Windows Server, mpirun, etc.
40 * The controller and engine processes should each have a daemon for monitoring,
41 signaling and clean up.
42 * The system should be secure.
43 * The system should work under all the major operating systems, including
44 Windows.
45
46 Initial work has begun on the daemon infrastructure, and some of the needed logic is contained in the ipcluster script.
47
48 Ease of use/high-level approaches to parallelism
49 ------------------------------------------------
50
51 While our current API for clients is well designed, we can still do a lot better in designing a user-facing API that is super simple. The main goal here is that it should take *almost no extra code* for users to get their code running in parallel. For this to be possible, we need to tie into Python's standard idioms that enable efficient coding. The biggest ones we are looking at are using context managers (i.e., Python 2.5's ``with`` statement) and decorators. Initial work on this front has begun, but more work is needed.
52
53 We also need to think about new models for expressing parallelism. This is fun work as most of the foundation has already been established.
54
55 Security
56 --------
57
58 Currently, IPython has no built in security or security model. Because we would like IPython to be usable on public computer systems and over wide area networks, we need to come up with a robust solution for security. Here are some of the specific things that need to be included:
59
60 * User authentication between all processes (engines, controller and clients).
61 * Optional TSL/SSL based encryption of all communication channels.
62 * A good way of picking network ports so multiple users on the same system can
63 run their own controller and engines without interfering with those of others.
64 * A clear model for security that enables users to evaluate the security risks
65 associated with using IPython in various manners.
66
67 For the implementation of this, we plan on using Twisted's support for SSL and authentication. One things that we really should look at is the `Foolscap`_ network protocol, which provides many of these things out of the box.
68
69 .. _Foolscap: http://foolscap.lothar.com/trac
70
71 The security work needs to be done in conjunction with other network protocol stuff.
72
73 Latent performance issues
74 -------------------------
75
76 Currently, we have a number of performance issues that are waiting to bite users:
77
78 * The controller store a large amount of state in Python dictionaries. Under heavy
79 usage, these dicts with get very large, causing memory usage problems. We need to
80 develop more scalable solutions to this problem, such as using a sqlite database
81 to store this state. This will also help the controller to be more fault tolerant.
82 * Currently, the client to controller connections are done through XML-RPC using
83 HTTP 1.0. This is very inefficient as XML-RPC is a very verbose protocol and
84 each request must be handled with a new connection. We need to move these network
85 connections over to PB or Foolscap.
86 * We currently don't have a good way of handling large objects in the controller.
87 The biggest problem is that because we don't have any way of streaming objects,
88 we get lots of temporary copies in the low-level buffers. We need to implement
89 a better serialization approach and true streaming support.
90 * The controller currently unpickles and repickles objects. We need to use the
91 [push|pull]_serialized methods instead.
92 * Currently the controller is a bottleneck. We need the ability to scale the
93 controller by aggregating multiple controllers into one effective controller.
94
95
96
@@ -0,0 +1,93 b''
1 .. _faq:
2
3 ========================================
4 Frequently asked questions
5 ========================================
6
7 General questions
8 =================
9
10 Questions about parallel computing with IPython
11 ================================================
12
13 Will IPython speed my Python code up?
14 --------------------------------------
15
16 Yes and no. When converting a serial code to run in parallel, there often many
17 difficulty questions that need to be answered, such as:
18
19 * How should data be decomposed onto the set of processors?
20 * What are the data movement patterns?
21 * Can the algorithm be structured to minimize data movement?
22 * Is dynamic load balancing important?
23
24 We can't answer such questions for you. This is the hard (but fun) work of parallel
25 computing. But, once you understand these things IPython will make it easier for you to
26 implement a good solution quickly. Most importantly, you will be able to use the
27 resulting parallel code interactively.
28
29 With that said, if your problem is trivial to parallelize, IPython has a number of
30 different interfaces that will enable you to parallelize things is almost no time at
31 all. A good place to start is the ``map`` method of our `multiengine interface`_.
32
33 .. _multiengine interface: ./parallel_multiengine
34
35 What is the best way to use MPI from Python?
36 --------------------------------------------
37
38 What about all the other parallel computing packages in Python?
39 ---------------------------------------------------------------
40
41 Some of the unique characteristic of IPython are:
42
43 * IPython is the only architecture that abstracts out the notion of a
44 parallel computation in such a way that new models of parallel computing
45 can be explored quickly and easily. If you don't like the models we
46 provide, you can simply create your own using the capabilities we provide.
47 * IPython is asynchronous from the ground up (we use `Twisted`_).
48 * IPython's architecture is designed to avoid subtle problems
49 that emerge because of Python's global interpreter lock (GIL).
50 * While IPython'1 architecture is designed to support a wide range
51 of novel parallel computing models, it is fully interoperable with
52 traditional MPI applications.
53 * IPython has been used and tested extensively on modern supercomputers.
54 * IPython's networking layers are completely modular. Thus, is
55 straightforward to replace our existing network protocols with
56 high performance alternatives (ones based upon Myranet/Infiniband).
57 * IPython is designed from the ground up to support collaborative
58 parallel computing. This enables multiple users to actively develop
59 and run the *same* parallel computation.
60 * Interactivity is a central goal for us. While IPython does not have
61 to be used interactivly, is can be.
62
63 .. _Twisted: http://www.twistedmatrix.com
64
65 Why The IPython controller a bottleneck in my parallel calculation?
66 -------------------------------------------------------------------
67
68 A golden rule in parallel computing is that you should only move data around if you
69 absolutely need to. The main reason that the controller becomes a bottleneck is that
70 too much data is being pushed and pulled to and from the engines. If your algorithm
71 is structured in this way, you really should think about alternative ways of
72 handling the data movement. Here are some ideas:
73
74 1. Have the engines write data to files on the locals disks of the engines.
75 2. Have the engines write data to files on a file system that is shared by
76 the engines.
77 3. Have the engines write data to a database that is shared by the engines.
78 4. Simply keep data in the persistent memory of the engines and move the
79 computation to the data (rather than the data to the computation).
80 5. See if you can pass data directly between engines using MPI.
81
82 Isn't Python slow to be used for high-performance parallel computing?
83 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
@@ -0,0 +1,56 b''
1 .. _history:
2
3 =======
4 History
5 =======
6
7 Origins
8 =======
9
10 The current IPython system grew out of the following three projects:
11
12 * [ipython] by Fernando Pérez. I was working on adding
13 Mathematica-type prompts and a flexible configuration system
14 (something better than $PYTHONSTARTUP) to the standard Python
15 interactive interpreter.
16 * [IPP] by Janko Hauser. Very well organized, great usability. Had
17 an old help system. IPP was used as the 'container' code into
18 which I added the functionality from ipython and LazyPython.
19 * [LazyPython] by Nathan Gray. Simple but very powerful. The quick
20 syntax (auto parens, auto quotes) and verbose/colored tracebacks
21 were all taken from here.
22
23 When I found out about IPP and LazyPython I tried to join all three
24 into a unified system. I thought this could provide a very nice
25 working environment, both for regular programming and scientific
26 computing: shell-like features, IDL/Matlab numerics, Mathematica-type
27 prompt history and great object introspection and help facilities. I
28 think it worked reasonably well, though it was a lot more work than I
29 had initially planned.
30
31
32 Current status
33 ==============
34
35 The above listed features work, and quite well for the most part. But
36 until a major internal restructuring is done (see below), only bug
37 fixing will be done, no other features will be added (unless very minor
38 and well localized in the cleaner parts of the code).
39
40 IPython consists of some 18000 lines of pure python code, of which
41 roughly two thirds is reasonably clean. The rest is, messy code which
42 needs a massive restructuring before any further major work is done.
43 Even the messy code is fairly well documented though, and most of the
44 problems in the (non-existent) class design are well pointed to by a
45 PyChecker run. So the rewriting work isn't that bad, it will just be
46 time-consuming.
47
48
49 Future
50 ------
51
52 See the separate new_design document for details. Ultimately, I would
53 like to see IPython become part of the standard Python distribution as a
54 'big brother with batteries' to the standard Python interactive
55 interpreter. But that will never happen with the current state of the
56 code, so all contributions are welcome. No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,28 b''
1 =====================
2 IPython Documentation
3 =====================
4
5 Contents
6 ========
7
8 .. toctree::
9 :maxdepth: 1
10
11 overview.txt
12 install/index.txt
13 interactive/index.txt
14 parallel/index.txt
15 config/index.txt
16 changes.txt
17 development/index.txt
18 faq.txt
19 history.txt
20 license_and_copyright.txt
21 credits.txt
22
23 Indices and tables
24 ==================
25
26 * :ref:`genindex`
27 * :ref:`modindex`
28 * :ref:`search` No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,138 b''
1 =========================================
2 Advanced installation options for IPython
3 =========================================
4
5 .. contents::
6
7 Introduction
8 ============
9
10 IPython enables parallel applications to be developed in Python. This document
11 describes the steps required to install IPython. For an overview of IPython's
12 architecture as it relates to parallel computing, see our :ref:`introduction to
13 parallel computing with IPython <ip1par>`.
14
15 Please let us know if you have problems installing IPython or any of its
16 dependencies. We have tested IPython extensively with Python 2.4 and 2.5.
17
18 .. warning::
19
20 IPython will not work with Python 2.3 or below.
21
22 IPython has three required dependencies:
23
24 1. `IPython`__
25 2. `Zope Interface`__
26 3. `Twisted`__
27 4. `Foolscap`__
28
29 .. __: http://ipython.scipy.org
30 .. __: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/zope.interface
31 .. __: http://twistedmatrix.com
32 .. __: http://foolscap.lothar.com/trac
33
34 It also has the following optional dependencies:
35
36 1. pexpect (used for certain tests)
37 2. nose (used to run our test suite)
38 3. sqlalchemy (used for database support)
39 4. mpi4py (for MPI support)
40 5. Sphinx and pygments (for building documentation)
41 6. pyOpenSSL (for security)
42
43 Getting IPython
44 ================
45
46 IPython development has been moved to `Launchpad`_. The development branch of IPython can be checkout out using `Bazaar`_::
47
48 $ bzr branch lp:///~ipython/ipython/ipython1-dev
49
50 .. _Launchpad: http://www.launchpad.net/ipython
51 .. _Bazaar: http://bazaar-vcs.org/
52
53 Installation using setuptools
54 =============================
55
56 The easiest way of installing IPython and its dependencies is using
57 `setuptools`_. If you have setuptools installed you can simple use the ``easy_install``
58 script that comes with setuptools (this should be on your path if you have setuptools)::
59
60 $ easy_install ipython1
61
62 This will download and install the latest version of IPython as well as all of its dependencies. For this to work, you will need to be connected to the internet when you run this command. This will install everything info the ``site-packages`` directory of your Python distribution. If this is the system wide Python, you will likely need admin privileges. For information about installing Python packages to other locations (that don't require admin privileges) see the `setuptools`_ documentation.
63
64 .. _setuptools: http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/setuptools
65
66 If you don't want `setuptools`_ to automatically install the dependencies, you can also get the dependencies yourself, using ``easy_install``::
67
68 $ easy_install IPython
69 $ easy_install zope.interface
70 $ easy_install Twisted
71 $ easy_install foolscap
72
73 or by simply downloading and installing the dependencies manually.
74
75 If you want to have secure (highly recommended) network connections, you will also
76 need to get `pyOpenSSL`__, version 0.6, or just do:
77
78 $ easy_install ipython1[security]
79
80 .. hint:: If you want to do development on IPython and want to always
81 run off your development branch, you can run
82 :command:`python setupegg.py develop` in the IPython source tree.
83
84 .. __: http://pyopenssl.sourceforge.net/
85
86 Installation using plain distutils
87 ==================================
88
89 If you don't have `setuptools`_ installed or don't want to use it, you can also install IPython and its dependencies using ``distutils``. In this approach, you will need to get the most recent stable releases of IPython's dependencies and install each of them by doing::
90
91 $ python setup.py install
92
93 The dependencies need to be installed before installing IPython. After installing the dependencies, install IPython by running::
94
95 $ cd ipython1-dev
96 $ python setup.py install
97
98 .. note:: Here we are using setup.py rather than setupegg.py.
99
100 .. _install_testing:
101
102 Testing
103 =======
104
105 Once you have completed the installation of the IPython kernel you can run our test suite
106 with the command::
107
108 trial ipython1
109
110 Or if you have `nose`__ installed::
111
112 nosetests -v ipython1
113
114 The ``trial`` command is part of Twisted and allows asynchronous network based
115 applications to be tested using Python's unittest framework. Please let us know
116 if the tests do not pass. The best way to get in touch with us is on the `IPython
117 developer mailing list`_.
118
119 .. __: http://somethingaboutorange.com/mrl/projects/nose/
120 .. _IPython developer mailing list: http://projects.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
121
122 MPI Support
123 ===========
124
125 IPython includes optional support for the Message Passing Interface (`MPI`_),
126 which enables the IPython Engines to pass data between each other using `MPI`_. To use MPI with IPython, the minimal requirements are:
127
128 * An MPI implementation (we recommend `Open MPI`_)
129 * A way to call MPI (we recommend `mpi4py`_)
130
131 But, IPython should work with any MPI implementation and with any code
132 (Python/C/C++/Fortran) that uses MPI. Please contact us for more information about
133 this.
134
135 .. _MPI: http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/
136 .. _mpi4py: http://mpi4py.scipy.org/
137 .. _Open MPI: http://www.open-mpi.org/
138
@@ -0,0 +1,272 b''
1 =============================
2 Basic installation of IPython
3 =============================
4
5 Installation
6 ============
7
8 Instant instructions
9 --------------------
10
11 If you are of the impatient kind, under Linux/Unix simply untar/unzip
12 the download, then install with 'python setup.py install'. Under
13 Windows, double-click on the provided .exe binary installer.
14
15 Then, take a look at Customization_ section for configuring things
16 optimally and `Quick tips`_ for quick tips on efficient use of
17 IPython. You can later refer to the rest of the manual for all the
18 gory details.
19
20 See the notes in upgrading_ section for upgrading IPython versions.
21
22
23 Detailed Unix instructions (Linux, Mac OS X, etc.)
24
25 For RPM based systems, simply install the supplied package in the usual
26 manner. If you download the tar archive, the process is:
27
28 1. Unzip/untar the ipython-XXX.tar.gz file wherever you want (XXX is
29 the version number). It will make a directory called ipython-XXX.
30 Change into that directory where you will find the files README
31 and setup.py. Once you've completed the installation, you can
32 safely remove this directory.
33 2. If you are installing over a previous installation of version
34 0.2.0 or earlier, first remove your $HOME/.ipython directory,
35 since the configuration file format has changed somewhat (the '='
36 were removed from all option specifications). Or you can call
37 ipython with the -upgrade option and it will do this automatically
38 for you.
39 3. IPython uses distutils, so you can install it by simply typing at
40 the system prompt (don't type the $)::
41
42 $ python setup.py install
43
44 Note that this assumes you have root access to your machine. If
45 you don't have root access or don't want IPython to go in the
46 default python directories, you'll need to use the ``--home`` option
47 (or ``--prefix``). For example::
48
49 $ python setup.py install --home $HOME/local
50
51 will install IPython into $HOME/local and its subdirectories
52 (creating them if necessary).
53 You can type::
54
55 $ python setup.py --help
56
57 for more details.
58
59 Note that if you change the default location for ``--home`` at
60 installation, IPython may end up installed at a location which is
61 not part of your $PYTHONPATH environment variable. In this case,
62 you'll need to configure this variable to include the actual
63 directory where the IPython/ directory ended (typically the value
64 you give to ``--home`` plus /lib/python).
65
66
67 Mac OSX information
68 -------------------
69
70 Under OSX, there is a choice you need to make. Apple ships its own build
71 of Python, which lives in the core OSX filesystem hierarchy. You can
72 also manually install a separate Python, either purely by hand
73 (typically in /usr/local) or by using Fink, which puts everything under
74 /sw. Which route to follow is a matter of personal preference, as I've
75 seen users who favor each of the approaches. Here I will simply list the
76 known installation issues under OSX, along with their solutions.
77
78 This page: http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~tobis/pylab.html contains
79 information on this topic, with additional details on how to make
80 IPython and matplotlib play nicely under OSX.
81
82 To run IPython and readline on OSX "Leopard" system python, see the
83 wiki page at http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/InstallationOSXLeopard
84
85
86 GUI problems
87 ------------
88
89 The following instructions apply to an install of IPython under OSX from
90 unpacking the .tar.gz distribution and installing it for the default
91 Python interpreter shipped by Apple. If you are using a fink install,
92 fink will take care of these details for you, by installing IPython
93 against fink's Python.
94
95 IPython offers various forms of support for interacting with graphical
96 applications from the command line, from simple Tk apps (which are in
97 principle always supported by Python) to interactive control of WX, Qt
98 and GTK apps. Under OSX, however, this requires that ipython is
99 installed by calling the special pythonw script at installation time,
100 which takes care of coordinating things with Apple's graphical environment.
101
102 So when installing under OSX, it is best to use the following command::
103
104 $ sudo pythonw setup.py install --install-scripts=/usr/local/bin
105
106 or
107
108 $ sudo pythonw setup.py install --install-scripts=/usr/bin
109
110 depending on where you like to keep hand-installed executables.
111
112 The resulting script will have an appropriate shebang line (the first
113 line in the script whic begins with #!...) such that the ipython
114 interpreter can interact with the OS X GUI. If the installed version
115 does not work and has a shebang line that points to, for example, just
116 /usr/bin/python, then you might have a stale, cached version in your
117 build/scripts-<python-version> directory. Delete that directory and
118 rerun the setup.py.
119
120 It is also a good idea to use the special flag ``--install-scripts`` as
121 indicated above, to ensure that the ipython scripts end up in a location
122 which is part of your $PATH. Otherwise Apple's Python will put the
123 scripts in an internal directory not available by default at the command
124 line (if you use /usr/local/bin, you need to make sure this is in your
125 $PATH, which may not be true by default).
126
127
128 Readline problems
129 -----------------
130
131 By default, the Python version shipped by Apple does not include the
132 readline library, so central to IPython's behavior. If you install
133 IPython against Apple's Python, you will not have arrow keys, tab
134 completion, etc. For Mac OSX 10.3 (Panther), you can find a prebuilt
135 readline library here:
136 http://pythonmac.org/packages/readline-5.0-py2.3-macosx10.3.zip
137
138 If you are using OSX 10.4 (Tiger), after installing this package you
139 need to either:
140
141 1. move readline.so from /Library/Python/2.3 to
142 /Library/Python/2.3/site-packages, or
143 2. install http://pythonmac.org/packages/TigerPython23Compat.pkg.zip
144
145 Users installing against Fink's Python or a properly hand-built one
146 should not have this problem.
147
148
149 DarwinPorts
150 -----------
151
152 I report here a message from an OSX user, who suggests an alternative
153 means of using IPython under this operating system with good results.
154 Please let me know of any updates that may be useful for this section.
155 His message is reproduced verbatim below:
156
157 From: Markus Banfi <markus.banfi-AT-mospheira.net>
158
159 As a MacOS X (10.4.2) user I prefer to install software using
160 DawinPorts instead of Fink. I had no problems installing ipython
161 with DarwinPorts. It's just:
162
163 sudo port install py-ipython
164
165 It automatically resolved all dependencies (python24, readline,
166 py-readline). So far I did not encounter any problems with the
167 DarwinPorts port of ipython.
168
169
170
171 Windows instructions
172 --------------------
173
174 Some of IPython's very useful features are:
175
176 * Integrated readline support (Tab-based file, object and attribute
177 completion, input history across sessions, editable command line,
178 etc.)
179 * Coloring of prompts, code and tracebacks.
180
181 .. _pyreadline:
182
183 These, by default, are only available under Unix-like operating systems.
184 However, thanks to Gary Bishop's work, Windows XP/2k users can also
185 benefit from them. His readline library originally implemented both GNU
186 readline functionality and color support, so that IPython under Windows
187 XP/2k can be as friendly and powerful as under Unix-like environments.
188
189 This library, now named PyReadline, has been absorbed by the IPython
190 team (Jörgen Stenarson, in particular), and it continues to be developed
191 with new features, as well as being distributed directly from the
192 IPython site.
193
194 The PyReadline extension requires CTypes and the windows IPython
195 installer needs PyWin32, so in all you need:
196
197 1. PyWin32 from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32.
198 2. PyReadline for Windows from
199 http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/PyReadline/Intro. That page contains
200 further details on using and configuring the system to your liking.
201 3. Finally, only if you are using Python 2.3 or 2.4, you need CTypes
202 from http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes(you must use
203 version 0.9.1 or newer). This package is included in Python 2.5,
204 so you don't need to manually get it if your Python version is 2.5
205 or newer.
206
207 Warning about a broken readline-like library: several users have
208 reported problems stemming from using the pseudo-readline library at
209 http://newcenturycomputers.net/projects/readline.html. This is a broken
210 library which, while called readline, only implements an incomplete
211 subset of the readline API. Since it is still called readline, it fools
212 IPython's detection mechanisms and causes unpredictable crashes later.
213 If you wish to use IPython under Windows, you must NOT use this library,
214 which for all purposes is (at least as of version 1.6) terminally broken.
215
216
217 Installation procedure
218 ----------------------
219
220 Once you have the above installed, from the IPython download directory
221 grab the ipython-XXX.win32.exe file, where XXX represents the version
222 number. This is a regular windows executable installer, which you can
223 simply double-click to install. It will add an entry for IPython to your
224 Start Menu, as well as registering IPython in the Windows list of
225 applications, so you can later uninstall it from the Control Panel.
226
227 IPython tries to install the configuration information in a directory
228 named .ipython (_ipython under Windows) located in your 'home'
229 directory. IPython sets this directory by looking for a HOME environment
230 variable; if such a variable does not exist, it uses HOMEDRIVE\HOMEPATH
231 (these are always defined by Windows). This typically gives something
232 like C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName, but your local details may
233 vary. In this directory you will find all the files that configure
234 IPython's defaults, and you can put there your profiles and extensions.
235 This directory is automatically added by IPython to sys.path, so
236 anything you place there can be found by import statements.
237
238
239 Upgrading
240 ---------
241
242 For an IPython upgrade, you should first uninstall the previous version.
243 This will ensure that all files and directories (such as the
244 documentation) which carry embedded version strings in their names are
245 properly removed.
246
247
248 Manual installation under Win32
249 -------------------------------
250
251 In case the automatic installer does not work for some reason, you can
252 download the ipython-XXX.tar.gz file, which contains the full IPython
253 source distribution (the popular WinZip can read .tar.gz files). After
254 uncompressing the archive, you can install it at a command terminal just
255 like any other Python module, by using 'python setup.py install'.
256
257 After the installation, run the supplied win32_manual_post_install.py
258 script, which creates the necessary Start Menu shortcuts for you.
259
260
261 .. upgrading:
262
263 Upgrading from a previous version
264 ---------------------------------
265
266 If you are upgrading from a previous version of IPython, you may want
267 to upgrade the contents of your ~/.ipython directory. Just run
268 %upgrade, look at the diffs and delete the suggested files manually,
269 if you think you can lose the old versions. %upgrade will never
270 overwrite or delete anything.
271
272
@@ -0,0 +1,9 b''
1 ==================
2 Installation
3 ==================
4
5 .. toctree::
6 :maxdepth: 2
7
8 basic.txt
9 advanced.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,252 b''
1 =====================
2 IPython extension API
3 =====================
4
5 IPython api (defined in IPython/ipapi.py) is the public api that
6 should be used for
7
8 * Configuration of user preferences (.ipython/ipy_user_conf.py)
9 * Creating new profiles (.ipython/ipy_profile_PROFILENAME.py)
10 * Writing extensions
11
12 Note that by using the extension api for configuration (editing
13 ipy_user_conf.py instead of ipythonrc), you get better validity checks
14 and get richer functionality - for example, you can import an
15 extension and call functions in it to configure it for your purposes.
16
17 For an example extension (the 'sh' profile), see
18 IPython/Extensions/ipy_profile_sh.py.
19
20 For the last word on what's available, see the source code of
21 IPython/ipapi.py.
22
23
24 Getting started
25 ===============
26
27 If you want to define an extension, create a normal python module that
28 can be imported. The module will access IPython functionality through
29 the 'ip' object defined below.
30
31 If you are creating a new profile (e.g. foobar), name the module as
32 'ipy_profile_foobar.py' and put it in your ~/.ipython directory. Then,
33 when you start ipython with the '-p foobar' argument, the module is
34 automatically imported on ipython startup.
35
36 If you are just doing some per-user configuration, you can either
37
38 * Put the commands directly into ipy_user_conf.py.
39
40 * Create a new module with your customization code and import *that*
41 module in ipy_user_conf.py. This is preferable to the first approach,
42 because now you can reuse and distribute your customization code.
43
44 Getting a handle to the api
45 ===========================
46
47 Put this in the start of your module::
48
49 #!python
50 import IPython.ipapi
51 ip = IPython.ipapi.get()
52
53 The 'ip' object will then be used for accessing IPython
54 functionality. 'ip' will mean this api object in all the following
55 code snippets. The same 'ip' that we just acquired is always
56 accessible in interactive IPython sessions by the name _ip - play with
57 it like this::
58
59 [~\_ipython]|81> a = 10
60 [~\_ipython]|82> _ip.e
61 _ip.ev _ip.ex _ip.expose_magic
62 [~\_ipython]|82> _ip.ev('a+13')
63 <82> 23
64
65 The _ip object is also used in some examples in this document - it can
66 be substituted by 'ip' in non-interactive use.
67
68 Changing options
69 ================
70
71 The ip object has 'options' attribute that can be used te get/set
72 configuration options (just as in the ipythonrc file)::
73
74 o = ip.options
75 o.autocall = 2
76 o.automagic = 1
77
78 Executing statements in IPython namespace with 'ex' and 'ev'
79 ============================================================
80
81 Often, you want to e.g. import some module or define something that
82 should be visible in IPython namespace. Use ``ip.ev`` to
83 *evaluate* (calculate the value of) expression and ``ip.ex`` to
84 '''execute''' a statement::
85
86 # path module will be visible to the interactive session
87 ip.ex("from path import path" )
88
89 # define a handy function 'up' that changes the working directory
90
91 ip.ex('import os')
92 ip.ex("def up(): os.chdir('..')")
93
94
95 # _i2 has the input history entry #2, print its value in uppercase.
96 print ip.ev('_i2.upper()')
97
98 Accessing the IPython namespace
99 ===============================
100
101 ip.user_ns attribute has a dictionary containing the IPython global
102 namespace (the namespace visible in the interactive session).
103
104 ::
105
106 [~\_ipython]|84> tauno = 555
107 [~\_ipython]|85> _ip.user_ns['tauno']
108 <85> 555
109
110 Defining new magic commands
111 ===========================
112
113 The following example defines a new magic command, %impall. What the
114 command does should be obvious::
115
116 def doimp(self, arg):
117 ip = self.api
118 ip.ex("import %s; reload(%s); from %s import *" % (
119 arg,arg,arg)
120 )
121
122 ip.expose_magic('impall', doimp)
123
124 Things to observe in this example:
125
126 * Define a function that implements the magic command using the
127 ipapi methods defined in this document
128 * The first argument of the function is 'self', i.e. the
129 interpreter object. It shouldn't be used directly. however.
130 The interpreter object is probably *not* going to remain stable
131 through IPython versions.
132 * Access the ipapi through 'self.api' instead of the global 'ip' object.
133 * All the text following the magic command on the command line is
134 contained in the second argument
135 * Expose the magic by ip.expose_magic()
136
137
138 Calling magic functions and system commands
139 ===========================================
140
141 Use ip.magic() to execute a magic function, and ip.system() to execute
142 a system command::
143
144 # go to a bookmark
145 ip.magic('%cd -b relfiles')
146
147 # execute 'ls -F' system command. Interchangeable with os.system('ls'), really.
148 ip.system('ls -F')
149
150 Launching IPython instance from normal python code
151 ==================================================
152
153 Use ipapi.launch_new_instance() with an argument that specifies the
154 namespace to use. This can be useful for trivially embedding IPython
155 into your program. Here's an example of normal python program test.py
156 ('''without''' an existing IPython session) that launches an IPython
157 interpreter and regains control when the interpreter is exited::
158
159 [ipython]|1> cat test.py
160 my_ns = dict(
161 kissa = 15,
162 koira = 16)
163 import IPython.ipapi
164 print "launching IPython instance"
165 IPython.ipapi.launch_new_instance(my_ns)
166 print "Exited IPython instance!"
167 print "New vals:",my_ns['kissa'], my_ns['koira']
168
169 And here's what it looks like when run (note how we don't start it
170 from an ipython session)::
171
172 Q:\ipython>python test.py
173 launching IPython instance
174 Py 2.5 (r25:51908, Sep 19 2006, 09:52:17) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] IPy 0.7.3b3.r1975
175 [ipython]|1> kissa = 444
176 [ipython]|2> koira = 555
177 [ipython]|3> Exit
178 Exited IPython instance!
179 New vals: 444 555
180
181 Accessing unexposed functionality
182 =================================
183
184 There are still many features that are not exposed via the ipapi. If
185 you can't avoid using them, you can use the functionality in
186 InteractiveShell object (central IPython session class, defined in
187 iplib.py) through ip.IP.
188
189 For example::
190
191 [~]|7> _ip.IP.expand_aliases('np','myfile.py')
192 <7> 'c:/opt/Notepad++/notepad++.exe myfile.py'
193 [~]|8>
194
195 Still, it's preferable that if you encounter such a feature, contact
196 the IPython team and request that the functionality be exposed in a
197 future version of IPython. Things not in ipapi are more likely to
198 change over time.
199
200 Provided extensions
201 ===================
202
203 You can see the list of available extensions (and profiles) by doing
204 ``import ipy_<TAB>``. Some extensions don't have the ``ipy_`` prefix in
205 module name, so you may need to see the contents of IPython/Extensions
206 folder to see what's available.
207
208 You can see a brief documentation of an extension by looking at the
209 module docstring::
210
211 [c:p/ipython_main]|190> import ipy_fsops
212 [c:p/ipython_main]|191> ipy_fsops?
213
214 ...
215
216 Docstring:
217 File system operations
218
219 Contains: Simple variants of normal unix shell commands (icp, imv, irm,
220 imkdir, igrep).
221
222 You can also install your own extensions - the recommended way is to
223 just copy the module to ~/.ipython. Extensions are typically enabled
224 by just importing them (e.g. in ipy_user_conf.py), but some extensions
225 require additional steps, for example::
226
227 [c:p]|192> import ipy_traits_completer
228 [c:p]|193> ipy_traits_completer.activate()
229
230 Note that extensions, even if provided in the stock IPython
231 installation, are not guaranteed to have the same requirements as the
232 rest of IPython - an extension may require external libraries or a
233 newer version of Python than what IPython officially requires. An
234 extension may also be under a more restrictive license than IPython
235 (e.g. ipy_bzr is under GPL).
236
237 Just for reference, the list of bundled extensions at the time of
238 writing is below:
239
240 astyle.py clearcmd.py envpersist.py ext_rescapture.py ibrowse.py
241 igrid.py InterpreterExec.py InterpreterPasteInput.py ipipe.py
242 ipy_app_completers.py ipy_autoreload.py ipy_bzr.py ipy_completers.py
243 ipy_constants.py ipy_defaults.py ipy_editors.py ipy_exportdb.py
244 ipy_extutil.py ipy_fsops.py ipy_gnuglobal.py ipy_kitcfg.py
245 ipy_legacy.py ipy_leo.py ipy_p4.py ipy_profile_doctest.py
246 ipy_profile_none.py ipy_profile_scipy.py ipy_profile_sh.py
247 ipy_profile_zope.py ipy_pydb.py ipy_rehashdir.py ipy_render.py
248 ipy_server.py ipy_signals.py ipy_stock_completers.py
249 ipy_system_conf.py ipy_traits_completer.py ipy_vimserver.py
250 ipy_which.py ipy_workdir.py jobctrl.py ledit.py numeric_formats.py
251 PhysicalQInput.py PhysicalQInteractive.py pickleshare.py
252 pspersistence.py win32clip.py __init__.py No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,11 b''
1 ==================================
2 Using IPython for interactive work
3 ==================================
4
5 .. toctree::
6 :maxdepth: 1
7
8 tutorial.txt
9 reference.txt
10 shell.txt
11 extension_api.txt
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@@ -0,0 +1,3163 b''
1 .. IPython documentation master file, created by sphinx-quickstart.py on Mon Mar 24 17:01:34 2008.
2 You can adapt this file completely to your liking, but it should at least
3 contain the root 'toctree' directive.
4
5 =================
6 IPython reference
7 =================
8
9 .. contents::
10
11 .. _Command line options:
12
13 Command-line usage
14 ==================
15
16 You start IPython with the command::
17
18 $ ipython [options] files
19
20 If invoked with no options, it executes all the files listed in sequence
21 and drops you into the interpreter while still acknowledging any options
22 you may have set in your ipythonrc file. This behavior is different from
23 standard Python, which when called as python -i will only execute one
24 file and ignore your configuration setup.
25
26 Please note that some of the configuration options are not available at
27 the command line, simply because they are not practical here. Look into
28 your ipythonrc configuration file for details on those. This file
29 typically installed in the $HOME/.ipython directory. For Windows users,
30 $HOME resolves to C:\\Documents and Settings\\YourUserName in most
31 instances. In the rest of this text, we will refer to this directory as
32 IPYTHONDIR.
33
34 .. _Threading options:
35
36
37 Special Threading Options
38 -------------------------
39
40 The following special options are ONLY valid at the beginning of the
41 command line, and not later. This is because they control the initial-
42 ization of ipython itself, before the normal option-handling mechanism
43 is active.
44
45 -gthread, -qthread, -q4thread, -wthread, -pylab:
46 Only one of these can be given, and it can only be given as
47 the first option passed to IPython (it will have no effect in
48 any other position). They provide threading support for the
49 GTK, Qt (versions 3 and 4) and WXPython toolkits, and for the
50 matplotlib library.
51
52 With any of the first four options, IPython starts running a
53 separate thread for the graphical toolkit's operation, so that
54 you can open and control graphical elements from within an
55 IPython command line, without blocking. All four provide
56 essentially the same functionality, respectively for GTK, Qt3,
57 Qt4 and WXWidgets (via their Python interfaces).
58
59 Note that with -wthread, you can additionally use the
60 -wxversion option to request a specific version of wx to be
61 used. This requires that you have the wxversion Python module
62 installed, which is part of recent wxPython distributions.
63
64 If -pylab is given, IPython loads special support for the mat
65 plotlib library (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net), allowing
66 interactive usage of any of its backends as defined in the
67 user's ~/.matplotlib/matplotlibrc file. It automatically
68 activates GTK, Qt or WX threading for IPyhton if the choice of
69 matplotlib backend requires it. It also modifies the %run
70 command to correctly execute (without blocking) any
71 matplotlib-based script which calls show() at the end.
72
73 -tk
74 The -g/q/q4/wthread options, and -pylab (if matplotlib is
75 configured to use GTK, Qt3, Qt4 or WX), will normally block Tk
76 graphical interfaces. This means that when either GTK, Qt or WX
77 threading is active, any attempt to open a Tk GUI will result in a
78 dead window, and possibly cause the Python interpreter to crash.
79 An extra option, -tk, is available to address this issue. It can
80 only be given as a second option after any of the above (-gthread,
81 -wthread or -pylab).
82
83 If -tk is given, IPython will try to coordinate Tk threading
84 with GTK, Qt or WX. This is however potentially unreliable, and
85 you will have to test on your platform and Python configuration to
86 determine whether it works for you. Debian users have reported
87 success, apparently due to the fact that Debian builds all of Tcl,
88 Tk, Tkinter and Python with pthreads support. Under other Linux
89 environments (such as Fedora Core 2/3), this option has caused
90 random crashes and lockups of the Python interpreter. Under other
91 operating systems (Mac OSX and Windows), you'll need to try it to
92 find out, since currently no user reports are available.
93
94 There is unfortunately no way for IPython to determine at run time
95 whether -tk will work reliably or not, so you will need to do some
96 experiments before relying on it for regular work.
97
98
99
100 Regular Options
101 ---------------
102
103 After the above threading options have been given, regular options can
104 follow in any order. All options can be abbreviated to their shortest
105 non-ambiguous form and are case-sensitive. One or two dashes can be
106 used. Some options have an alternate short form, indicated after a ``|``.
107
108 Most options can also be set from your ipythonrc configuration file. See
109 the provided example for more details on what the options do. Options
110 given at the command line override the values set in the ipythonrc file.
111
112 All options with a [no] prepended can be specified in negated form
113 (-nooption instead of -option) to turn the feature off.
114
115 -help print a help message and exit.
116
117 -pylab
118 this can only be given as the first option passed to IPython
119 (it will have no effect in any other position). It adds
120 special support for the matplotlib library
121 (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.ne), allowing interactive usage
122 of any of its backends as defined in the user's .matplotlibrc
123 file. It automatically activates GTK or WX threading for
124 IPyhton if the choice of matplotlib backend requires it. It
125 also modifies the %run command to correctly execute (without
126 blocking) any matplotlib-based script which calls show() at
127 the end. See `Matplotlib support`_ for more details.
128
129 -autocall <val>
130 Make IPython automatically call any callable object even if you
131 didn't type explicit parentheses. For example, 'str 43' becomes
132 'str(43)' automatically. The value can be '0' to disable the feature,
133 '1' for smart autocall, where it is not applied if there are no more
134 arguments on the line, and '2' for full autocall, where all callable
135 objects are automatically called (even if no arguments are
136 present). The default is '1'.
137
138 -[no]autoindent
139 Turn automatic indentation on/off.
140
141 -[no]automagic
142 make magic commands automatic (without needing their first character
143 to be %). Type %magic at the IPython prompt for more information.
144
145 -[no]autoedit_syntax
146 When a syntax error occurs after editing a file, automatically
147 open the file to the trouble causing line for convenient
148 fixing.
149
150 -[no]banner Print the initial information banner (default on).
151
152 -c <command>
153 execute the given command string. This is similar to the -c
154 option in the normal Python interpreter.
155
156 -cache_size, cs <n>
157 size of the output cache (maximum number of entries to hold in
158 memory). The default is 1000, you can change it permanently in your
159 config file. Setting it to 0 completely disables the caching system,
160 and the minimum value accepted is 20 (if you provide a value less than
161 20, it is reset to 0 and a warning is issued) This limit is defined
162 because otherwise you'll spend more time re-flushing a too small cache
163 than working.
164
165 -classic, cl
166 Gives IPython a similar feel to the classic Python
167 prompt.
168
169 -colors <scheme>
170 Color scheme for prompts and exception reporting. Currently
171 implemented: NoColor, Linux and LightBG.
172
173 -[no]color_info
174 IPython can display information about objects via a set of functions,
175 and optionally can use colors for this, syntax highlighting source
176 code and various other elements. However, because this information is
177 passed through a pager (like 'less') and many pagers get confused with
178 color codes, this option is off by default. You can test it and turn
179 it on permanently in your ipythonrc file if it works for you. As a
180 reference, the 'less' pager supplied with Mandrake 8.2 works ok, but
181 that in RedHat 7.2 doesn't.
182
183 Test it and turn it on permanently if it works with your
184 system. The magic function %color_info allows you to toggle this
185 interactively for testing.
186
187 -[no]debug
188 Show information about the loading process. Very useful to pin down
189 problems with your configuration files or to get details about
190 session restores.
191
192 -[no]deep_reload:
193 IPython can use the deep_reload module which reloads changes in
194 modules recursively (it replaces the reload() function, so you don't
195 need to change anything to use it). deep_reload() forces a full
196 reload of modules whose code may have changed, which the default
197 reload() function does not.
198
199 When deep_reload is off, IPython will use the normal reload(),
200 but deep_reload will still be available as dreload(). This
201 feature is off by default [which means that you have both
202 normal reload() and dreload()].
203
204 -editor <name>
205 Which editor to use with the %edit command. By default,
206 IPython will honor your EDITOR environment variable (if not
207 set, vi is the Unix default and notepad the Windows one).
208 Since this editor is invoked on the fly by IPython and is
209 meant for editing small code snippets, you may want to use a
210 small, lightweight editor here (in case your default EDITOR is
211 something like Emacs).
212
213 -ipythondir <name>
214 name of your IPython configuration directory IPYTHONDIR. This
215 can also be specified through the environment variable
216 IPYTHONDIR.
217
218 -log, l
219 generate a log file of all input. The file is named
220 ipython_log.py in your current directory (which prevents logs
221 from multiple IPython sessions from trampling each other). You
222 can use this to later restore a session by loading your
223 logfile as a file to be executed with option -logplay (see
224 below).
225
226 -logfile, lf <name> specify the name of your logfile.
227
228 -logplay, lp <name>
229
230 you can replay a previous log. For restoring a session as close as
231 possible to the state you left it in, use this option (don't just run
232 the logfile). With -logplay, IPython will try to reconstruct the
233 previous working environment in full, not just execute the commands in
234 the logfile.
235
236 When a session is restored, logging is automatically turned on
237 again with the name of the logfile it was invoked with (it is
238 read from the log header). So once you've turned logging on for
239 a session, you can quit IPython and reload it as many times as
240 you want and it will continue to log its history and restore
241 from the beginning every time.
242
243 Caveats: there are limitations in this option. The history
244 variables _i*,_* and _dh don't get restored properly. In the
245 future we will try to implement full session saving by writing
246 and retrieving a 'snapshot' of the memory state of IPython. But
247 our first attempts failed because of inherent limitations of
248 Python's Pickle module, so this may have to wait.
249
250 -[no]messages
251 Print messages which IPython collects about its startup
252 process (default on).
253
254 -[no]pdb
255 Automatically call the pdb debugger after every uncaught
256 exception. If you are used to debugging using pdb, this puts
257 you automatically inside of it after any call (either in
258 IPython or in code called by it) which triggers an exception
259 which goes uncaught.
260
261 -pydb
262 Makes IPython use the third party "pydb" package as debugger,
263 instead of pdb. Requires that pydb is installed.
264
265 -[no]pprint
266 ipython can optionally use the pprint (pretty printer) module
267 for displaying results. pprint tends to give a nicer display
268 of nested data structures. If you like it, you can turn it on
269 permanently in your config file (default off).
270
271 -profile, p <name>
272
273 assume that your config file is ipythonrc-<name> or
274 ipy_profile_<name>.py (looks in current dir first, then in
275 IPYTHONDIR). This is a quick way to keep and load multiple
276 config files for different tasks, especially if you use the
277 include option of config files. You can keep a basic
278 IPYTHONDIR/ipythonrc file and then have other 'profiles' which
279 include this one and load extra things for particular
280 tasks. For example:
281
282 1. $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc : load basic things you always want.
283 2. $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc-math : load (1) and basic math-related modules.
284 3. $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc-numeric : load (1) and Numeric and plotting modules.
285
286 Since it is possible to create an endless loop by having
287 circular file inclusions, IPython will stop if it reaches 15
288 recursive inclusions.
289
290 -prompt_in1, pi1 <string>
291 Specify the string used for input prompts. Note that if you
292 are using numbered prompts, the number is represented with a
293 '\#' in the string. Don't forget to quote strings with spaces
294 embedded in them. Default: 'In [\#]:'. Sec. Prompts_
295 discusses in detail all the available escapes to customize
296 your prompts.
297
298 -prompt_in2, pi2 <string>
299 Similar to the previous option, but used for the continuation
300 prompts. The special sequence '\D' is similar to '\#', but
301 with all digits replaced dots (so you can have your
302 continuation prompt aligned with your input prompt). Default:
303 ' .\D.:' (note three spaces at the start for alignment with
304 'In [\#]').
305
306 -prompt_out,po <string>
307 String used for output prompts, also uses numbers like
308 prompt_in1. Default: 'Out[\#]:'
309
310 -quick start in bare bones mode (no config file loaded).
311
312 -rcfile <name>
313 name of your IPython resource configuration file. Normally
314 IPython loads ipythonrc (from current directory) or
315 IPYTHONDIR/ipythonrc.
316
317 If the loading of your config file fails, IPython starts with
318 a bare bones configuration (no modules loaded at all).
319
320 -[no]readline
321 use the readline library, which is needed to support name
322 completion and command history, among other things. It is
323 enabled by default, but may cause problems for users of
324 X/Emacs in Python comint or shell buffers.
325
326 Note that X/Emacs 'eterm' buffers (opened with M-x term) support
327 IPython's readline and syntax coloring fine, only 'emacs' (M-x
328 shell and C-c !) buffers do not.
329
330 -screen_length, sl <n>
331 number of lines of your screen. This is used to control
332 printing of very long strings. Strings longer than this number
333 of lines will be sent through a pager instead of directly
334 printed.
335
336 The default value for this is 0, which means IPython will
337 auto-detect your screen size every time it needs to print certain
338 potentially long strings (this doesn't change the behavior of the
339 'print' keyword, it's only triggered internally). If for some
340 reason this isn't working well (it needs curses support), specify
341 it yourself. Otherwise don't change the default.
342
343 -separate_in, si <string>
344
345 separator before input prompts.
346 Default: '\n'
347
348 -separate_out, so <string>
349 separator before output prompts.
350 Default: nothing.
351
352 -separate_out2, so2
353 separator after output prompts.
354 Default: nothing.
355 For these three options, use the value 0 to specify no separator.
356
357 -nosep
358 shorthand for '-SeparateIn 0 -SeparateOut 0 -SeparateOut2
359 0'. Simply removes all input/output separators.
360
361 -upgrade
362 allows you to upgrade your IPYTHONDIR configuration when you
363 install a new version of IPython. Since new versions may
364 include new command line options or example files, this copies
365 updated ipythonrc-type files. However, it backs up (with a
366 .old extension) all files which it overwrites so that you can
367 merge back any customizations you might have in your personal
368 files. Note that you should probably use %upgrade instead,
369 it's a safer alternative.
370
371
372 -Version print version information and exit.
373
374 -wxversion <string>
375 Select a specific version of wxPython (used in conjunction
376 with -wthread). Requires the wxversion module, part of recent
377 wxPython distributions
378
379 -xmode <modename>
380
381 Mode for exception reporting.
382
383 Valid modes: Plain, Context and Verbose.
384
385 * Plain: similar to python's normal traceback printing.
386 * Context: prints 5 lines of context source code around each
387 line in the traceback.
388 * Verbose: similar to Context, but additionally prints the
389 variables currently visible where the exception happened
390 (shortening their strings if too long). This can potentially be
391 very slow, if you happen to have a huge data structure whose
392 string representation is complex to compute. Your computer may
393 appear to freeze for a while with cpu usage at 100%. If this
394 occurs, you can cancel the traceback with Ctrl-C (maybe hitting it
395 more than once).
396
397 Interactive use
398 ===============
399
400 Warning: IPython relies on the existence of a global variable called
401 _ip which controls the shell itself. If you redefine _ip to anything,
402 bizarre behavior will quickly occur.
403
404 Other than the above warning, IPython is meant to work as a drop-in
405 replacement for the standard interactive interpreter. As such, any code
406 which is valid python should execute normally under IPython (cases where
407 this is not true should be reported as bugs). It does, however, offer
408 many features which are not available at a standard python prompt. What
409 follows is a list of these.
410
411
412 Caution for Windows users
413 -------------------------
414
415 Windows, unfortunately, uses the '\' character as a path
416 separator. This is a terrible choice, because '\' also represents the
417 escape character in most modern programming languages, including
418 Python. For this reason, using '/' character is recommended if you
419 have problems with ``\``. However, in Windows commands '/' flags
420 options, so you can not use it for the root directory. This means that
421 paths beginning at the root must be typed in a contrived manner like:
422 ``%copy \opt/foo/bar.txt \tmp``
423
424 .. _magic:
425
426 Magic command system
427 --------------------
428
429 IPython will treat any line whose first character is a % as a special
430 call to a 'magic' function. These allow you to control the behavior of
431 IPython itself, plus a lot of system-type features. They are all
432 prefixed with a % character, but parameters are given without
433 parentheses or quotes.
434
435 Example: typing '%cd mydir' (without the quotes) changes you working
436 directory to 'mydir', if it exists.
437
438 If you have 'automagic' enabled (in your ipythonrc file, via the command
439 line option -automagic or with the %automagic function), you don't need
440 to type in the % explicitly. IPython will scan its internal list of
441 magic functions and call one if it exists. With automagic on you can
442 then just type 'cd mydir' to go to directory 'mydir'. The automagic
443 system has the lowest possible precedence in name searches, so defining
444 an identifier with the same name as an existing magic function will
445 shadow it for automagic use. You can still access the shadowed magic
446 function by explicitly using the % character at the beginning of the line.
447
448 An example (with automagic on) should clarify all this::
449
450 In [1]: cd ipython # %cd is called by automagic
451
452 /home/fperez/ipython
453
454 In [2]: cd=1 # now cd is just a variable
455
456 In [3]: cd .. # and doesn't work as a function anymore
457
458 ------------------------------
459
460 File "<console>", line 1
461
462 cd ..
463
464 ^
465
466 SyntaxError: invalid syntax
467
468 In [4]: %cd .. # but %cd always works
469
470 /home/fperez
471
472 In [5]: del cd # if you remove the cd variable
473
474 In [6]: cd ipython # automagic can work again
475
476 /home/fperez/ipython
477
478 You can define your own magic functions to extend the system. The
479 following example defines a new magic command, %impall::
480
481 import IPython.ipapi
482
483 ip = IPython.ipapi.get()
484
485 def doimp(self, arg):
486
487 ip = self.api
488
489 ip.ex("import %s; reload(%s); from %s import *" % (
490
491 arg,arg,arg)
492
493 )
494
495 ip.expose_magic('impall', doimp)
496
497 You can also define your own aliased names for magic functions. In your
498 ipythonrc file, placing a line like:
499
500 execute __IP.magic_cl = __IP.magic_clear
501
502 will define %cl as a new name for %clear.
503
504 Type %magic for more information, including a list of all available
505 magic functions at any time and their docstrings. You can also type
506 %magic_function_name? (see sec. 6.4 <#sec:dyn-object-info> for
507 information on the '?' system) to get information about any particular
508 magic function you are interested in.
509
510
511 Magic commands
512 --------------
513
514 The rest of this section is automatically generated for each release
515 from the docstrings in the IPython code. Therefore the formatting is
516 somewhat minimal, but this method has the advantage of having
517 information always in sync with the code.
518
519 A list of all the magic commands available in IPython's default
520 installation follows. This is similar to what you'll see by simply
521 typing %magic at the prompt, but that will also give you information
522 about magic commands you may have added as part of your personal
523 customizations.
524
525 .. magic_start
526
527 **%Exit**::
528
529 Exit IPython without confirmation.
530
531 **%Pprint**::
532
533 Toggle pretty printing on/off.
534
535 **%alias**::
536
537 Define an alias for a system command.
538
539 '%alias alias_name cmd' defines 'alias_name' as an alias for 'cmd'
540
541 Then, typing 'alias_name params' will execute the system command 'cmd
542 params' (from your underlying operating system).
543
544 Aliases have lower precedence than magic functions and Python normal
545 variables, so if 'foo' is both a Python variable and an alias, the
546 alias can not be executed until 'del foo' removes the Python variable.
547
548 You can use the %l specifier in an alias definition to represent the
549 whole line when the alias is called. For example:
550
551 In [2]: alias all echo "Input in brackets: <%l>"\
552 In [3]: all hello world\
553 Input in brackets: <hello world>
554
555 You can also define aliases with parameters using %s specifiers (one
556 per parameter):
557
558 In [1]: alias parts echo first %s second %s\
559 In [2]: %parts A B\
560 first A second B\
561 In [3]: %parts A\
562 Incorrect number of arguments: 2 expected.\
563 parts is an alias to: 'echo first %s second %s'
564
565 Note that %l and %s are mutually exclusive. You can only use one or
566 the other in your aliases.
567
568 Aliases expand Python variables just like system calls using ! or !!
569 do: all expressions prefixed with '$' get expanded. For details of
570 the semantic rules, see PEP-215:
571 http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0215.html. This is the library used by
572 IPython for variable expansion. If you want to access a true shell
573 variable, an extra $ is necessary to prevent its expansion by IPython:
574
575 In [6]: alias show echo\
576 In [7]: PATH='A Python string'\
577 In [8]: show $PATH\
578 A Python string\
579 In [9]: show $$PATH\
580 /usr/local/lf9560/bin:/usr/local/intel/compiler70/ia32/bin:...
581
582 You can use the alias facility to acess all of $PATH. See the %rehash
583 and %rehashx functions, which automatically create aliases for the
584 contents of your $PATH.
585
586 If called with no parameters, %alias prints the current alias table.
587
588 **%autocall**::
589
590 Make functions callable without having to type parentheses.
591
592 Usage:
593
594 %autocall [mode]
595
596 The mode can be one of: 0->Off, 1->Smart, 2->Full. If not given, the
597 value is toggled on and off (remembering the previous state).
598
599 In more detail, these values mean:
600
601 0 -> fully disabled
602
603 1 -> active, but do not apply if there are no arguments on the line.
604
605 In this mode, you get:
606
607 In [1]: callable
608 Out[1]: <built-in function callable>
609
610 In [2]: callable 'hello'
611 ------> callable('hello')
612 Out[2]: False
613
614 2 -> Active always. Even if no arguments are present, the callable
615 object is called:
616
617 In [4]: callable
618 ------> callable()
619
620 Note that even with autocall off, you can still use '/' at the start of
621 a line to treat the first argument on the command line as a function
622 and add parentheses to it:
623
624 In [8]: /str 43
625 ------> str(43)
626 Out[8]: '43'
627
628 **%autoindent**::
629
630 Toggle autoindent on/off (if available).
631
632 **%automagic**::
633
634 Make magic functions callable without having to type the initial %.
635
636 Without argumentsl toggles on/off (when off, you must call it as
637 %automagic, of course). With arguments it sets the value, and you can
638 use any of (case insensitive):
639
640 - on,1,True: to activate
641
642 - off,0,False: to deactivate.
643
644 Note that magic functions have lowest priority, so if there's a
645 variable whose name collides with that of a magic fn, automagic won't
646 work for that function (you get the variable instead). However, if you
647 delete the variable (del var), the previously shadowed magic function
648 becomes visible to automagic again.
649
650 **%bg**::
651
652 Run a job in the background, in a separate thread.
653
654 For example,
655
656 %bg myfunc(x,y,z=1)
657
658 will execute 'myfunc(x,y,z=1)' in a background thread. As soon as the
659 execution starts, a message will be printed indicating the job
660 number. If your job number is 5, you can use
661
662 myvar = jobs.result(5) or myvar = jobs[5].result
663
664 to assign this result to variable 'myvar'.
665
666 IPython has a job manager, accessible via the 'jobs' object. You can
667 type jobs? to get more information about it, and use jobs.<TAB> to see
668 its attributes. All attributes not starting with an underscore are
669 meant for public use.
670
671 In particular, look at the jobs.new() method, which is used to create
672 new jobs. This magic %bg function is just a convenience wrapper
673 around jobs.new(), for expression-based jobs. If you want to create a
674 new job with an explicit function object and arguments, you must call
675 jobs.new() directly.
676
677 The jobs.new docstring also describes in detail several important
678 caveats associated with a thread-based model for background job
679 execution. Type jobs.new? for details.
680
681 You can check the status of all jobs with jobs.status().
682
683 The jobs variable is set by IPython into the Python builtin namespace.
684 If you ever declare a variable named 'jobs', you will shadow this
685 name. You can either delete your global jobs variable to regain
686 access to the job manager, or make a new name and assign it manually
687 to the manager (stored in IPython's namespace). For example, to
688 assign the job manager to the Jobs name, use:
689
690 Jobs = __builtins__.jobs
691
692 **%bookmark**::
693
694 Manage IPython's bookmark system.
695
696 %bookmark <name> - set bookmark to current dir
697 %bookmark <name> <dir> - set bookmark to <dir>
698 %bookmark -l - list all bookmarks
699 %bookmark -d <name> - remove bookmark
700 %bookmark -r - remove all bookmarks
701
702 You can later on access a bookmarked folder with:
703 %cd -b <name>
704 or simply '%cd <name>' if there is no directory called <name> AND
705 there is such a bookmark defined.
706
707 Your bookmarks persist through IPython sessions, but they are
708 associated with each profile.
709
710 **%cd**::
711
712 Change the current working directory.
713
714 This command automatically maintains an internal list of directories
715 you visit during your IPython session, in the variable _dh. The
716 command %dhist shows this history nicely formatted. You can also
717 do 'cd -<tab>' to see directory history conveniently.
718
719 Usage:
720
721 cd 'dir': changes to directory 'dir'.
722
723 cd -: changes to the last visited directory.
724
725 cd -<n>: changes to the n-th directory in the directory history.
726
727 cd -b <bookmark_name>: jump to a bookmark set by %bookmark
728 (note: cd <bookmark_name> is enough if there is no
729 directory <bookmark_name>, but a bookmark with the name exists.)
730 'cd -b <tab>' allows you to tab-complete bookmark names.
731
732 Options:
733
734 -q: quiet. Do not print the working directory after the cd command is
735 executed. By default IPython's cd command does print this directory,
736 since the default prompts do not display path information.
737
738 Note that !cd doesn't work for this purpose because the shell where
739 !command runs is immediately discarded after executing 'command'.
740
741 **%clear**::
742
743 Clear various data (e.g. stored history data)
744
745 %clear out - clear output history
746 %clear in - clear input history
747 %clear shadow_compress - Compresses shadow history (to speed up ipython)
748 %clear shadow_nuke - permanently erase all entries in shadow history
749 %clear dhist - clear dir history
750
751 **%color_info**::
752
753 Toggle color_info.
754
755 The color_info configuration parameter controls whether colors are
756 used for displaying object details (by things like %psource, %pfile or
757 the '?' system). This function toggles this value with each call.
758
759 Note that unless you have a fairly recent pager (less works better
760 than more) in your system, using colored object information displays
761 will not work properly. Test it and see.
762
763 **%colors**::
764
765 Switch color scheme for prompts, info system and exception handlers.
766
767 Currently implemented schemes: NoColor, Linux, LightBG.
768
769 Color scheme names are not case-sensitive.
770
771 **%cpaste**::
772
773 Allows you to paste & execute a pre-formatted code block from clipboard
774
775 You must terminate the block with '--' (two minus-signs) alone on the
776 line. You can also provide your own sentinel with '%paste -s %%' ('%%'
777 is the new sentinel for this operation)
778
779 The block is dedented prior to execution to enable execution of method
780 definitions. '>' and '+' characters at the beginning of a line are
781 ignored, to allow pasting directly from e-mails or diff files. The
782 executed block is also assigned to variable named 'pasted_block' for
783 later editing with '%edit pasted_block'.
784
785 You can also pass a variable name as an argument, e.g. '%cpaste foo'.
786 This assigns the pasted block to variable 'foo' as string, without
787 dedenting or executing it.
788
789 Do not be alarmed by garbled output on Windows (it's a readline bug).
790 Just press enter and type -- (and press enter again) and the block
791 will be what was just pasted.
792
793 IPython statements (magics, shell escapes) are not supported (yet).
794
795 **%debug**::
796
797 Activate the interactive debugger in post-mortem mode.
798
799 If an exception has just occurred, this lets you inspect its stack
800 frames interactively. Note that this will always work only on the last
801 traceback that occurred, so you must call this quickly after an
802 exception that you wish to inspect has fired, because if another one
803 occurs, it clobbers the previous one.
804
805 If you want IPython to automatically do this on every exception, see
806 the %pdb magic for more details.
807
808 **%dhist**::
809
810 Print your history of visited directories.
811
812 %dhist -> print full history\
813 %dhist n -> print last n entries only\
814 %dhist n1 n2 -> print entries between n1 and n2 (n1 not included)\
815
816 This history is automatically maintained by the %cd command, and
817 always available as the global list variable _dh. You can use %cd -<n>
818 to go to directory number <n>.
819
820 Note that most of time, you should view directory history by entering
821 cd -<TAB>.
822
823 **%dirs**::
824
825 Return the current directory stack.
826
827 **%doctest_mode**::
828
829 Toggle doctest mode on and off.
830
831 This mode allows you to toggle the prompt behavior between normal
832 IPython prompts and ones that are as similar to the default IPython
833 interpreter as possible.
834
835 It also supports the pasting of code snippets that have leading '>>>'
836 and '...' prompts in them. This means that you can paste doctests from
837 files or docstrings (even if they have leading whitespace), and the
838 code will execute correctly. You can then use '%history -tn' to see
839 the translated history without line numbers; this will give you the
840 input after removal of all the leading prompts and whitespace, which
841 can be pasted back into an editor.
842
843 With these features, you can switch into this mode easily whenever you
844 need to do testing and changes to doctests, without having to leave
845 your existing IPython session.
846
847 **%ed**::
848
849 Alias to %edit.
850
851 **%edit**::
852
853 Bring up an editor and execute the resulting code.
854
855 Usage:
856 %edit [options] [args]
857
858 %edit runs IPython's editor hook. The default version of this hook is
859 set to call the __IPYTHON__.rc.editor command. This is read from your
860 environment variable $EDITOR. If this isn't found, it will default to
861 vi under Linux/Unix and to notepad under Windows. See the end of this
862 docstring for how to change the editor hook.
863
864 You can also set the value of this editor via the command line option
865 '-editor' or in your ipythonrc file. This is useful if you wish to use
866 specifically for IPython an editor different from your typical default
867 (and for Windows users who typically don't set environment variables).
868
869 This command allows you to conveniently edit multi-line code right in
870 your IPython session.
871
872 If called without arguments, %edit opens up an empty editor with a
873 temporary file and will execute the contents of this file when you
874 close it (don't forget to save it!).
875
876
877 Options:
878
879 -n <number>: open the editor at a specified line number. By default,
880 the IPython editor hook uses the unix syntax 'editor +N filename', but
881 you can configure this by providing your own modified hook if your
882 favorite editor supports line-number specifications with a different
883 syntax.
884
885 -p: this will call the editor with the same data as the previous time
886 it was used, regardless of how long ago (in your current session) it
887 was.
888
889 -r: use 'raw' input. This option only applies to input taken from the
890 user's history. By default, the 'processed' history is used, so that
891 magics are loaded in their transformed version to valid Python. If
892 this option is given, the raw input as typed as the command line is
893 used instead. When you exit the editor, it will be executed by
894 IPython's own processor.
895
896 -x: do not execute the edited code immediately upon exit. This is
897 mainly useful if you are editing programs which need to be called with
898 command line arguments, which you can then do using %run.
899
900
901 Arguments:
902
903 If arguments are given, the following possibilites exist:
904
905 - The arguments are numbers or pairs of colon-separated numbers (like
906 1 4:8 9). These are interpreted as lines of previous input to be
907 loaded into the editor. The syntax is the same of the %macro command.
908
909 - If the argument doesn't start with a number, it is evaluated as a
910 variable and its contents loaded into the editor. You can thus edit
911 any string which contains python code (including the result of
912 previous edits).
913
914 - If the argument is the name of an object (other than a string),
915 IPython will try to locate the file where it was defined and open the
916 editor at the point where it is defined. You can use `%edit function`
917 to load an editor exactly at the point where 'function' is defined,
918 edit it and have the file be executed automatically.
919
920 If the object is a macro (see %macro for details), this opens up your
921 specified editor with a temporary file containing the macro's data.
922 Upon exit, the macro is reloaded with the contents of the file.
923
924 Note: opening at an exact line is only supported under Unix, and some
925 editors (like kedit and gedit up to Gnome 2.8) do not understand the
926 '+NUMBER' parameter necessary for this feature. Good editors like
927 (X)Emacs, vi, jed, pico and joe all do.
928
929 - If the argument is not found as a variable, IPython will look for a
930 file with that name (adding .py if necessary) and load it into the
931 editor. It will execute its contents with execfile() when you exit,
932 loading any code in the file into your interactive namespace.
933
934 After executing your code, %edit will return as output the code you
935 typed in the editor (except when it was an existing file). This way
936 you can reload the code in further invocations of %edit as a variable,
937 via _<NUMBER> or Out[<NUMBER>], where <NUMBER> is the prompt number of
938 the output.
939
940 Note that %edit is also available through the alias %ed.
941
942 This is an example of creating a simple function inside the editor and
943 then modifying it. First, start up the editor:
944
945 In [1]: ed\
946 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
947 Out[1]: 'def foo():\n print "foo() was defined in an editing session"\n'
948
949 We can then call the function foo():
950
951 In [2]: foo()\
952 foo() was defined in an editing session
953
954 Now we edit foo. IPython automatically loads the editor with the
955 (temporary) file where foo() was previously defined:
956
957 In [3]: ed foo\
958 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
959
960 And if we call foo() again we get the modified version:
961
962 In [4]: foo()\
963 foo() has now been changed!
964
965 Here is an example of how to edit a code snippet successive
966 times. First we call the editor:
967
968 In [8]: ed\
969 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
970 hello\
971 Out[8]: "print 'hello'\n"
972
973 Now we call it again with the previous output (stored in _):
974
975 In [9]: ed _\
976 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
977 hello world\
978 Out[9]: "print 'hello world'\n"
979
980 Now we call it with the output #8 (stored in _8, also as Out[8]):
981
982 In [10]: ed _8\
983 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
984 hello again\
985 Out[10]: "print 'hello again'\n"
986
987
988 Changing the default editor hook:
989
990 If you wish to write your own editor hook, you can put it in a
991 configuration file which you load at startup time. The default hook
992 is defined in the IPython.hooks module, and you can use that as a
993 starting example for further modifications. That file also has
994 general instructions on how to set a new hook for use once you've
995 defined it.
996
997 **%env**::
998
999 List environment variables.
1000
1001 **%exit**::
1002
1003 Exit IPython, confirming if configured to do so.
1004
1005 You can configure whether IPython asks for confirmation upon exit by
1006 setting the confirm_exit flag in the ipythonrc file.
1007
1008 **%hist**::
1009
1010 Alternate name for %history.
1011
1012 **%history**::
1013
1014 Print input history (_i<n> variables), with most recent last.
1015
1016 %history -> print at most 40 inputs (some may be multi-line)\
1017 %history n -> print at most n inputs\
1018 %history n1 n2 -> print inputs between n1 and n2 (n2 not included)\
1019
1020 Each input's number <n> is shown, and is accessible as the
1021 automatically generated variable _i<n>. Multi-line statements are
1022 printed starting at a new line for easy copy/paste.
1023
1024
1025 Options:
1026
1027 -n: do NOT print line numbers. This is useful if you want to get a
1028 printout of many lines which can be directly pasted into a text
1029 editor.
1030
1031 This feature is only available if numbered prompts are in use.
1032
1033 -t: (default) print the 'translated' history, as IPython understands it.
1034 IPython filters your input and converts it all into valid Python source
1035 before executing it (things like magics or aliases are turned into
1036 function calls, for example). With this option, you'll see the native
1037 history instead of the user-entered version: '%cd /' will be seen as
1038 '_ip.magic("%cd /")' instead of '%cd /'.
1039
1040 -r: print the 'raw' history, i.e. the actual commands you typed.
1041
1042 -g: treat the arg as a pattern to grep for in (full) history.
1043 This includes the "shadow history" (almost all commands ever written).
1044 Use '%hist -g' to show full shadow history (may be very long).
1045 In shadow history, every index nuwber starts with 0.
1046
1047 -f FILENAME: instead of printing the output to the screen, redirect it to
1048 the given file. The file is always overwritten, though IPython asks for
1049 confirmation first if it already exists.
1050
1051 **%logoff**::
1052
1053 Temporarily stop logging.
1054
1055 You must have previously started logging.
1056
1057 **%logon**::
1058
1059 Restart logging.
1060
1061 This function is for restarting logging which you've temporarily
1062 stopped with %logoff. For starting logging for the first time, you
1063 must use the %logstart function, which allows you to specify an
1064 optional log filename.
1065
1066 **%logstart**::
1067
1068 Start logging anywhere in a session.
1069
1070 %logstart [-o|-r|-t] [log_name [log_mode]]
1071
1072 If no name is given, it defaults to a file named 'ipython_log.py' in your
1073 current directory, in 'rotate' mode (see below).
1074
1075 '%logstart name' saves to file 'name' in 'backup' mode. It saves your
1076 history up to that point and then continues logging.
1077
1078 %logstart takes a second optional parameter: logging mode. This can be one
1079 of (note that the modes are given unquoted):\
1080 append: well, that says it.\
1081 backup: rename (if exists) to name~ and start name.\
1082 global: single logfile in your home dir, appended to.\
1083 over : overwrite existing log.\
1084 rotate: create rotating logs name.1~, name.2~, etc.
1085
1086 Options:
1087
1088 -o: log also IPython's output. In this mode, all commands which
1089 generate an Out[NN] prompt are recorded to the logfile, right after
1090 their corresponding input line. The output lines are always
1091 prepended with a '#[Out]# ' marker, so that the log remains valid
1092 Python code.
1093
1094 Since this marker is always the same, filtering only the output from
1095 a log is very easy, using for example a simple awk call:
1096
1097 awk -F'#\[Out\]# ' '{if($2) {print $2}}' ipython_log.py
1098
1099 -r: log 'raw' input. Normally, IPython's logs contain the processed
1100 input, so that user lines are logged in their final form, converted
1101 into valid Python. For example, %Exit is logged as
1102 '_ip.magic("Exit"). If the -r flag is given, all input is logged
1103 exactly as typed, with no transformations applied.
1104
1105 -t: put timestamps before each input line logged (these are put in
1106 comments).
1107
1108 **%logstate**::
1109
1110 Print the status of the logging system.
1111
1112 **%logstop**::
1113
1114 Fully stop logging and close log file.
1115
1116 In order to start logging again, a new %logstart call needs to be made,
1117 possibly (though not necessarily) with a new filename, mode and other
1118 options.
1119
1120 **%lsmagic**::
1121
1122 List currently available magic functions.
1123
1124 **%macro**::
1125
1126 Define a set of input lines as a macro for future re-execution.
1127
1128 Usage:\
1129 %macro [options] name n1-n2 n3-n4 ... n5 .. n6 ...
1130
1131 Options:
1132
1133 -r: use 'raw' input. By default, the 'processed' history is used,
1134 so that magics are loaded in their transformed version to valid
1135 Python. If this option is given, the raw input as typed as the
1136 command line is used instead.
1137
1138 This will define a global variable called `name` which is a string
1139 made of joining the slices and lines you specify (n1,n2,... numbers
1140 above) from your input history into a single string. This variable
1141 acts like an automatic function which re-executes those lines as if
1142 you had typed them. You just type 'name' at the prompt and the code
1143 executes.
1144
1145 The notation for indicating number ranges is: n1-n2 means 'use line
1146 numbers n1,...n2' (the endpoint is included). That is, '5-7' means
1147 using the lines numbered 5,6 and 7.
1148
1149 Note: as a 'hidden' feature, you can also use traditional python slice
1150 notation, where N:M means numbers N through M-1.
1151
1152 For example, if your history contains (%hist prints it):
1153
1154 44: x=1\
1155 45: y=3\
1156 46: z=x+y\
1157 47: print x\
1158 48: a=5\
1159 49: print 'x',x,'y',y\
1160
1161 you can create a macro with lines 44 through 47 (included) and line 49
1162 called my_macro with:
1163
1164 In [51]: %macro my_macro 44-47 49
1165
1166 Now, typing `my_macro` (without quotes) will re-execute all this code
1167 in one pass.
1168
1169 You don't need to give the line-numbers in order, and any given line
1170 number can appear multiple times. You can assemble macros with any
1171 lines from your input history in any order.
1172
1173 The macro is a simple object which holds its value in an attribute,
1174 but IPython's display system checks for macros and executes them as
1175 code instead of printing them when you type their name.
1176
1177 You can view a macro's contents by explicitly printing it with:
1178
1179 'print macro_name'.
1180
1181 For one-off cases which DON'T contain magic function calls in them you
1182 can obtain similar results by explicitly executing slices from your
1183 input history with:
1184
1185 In [60]: exec In[44:48]+In[49]
1186
1187 **%magic**::
1188
1189 Print information about the magic function system.
1190
1191 **%mglob**::
1192
1193 This program allows specifying filenames with "mglob" mechanism.
1194 Supported syntax in globs (wilcard matching patterns)::
1195
1196 *.cpp ?ellowo*
1197 - obvious. Differs from normal glob in that dirs are not included.
1198 Unix users might want to write this as: "*.cpp" "?ellowo*"
1199 rec:/usr/share=*.txt,*.doc
1200 - get all *.txt and *.doc under /usr/share,
1201 recursively
1202 rec:/usr/share
1203 - All files under /usr/share, recursively
1204 rec:*.py
1205 - All .py files under current working dir, recursively
1206 foo
1207 - File or dir foo
1208 !*.bak readme*
1209 - readme*, exclude files ending with .bak
1210 !.svn/ !.hg/ !*_Data/ rec:.
1211 - Skip .svn, .hg, foo_Data dirs (and their subdirs) in recurse.
1212 Trailing / is the key, \ does not work!
1213 dir:foo
1214 - the directory foo if it exists (not files in foo)
1215 dir:*
1216 - all directories in current folder
1217 foo.py bar.* !h* rec:*.py
1218 - Obvious. !h* exclusion only applies for rec:*.py.
1219 foo.py is *not* included twice.
1220 @filelist.txt
1221 - All files listed in 'filelist.txt' file, on separate lines.
1222
1223 **%page**::
1224
1225 Pretty print the object and display it through a pager.
1226
1227 %page [options] OBJECT
1228
1229 If no object is given, use _ (last output).
1230
1231 Options:
1232
1233 -r: page str(object), don't pretty-print it.
1234
1235 **%pdb**::
1236
1237 Control the automatic calling of the pdb interactive debugger.
1238
1239 Call as '%pdb on', '%pdb 1', '%pdb off' or '%pdb 0'. If called without
1240 argument it works as a toggle.
1241
1242 When an exception is triggered, IPython can optionally call the
1243 interactive pdb debugger after the traceback printout. %pdb toggles
1244 this feature on and off.
1245
1246 The initial state of this feature is set in your ipythonrc
1247 configuration file (the variable is called 'pdb').
1248
1249 If you want to just activate the debugger AFTER an exception has fired,
1250 without having to type '%pdb on' and rerunning your code, you can use
1251 the %debug magic.
1252
1253 **%pdef**::
1254
1255 Print the definition header for any callable object.
1256
1257 If the object is a class, print the constructor information.
1258
1259 **%pdoc**::
1260
1261 Print the docstring for an object.
1262
1263 If the given object is a class, it will print both the class and the
1264 constructor docstrings.
1265
1266 **%pfile**::
1267
1268 Print (or run through pager) the file where an object is defined.
1269
1270 The file opens at the line where the object definition begins. IPython
1271 will honor the environment variable PAGER if set, and otherwise will
1272 do its best to print the file in a convenient form.
1273
1274 If the given argument is not an object currently defined, IPython will
1275 try to interpret it as a filename (automatically adding a .py extension
1276 if needed). You can thus use %pfile as a syntax highlighting code
1277 viewer.
1278
1279 **%pinfo**::
1280
1281 Provide detailed information about an object.
1282
1283 '%pinfo object' is just a synonym for object? or ?object.
1284
1285 **%popd**::
1286
1287 Change to directory popped off the top of the stack.
1288
1289 **%profile**::
1290
1291 Print your currently active IPyhton profile.
1292
1293 **%prun**::
1294
1295 Run a statement through the python code profiler.
1296
1297 Usage:\
1298 %prun [options] statement
1299
1300 The given statement (which doesn't require quote marks) is run via the
1301 python profiler in a manner similar to the profile.run() function.
1302 Namespaces are internally managed to work correctly; profile.run
1303 cannot be used in IPython because it makes certain assumptions about
1304 namespaces which do not hold under IPython.
1305
1306 Options:
1307
1308 -l <limit>: you can place restrictions on what or how much of the
1309 profile gets printed. The limit value can be:
1310
1311 * A string: only information for function names containing this string
1312 is printed.
1313
1314 * An integer: only these many lines are printed.
1315
1316 * A float (between 0 and 1): this fraction of the report is printed
1317 (for example, use a limit of 0.4 to see the topmost 40% only).
1318
1319 You can combine several limits with repeated use of the option. For
1320 example, '-l __init__ -l 5' will print only the topmost 5 lines of
1321 information about class constructors.
1322
1323 -r: return the pstats.Stats object generated by the profiling. This
1324 object has all the information about the profile in it, and you can
1325 later use it for further analysis or in other functions.
1326
1327 -s <key>: sort profile by given key. You can provide more than one key
1328 by using the option several times: '-s key1 -s key2 -s key3...'. The
1329 default sorting key is 'time'.
1330
1331 The following is copied verbatim from the profile documentation
1332 referenced below:
1333
1334 When more than one key is provided, additional keys are used as
1335 secondary criteria when the there is equality in all keys selected
1336 before them.
1337
1338 Abbreviations can be used for any key names, as long as the
1339 abbreviation is unambiguous. The following are the keys currently
1340 defined:
1341
1342 Valid Arg Meaning\
1343 "calls" call count\
1344 "cumulative" cumulative time\
1345 "file" file name\
1346 "module" file name\
1347 "pcalls" primitive call count\
1348 "line" line number\
1349 "name" function name\
1350 "nfl" name/file/line\
1351 "stdname" standard name\
1352 "time" internal time
1353
1354 Note that all sorts on statistics are in descending order (placing
1355 most time consuming items first), where as name, file, and line number
1356 searches are in ascending order (i.e., alphabetical). The subtle
1357 distinction between "nfl" and "stdname" is that the standard name is a
1358 sort of the name as printed, which means that the embedded line
1359 numbers get compared in an odd way. For example, lines 3, 20, and 40
1360 would (if the file names were the same) appear in the string order
1361 "20" "3" and "40". In contrast, "nfl" does a numeric compare of the
1362 line numbers. In fact, sort_stats("nfl") is the same as
1363 sort_stats("name", "file", "line").
1364
1365 -T <filename>: save profile results as shown on screen to a text
1366 file. The profile is still shown on screen.
1367
1368 -D <filename>: save (via dump_stats) profile statistics to given
1369 filename. This data is in a format understod by the pstats module, and
1370 is generated by a call to the dump_stats() method of profile
1371 objects. The profile is still shown on screen.
1372
1373 If you want to run complete programs under the profiler's control, use
1374 '%run -p [prof_opts] filename.py [args to program]' where prof_opts
1375 contains profiler specific options as described here.
1376
1377 You can read the complete documentation for the profile module with:\
1378 In [1]: import profile; profile.help()
1379
1380 **%psearch**::
1381
1382 Search for object in namespaces by wildcard.
1383
1384 %psearch [options] PATTERN [OBJECT TYPE]
1385
1386 Note: ? can be used as a synonym for %psearch, at the beginning or at
1387 the end: both a*? and ?a* are equivalent to '%psearch a*'. Still, the
1388 rest of the command line must be unchanged (options come first), so
1389 for example the following forms are equivalent
1390
1391 %psearch -i a* function
1392 -i a* function?
1393 ?-i a* function
1394
1395 Arguments:
1396
1397 PATTERN
1398
1399 where PATTERN is a string containing * as a wildcard similar to its
1400 use in a shell. The pattern is matched in all namespaces on the
1401 search path. By default objects starting with a single _ are not
1402 matched, many IPython generated objects have a single
1403 underscore. The default is case insensitive matching. Matching is
1404 also done on the attributes of objects and not only on the objects
1405 in a module.
1406
1407 [OBJECT TYPE]
1408
1409 Is the name of a python type from the types module. The name is
1410 given in lowercase without the ending type, ex. StringType is
1411 written string. By adding a type here only objects matching the
1412 given type are matched. Using all here makes the pattern match all
1413 types (this is the default).
1414
1415 Options:
1416
1417 -a: makes the pattern match even objects whose names start with a
1418 single underscore. These names are normally ommitted from the
1419 search.
1420
1421 -i/-c: make the pattern case insensitive/sensitive. If neither of
1422 these options is given, the default is read from your ipythonrc
1423 file. The option name which sets this value is
1424 'wildcards_case_sensitive'. If this option is not specified in your
1425 ipythonrc file, IPython's internal default is to do a case sensitive
1426 search.
1427
1428 -e/-s NAMESPACE: exclude/search a given namespace. The pattern you
1429 specifiy can be searched in any of the following namespaces:
1430 'builtin', 'user', 'user_global','internal', 'alias', where
1431 'builtin' and 'user' are the search defaults. Note that you should
1432 not use quotes when specifying namespaces.
1433
1434 'Builtin' contains the python module builtin, 'user' contains all
1435 user data, 'alias' only contain the shell aliases and no python
1436 objects, 'internal' contains objects used by IPython. The
1437 'user_global' namespace is only used by embedded IPython instances,
1438 and it contains module-level globals. You can add namespaces to the
1439 search with -s or exclude them with -e (these options can be given
1440 more than once).
1441
1442 Examples:
1443
1444 %psearch a* -> objects beginning with an a
1445 %psearch -e builtin a* -> objects NOT in the builtin space starting in a
1446 %psearch a* function -> all functions beginning with an a
1447 %psearch re.e* -> objects beginning with an e in module re
1448 %psearch r*.e* -> objects that start with e in modules starting in r
1449 %psearch r*.* string -> all strings in modules beginning with r
1450
1451 Case sensitve search:
1452
1453 %psearch -c a* list all object beginning with lower case a
1454
1455 Show objects beginning with a single _:
1456
1457 %psearch -a _* list objects beginning with a single underscore
1458
1459 **%psource**::
1460
1461 Print (or run through pager) the source code for an object.
1462
1463 **%pushd**::
1464
1465 Place the current dir on stack and change directory.
1466
1467 Usage:\
1468 %pushd ['dirname']
1469
1470 **%pwd**::
1471
1472 Return the current working directory path.
1473
1474 **%pycat**::
1475
1476 Show a syntax-highlighted file through a pager.
1477
1478 This magic is similar to the cat utility, but it will assume the file
1479 to be Python source and will show it with syntax highlighting.
1480
1481 **%quickref**::
1482
1483 Show a quick reference sheet
1484
1485 **%quit**::
1486
1487 Exit IPython, confirming if configured to do so (like %exit)
1488
1489 **%r**::
1490
1491 Repeat previous input.
1492
1493 Note: Consider using the more powerfull %rep instead!
1494
1495 If given an argument, repeats the previous command which starts with
1496 the same string, otherwise it just repeats the previous input.
1497
1498 Shell escaped commands (with ! as first character) are not recognized
1499 by this system, only pure python code and magic commands.
1500
1501 **%rehashdir**::
1502
1503 Add executables in all specified dirs to alias table
1504
1505 Usage:
1506
1507 %rehashdir c:/bin;c:/tools
1508 - Add all executables under c:/bin and c:/tools to alias table, in
1509 order to make them directly executable from any directory.
1510
1511 Without arguments, add all executables in current directory.
1512
1513 **%rehashx**::
1514
1515 Update the alias table with all executable files in $PATH.
1516
1517 This version explicitly checks that every entry in $PATH is a file
1518 with execute access (os.X_OK), so it is much slower than %rehash.
1519
1520 Under Windows, it checks executability as a match agains a
1521 '|'-separated string of extensions, stored in the IPython config
1522 variable win_exec_ext. This defaults to 'exe|com|bat'.
1523
1524 This function also resets the root module cache of module completer,
1525 used on slow filesystems.
1526
1527 **%rep**::
1528
1529 Repeat a command, or get command to input line for editing
1530
1531 - %rep (no arguments):
1532
1533 Place a string version of last computation result (stored in the special '_'
1534 variable) to the next input prompt. Allows you to create elaborate command
1535 lines without using copy-paste::
1536
1537 $ l = ["hei", "vaan"]
1538 $ "".join(l)
1539 ==> heivaan
1540 $ %rep
1541 $ heivaan_ <== cursor blinking
1542
1543 %rep 45
1544
1545 Place history line 45 to next input prompt. Use %hist to find out the
1546 number.
1547
1548 %rep 1-4 6-7 3
1549
1550 Repeat the specified lines immediately. Input slice syntax is the same as
1551 in %macro and %save.
1552
1553 %rep foo
1554
1555 Place the most recent line that has the substring "foo" to next input.
1556 (e.g. 'svn ci -m foobar').
1557
1558 **%reset**::
1559
1560 Resets the namespace by removing all names defined by the user.
1561
1562 Input/Output history are left around in case you need them.
1563
1564 **%run**::
1565
1566 Run the named file inside IPython as a program.
1567
1568 Usage:\
1569 %run [-n -i -t [-N<N>] -d [-b<N>] -p [profile options]] file [args]
1570
1571 Parameters after the filename are passed as command-line arguments to
1572 the program (put in sys.argv). Then, control returns to IPython's
1573 prompt.
1574
1575 This is similar to running at a system prompt:\
1576 $ python file args\
1577 but with the advantage of giving you IPython's tracebacks, and of
1578 loading all variables into your interactive namespace for further use
1579 (unless -p is used, see below).
1580
1581 The file is executed in a namespace initially consisting only of
1582 __name__=='__main__' and sys.argv constructed as indicated. It thus
1583 sees its environment as if it were being run as a stand-alone program
1584 (except for sharing global objects such as previously imported
1585 modules). But after execution, the IPython interactive namespace gets
1586 updated with all variables defined in the program (except for __name__
1587 and sys.argv). This allows for very convenient loading of code for
1588 interactive work, while giving each program a 'clean sheet' to run in.
1589
1590 Options:
1591
1592 -n: __name__ is NOT set to '__main__', but to the running file's name
1593 without extension (as python does under import). This allows running
1594 scripts and reloading the definitions in them without calling code
1595 protected by an ' if __name__ == "__main__" ' clause.
1596
1597 -i: run the file in IPython's namespace instead of an empty one. This
1598 is useful if you are experimenting with code written in a text editor
1599 which depends on variables defined interactively.
1600
1601 -e: ignore sys.exit() calls or SystemExit exceptions in the script
1602 being run. This is particularly useful if IPython is being used to
1603 run unittests, which always exit with a sys.exit() call. In such
1604 cases you are interested in the output of the test results, not in
1605 seeing a traceback of the unittest module.
1606
1607 -t: print timing information at the end of the run. IPython will give
1608 you an estimated CPU time consumption for your script, which under
1609 Unix uses the resource module to avoid the wraparound problems of
1610 time.clock(). Under Unix, an estimate of time spent on system tasks
1611 is also given (for Windows platforms this is reported as 0.0).
1612
1613 If -t is given, an additional -N<N> option can be given, where <N>
1614 must be an integer indicating how many times you want the script to
1615 run. The final timing report will include total and per run results.
1616
1617 For example (testing the script uniq_stable.py):
1618
1619 In [1]: run -t uniq_stable
1620
1621 IPython CPU timings (estimated):\
1622 User : 0.19597 s.\
1623 System: 0.0 s.\
1624
1625 In [2]: run -t -N5 uniq_stable
1626
1627 IPython CPU timings (estimated):\
1628 Total runs performed: 5\
1629 Times : Total Per run\
1630 User : 0.910862 s, 0.1821724 s.\
1631 System: 0.0 s, 0.0 s.
1632
1633 -d: run your program under the control of pdb, the Python debugger.
1634 This allows you to execute your program step by step, watch variables,
1635 etc. Internally, what IPython does is similar to calling:
1636
1637 pdb.run('execfile("YOURFILENAME")')
1638
1639 with a breakpoint set on line 1 of your file. You can change the line
1640 number for this automatic breakpoint to be <N> by using the -bN option
1641 (where N must be an integer). For example:
1642
1643 %run -d -b40 myscript
1644
1645 will set the first breakpoint at line 40 in myscript.py. Note that
1646 the first breakpoint must be set on a line which actually does
1647 something (not a comment or docstring) for it to stop execution.
1648
1649 When the pdb debugger starts, you will see a (Pdb) prompt. You must
1650 first enter 'c' (without qoutes) to start execution up to the first
1651 breakpoint.
1652
1653 Entering 'help' gives information about the use of the debugger. You
1654 can easily see pdb's full documentation with "import pdb;pdb.help()"
1655 at a prompt.
1656
1657 -p: run program under the control of the Python profiler module (which
1658 prints a detailed report of execution times, function calls, etc).
1659
1660 You can pass other options after -p which affect the behavior of the
1661 profiler itself. See the docs for %prun for details.
1662
1663 In this mode, the program's variables do NOT propagate back to the
1664 IPython interactive namespace (because they remain in the namespace
1665 where the profiler executes them).
1666
1667 Internally this triggers a call to %prun, see its documentation for
1668 details on the options available specifically for profiling.
1669
1670 There is one special usage for which the text above doesn't apply:
1671 if the filename ends with .ipy, the file is run as ipython script,
1672 just as if the commands were written on IPython prompt.
1673
1674 **%runlog**::
1675
1676 Run files as logs.
1677
1678 Usage:\
1679 %runlog file1 file2 ...
1680
1681 Run the named files (treating them as log files) in sequence inside
1682 the interpreter, and return to the prompt. This is much slower than
1683 %run because each line is executed in a try/except block, but it
1684 allows running files with syntax errors in them.
1685
1686 Normally IPython will guess when a file is one of its own logfiles, so
1687 you can typically use %run even for logs. This shorthand allows you to
1688 force any file to be treated as a log file.
1689
1690 **%save**::
1691
1692 Save a set of lines to a given filename.
1693
1694 Usage:\
1695 %save [options] filename n1-n2 n3-n4 ... n5 .. n6 ...
1696
1697 Options:
1698
1699 -r: use 'raw' input. By default, the 'processed' history is used,
1700 so that magics are loaded in their transformed version to valid
1701 Python. If this option is given, the raw input as typed as the
1702 command line is used instead.
1703
1704 This function uses the same syntax as %macro for line extraction, but
1705 instead of creating a macro it saves the resulting string to the
1706 filename you specify.
1707
1708 It adds a '.py' extension to the file if you don't do so yourself, and
1709 it asks for confirmation before overwriting existing files.
1710
1711 **%sc**::
1712
1713 Shell capture - execute a shell command and capture its output.
1714
1715 DEPRECATED. Suboptimal, retained for backwards compatibility.
1716
1717 You should use the form 'var = !command' instead. Example:
1718
1719 "%sc -l myfiles = ls ~" should now be written as
1720
1721 "myfiles = !ls ~"
1722
1723 myfiles.s, myfiles.l and myfiles.n still apply as documented
1724 below.
1725
1726 --
1727 %sc [options] varname=command
1728
1729 IPython will run the given command using commands.getoutput(), and
1730 will then update the user's interactive namespace with a variable
1731 called varname, containing the value of the call. Your command can
1732 contain shell wildcards, pipes, etc.
1733
1734 The '=' sign in the syntax is mandatory, and the variable name you
1735 supply must follow Python's standard conventions for valid names.
1736
1737 (A special format without variable name exists for internal use)
1738
1739 Options:
1740
1741 -l: list output. Split the output on newlines into a list before
1742 assigning it to the given variable. By default the output is stored
1743 as a single string.
1744
1745 -v: verbose. Print the contents of the variable.
1746
1747 In most cases you should not need to split as a list, because the
1748 returned value is a special type of string which can automatically
1749 provide its contents either as a list (split on newlines) or as a
1750 space-separated string. These are convenient, respectively, either
1751 for sequential processing or to be passed to a shell command.
1752
1753 For example:
1754
1755 # Capture into variable a
1756 In [9]: sc a=ls *py
1757
1758 # a is a string with embedded newlines
1759 In [10]: a
1760 Out[10]: 'setup.py win32_manual_post_install.py'
1761
1762 # which can be seen as a list:
1763 In [11]: a.l
1764 Out[11]: ['setup.py', 'win32_manual_post_install.py']
1765
1766 # or as a whitespace-separated string:
1767 In [12]: a.s
1768 Out[12]: 'setup.py win32_manual_post_install.py'
1769
1770 # a.s is useful to pass as a single command line:
1771 In [13]: !wc -l $a.s
1772 146 setup.py
1773 130 win32_manual_post_install.py
1774 276 total
1775
1776 # while the list form is useful to loop over:
1777 In [14]: for f in a.l:
1778 ....: !wc -l $f
1779 ....:
1780 146 setup.py
1781 130 win32_manual_post_install.py
1782
1783 Similiarly, the lists returned by the -l option are also special, in
1784 the sense that you can equally invoke the .s attribute on them to
1785 automatically get a whitespace-separated string from their contents:
1786
1787 In [1]: sc -l b=ls *py
1788
1789 In [2]: b
1790 Out[2]: ['setup.py', 'win32_manual_post_install.py']
1791
1792 In [3]: b.s
1793 Out[3]: 'setup.py win32_manual_post_install.py'
1794
1795 In summary, both the lists and strings used for ouptut capture have
1796 the following special attributes:
1797
1798 .l (or .list) : value as list.
1799 .n (or .nlstr): value as newline-separated string.
1800 .s (or .spstr): value as space-separated string.
1801
1802 **%store**::
1803
1804 Lightweight persistence for python variables.
1805
1806 Example:
1807
1808 ville@badger[~]|1> A = ['hello',10,'world']\
1809 ville@badger[~]|2> %store A\
1810 ville@badger[~]|3> Exit
1811
1812 (IPython session is closed and started again...)
1813
1814 ville@badger:~$ ipython -p pysh\
1815 ville@badger[~]|1> print A
1816
1817 ['hello', 10, 'world']
1818
1819 Usage:
1820
1821 %store - Show list of all variables and their current values\
1822 %store <var> - Store the *current* value of the variable to disk\
1823 %store -d <var> - Remove the variable and its value from storage\
1824 %store -z - Remove all variables from storage\
1825 %store -r - Refresh all variables from store (delete current vals)\
1826 %store foo >a.txt - Store value of foo to new file a.txt\
1827 %store foo >>a.txt - Append value of foo to file a.txt\
1828
1829 It should be noted that if you change the value of a variable, you
1830 need to %store it again if you want to persist the new value.
1831
1832 Note also that the variables will need to be pickleable; most basic
1833 python types can be safely %stored.
1834
1835 Also aliases can be %store'd across sessions.
1836
1837 **%sx**::
1838
1839 Shell execute - run a shell command and capture its output.
1840
1841 %sx command
1842
1843 IPython will run the given command using commands.getoutput(), and
1844 return the result formatted as a list (split on '\n'). Since the
1845 output is _returned_, it will be stored in ipython's regular output
1846 cache Out[N] and in the '_N' automatic variables.
1847
1848 Notes:
1849
1850 1) If an input line begins with '!!', then %sx is automatically
1851 invoked. That is, while:
1852 !ls
1853 causes ipython to simply issue system('ls'), typing
1854 !!ls
1855 is a shorthand equivalent to:
1856 %sx ls
1857
1858 2) %sx differs from %sc in that %sx automatically splits into a list,
1859 like '%sc -l'. The reason for this is to make it as easy as possible
1860 to process line-oriented shell output via further python commands.
1861 %sc is meant to provide much finer control, but requires more
1862 typing.
1863
1864 3) Just like %sc -l, this is a list with special attributes:
1865
1866 .l (or .list) : value as list.
1867 .n (or .nlstr): value as newline-separated string.
1868 .s (or .spstr): value as whitespace-separated string.
1869
1870 This is very useful when trying to use such lists as arguments to
1871 system commands.
1872
1873 **%system_verbose**::
1874
1875 Set verbose printing of system calls.
1876
1877 If called without an argument, act as a toggle
1878
1879 **%time**::
1880
1881 Time execution of a Python statement or expression.
1882
1883 The CPU and wall clock times are printed, and the value of the
1884 expression (if any) is returned. Note that under Win32, system time
1885 is always reported as 0, since it can not be measured.
1886
1887 This function provides very basic timing functionality. In Python
1888 2.3, the timeit module offers more control and sophistication, so this
1889 could be rewritten to use it (patches welcome).
1890
1891 Some examples:
1892
1893 In [1]: time 2**128
1894 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
1895 Wall time: 0.00
1896 Out[1]: 340282366920938463463374607431768211456L
1897
1898 In [2]: n = 1000000
1899
1900 In [3]: time sum(range(n))
1901 CPU times: user 1.20 s, sys: 0.05 s, total: 1.25 s
1902 Wall time: 1.37
1903 Out[3]: 499999500000L
1904
1905 In [4]: time print 'hello world'
1906 hello world
1907 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
1908 Wall time: 0.00
1909
1910 Note that the time needed by Python to compile the given expression
1911 will be reported if it is more than 0.1s. In this example, the
1912 actual exponentiation is done by Python at compilation time, so while
1913 the expression can take a noticeable amount of time to compute, that
1914 time is purely due to the compilation:
1915
1916 In [5]: time 3**9999;
1917 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
1918 Wall time: 0.00 s
1919
1920 In [6]: time 3**999999;
1921 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
1922 Wall time: 0.00 s
1923 Compiler : 0.78 s
1924
1925 **%timeit**::
1926
1927 Time execution of a Python statement or expression
1928
1929 Usage:\
1930 %timeit [-n<N> -r<R> [-t|-c]] statement
1931
1932 Time execution of a Python statement or expression using the timeit
1933 module.
1934
1935 Options:
1936 -n<N>: execute the given statement <N> times in a loop. If this value
1937 is not given, a fitting value is chosen.
1938
1939 -r<R>: repeat the loop iteration <R> times and take the best result.
1940 Default: 3
1941
1942 -t: use time.time to measure the time, which is the default on Unix.
1943 This function measures wall time.
1944
1945 -c: use time.clock to measure the time, which is the default on
1946 Windows and measures wall time. On Unix, resource.getrusage is used
1947 instead and returns the CPU user time.
1948
1949 -p<P>: use a precision of <P> digits to display the timing result.
1950 Default: 3
1951
1952
1953 Examples:\
1954 In [1]: %timeit pass
1955 10000000 loops, best of 3: 53.3 ns per loop
1956
1957 In [2]: u = None
1958
1959 In [3]: %timeit u is None
1960 10000000 loops, best of 3: 184 ns per loop
1961
1962 In [4]: %timeit -r 4 u == None
1963 1000000 loops, best of 4: 242 ns per loop
1964
1965 In [5]: import time
1966
1967 In [6]: %timeit -n1 time.sleep(2)
1968 1 loops, best of 3: 2 s per loop
1969
1970
1971 The times reported by %timeit will be slightly higher than those
1972 reported by the timeit.py script when variables are accessed. This is
1973 due to the fact that %timeit executes the statement in the namespace
1974 of the shell, compared with timeit.py, which uses a single setup
1975 statement to import function or create variables. Generally, the bias
1976 does not matter as long as results from timeit.py are not mixed with
1977 those from %timeit.
1978
1979 **%unalias**::
1980
1981 Remove an alias
1982
1983 **%upgrade**::
1984
1985 Upgrade your IPython installation
1986
1987 This will copy the config files that don't yet exist in your
1988 ipython dir from the system config dir. Use this after upgrading
1989 IPython if you don't wish to delete your .ipython dir.
1990
1991 Call with -nolegacy to get rid of ipythonrc* files (recommended for
1992 new users)
1993
1994 **%which**::
1995
1996 %which <cmd> => search PATH for files matching cmd. Also scans aliases.
1997
1998 Traverses PATH and prints all files (not just executables!) that match the
1999 pattern on command line. Probably more useful in finding stuff
2000 interactively than 'which', which only prints the first matching item.
2001
2002 Also discovers and expands aliases, so you'll see what will be executed
2003 when you call an alias.
2004
2005 Example:
2006
2007 [~]|62> %which d
2008 d -> ls -F --color=auto
2009 == c:\cygwin\bin\ls.exe
2010 c:\cygwin\bin\d.exe
2011
2012 [~]|64> %which diff*
2013 diff3 -> diff3
2014 == c:\cygwin\bin\diff3.exe
2015 diff -> diff
2016 == c:\cygwin\bin\diff.exe
2017 c:\cygwin\bin\diff.exe
2018 c:\cygwin\bin\diff3.exe
2019
2020 **%who**::
2021
2022 Print all interactive variables, with some minimal formatting.
2023
2024 If any arguments are given, only variables whose type matches one of
2025 these are printed. For example:
2026
2027 %who function str
2028
2029 will only list functions and strings, excluding all other types of
2030 variables. To find the proper type names, simply use type(var) at a
2031 command line to see how python prints type names. For example:
2032
2033 In [1]: type('hello')\
2034 Out[1]: <type 'str'>
2035
2036 indicates that the type name for strings is 'str'.
2037
2038 %who always excludes executed names loaded through your configuration
2039 file and things which are internal to IPython.
2040
2041 This is deliberate, as typically you may load many modules and the
2042 purpose of %who is to show you only what you've manually defined.
2043
2044 **%who_ls**::
2045
2046 Return a sorted list of all interactive variables.
2047
2048 If arguments are given, only variables of types matching these
2049 arguments are returned.
2050
2051 **%whos**::
2052
2053 Like %who, but gives some extra information about each variable.
2054
2055 The same type filtering of %who can be applied here.
2056
2057 For all variables, the type is printed. Additionally it prints:
2058
2059 - For {},[],(): their length.
2060
2061 - For numpy and Numeric arrays, a summary with shape, number of
2062 elements, typecode and size in memory.
2063
2064 - Everything else: a string representation, snipping their middle if
2065 too long.
2066
2067 **%xmode**::
2068
2069 Switch modes for the exception handlers.
2070
2071 Valid modes: Plain, Context and Verbose.
2072
2073 If called without arguments, acts as a toggle.
2074
2075 .. magic_end
2076
2077 Access to the standard Python help
2078 ----------------------------------
2079
2080 As of Python 2.1, a help system is available with access to object
2081 docstrings and the Python manuals. Simply type 'help' (no quotes) to
2082 access it. You can also type help(object) to obtain information about a
2083 given object, and help('keyword') for information on a keyword. As noted
2084 in sec. `accessing help`_, you need to properly configure
2085 your environment variable PYTHONDOCS for this feature to work correctly.
2086
2087
2088 Dynamic object information
2089 --------------------------
2090
2091 Typing ?word or word? prints detailed information about an object. If
2092 certain strings in the object are too long (docstrings, code, etc.) they
2093 get snipped in the center for brevity. This system gives access variable
2094 types and values, full source code for any object (if available),
2095 function prototypes and other useful information.
2096
2097 Typing ??word or word?? gives access to the full information without
2098 snipping long strings. Long strings are sent to the screen through the
2099 less pager if longer than the screen and printed otherwise. On systems
2100 lacking the less command, IPython uses a very basic internal pager.
2101
2102 The following magic functions are particularly useful for gathering
2103 information about your working environment. You can get more details by
2104 typing %magic or querying them individually (use %function_name? with or
2105 without the %), this is just a summary:
2106
2107 * **%pdoc <object>**: Print (or run through a pager if too long) the
2108 docstring for an object. If the given object is a class, it will
2109 print both the class and the constructor docstrings.
2110 * **%pdef <object>**: Print the definition header for any callable
2111 object. If the object is a class, print the constructor information.
2112 * **%psource <object>**: Print (or run through a pager if too long)
2113 the source code for an object.
2114 * **%pfile <object>**: Show the entire source file where an object was
2115 defined via a pager, opening it at the line where the object
2116 definition begins.
2117 * **%who/%whos**: These functions give information about identifiers
2118 you have defined interactively (not things you loaded or defined
2119 in your configuration files). %who just prints a list of
2120 identifiers and %whos prints a table with some basic details about
2121 each identifier.
2122
2123 Note that the dynamic object information functions (?/??, %pdoc, %pfile,
2124 %pdef, %psource) give you access to documentation even on things which
2125 are not really defined as separate identifiers. Try for example typing
2126 {}.get? or after doing import os, type os.path.abspath??.
2127
2128
2129 .. _Readline:
2130
2131 Readline-based features
2132 -----------------------
2133
2134 These features require the GNU readline library, so they won't work if
2135 your Python installation lacks readline support. We will first describe
2136 the default behavior IPython uses, and then how to change it to suit
2137 your preferences.
2138
2139
2140 Command line completion
2141 +++++++++++++++++++++++
2142
2143 At any time, hitting TAB will complete any available python commands or
2144 variable names, and show you a list of the possible completions if
2145 there's no unambiguous one. It will also complete filenames in the
2146 current directory if no python names match what you've typed so far.
2147
2148
2149 Search command history
2150 ++++++++++++++++++++++
2151
2152 IPython provides two ways for searching through previous input and thus
2153 reduce the need for repetitive typing:
2154
2155 1. Start typing, and then use Ctrl-p (previous,up) and Ctrl-n
2156 (next,down) to search through only the history items that match
2157 what you've typed so far. If you use Ctrl-p/Ctrl-n at a blank
2158 prompt, they just behave like normal arrow keys.
2159 2. Hit Ctrl-r: opens a search prompt. Begin typing and the system
2160 searches your history for lines that contain what you've typed so
2161 far, completing as much as it can.
2162
2163
2164 Persistent command history across sessions
2165 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2166
2167 IPython will save your input history when it leaves and reload it next
2168 time you restart it. By default, the history file is named
2169 $IPYTHONDIR/history, but if you've loaded a named profile,
2170 '-PROFILE_NAME' is appended to the name. This allows you to keep
2171 separate histories related to various tasks: commands related to
2172 numerical work will not be clobbered by a system shell history, for
2173 example.
2174
2175
2176 Autoindent
2177 ++++++++++
2178
2179 IPython can recognize lines ending in ':' and indent the next line,
2180 while also un-indenting automatically after 'raise' or 'return'.
2181
2182 This feature uses the readline library, so it will honor your ~/.inputrc
2183 configuration (or whatever file your INPUTRC variable points to). Adding
2184 the following lines to your .inputrc file can make indenting/unindenting
2185 more convenient (M-i indents, M-u unindents)::
2186
2187 $if Python
2188 "\M-i": " "
2189 "\M-u": "\d\d\d\d"
2190 $endif
2191
2192 Note that there are 4 spaces between the quote marks after "M-i" above.
2193
2194 Warning: this feature is ON by default, but it can cause problems with
2195 the pasting of multi-line indented code (the pasted code gets
2196 re-indented on each line). A magic function %autoindent allows you to
2197 toggle it on/off at runtime. You can also disable it permanently on in
2198 your ipythonrc file (set autoindent 0).
2199
2200
2201 Customizing readline behavior
2202 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2203
2204 All these features are based on the GNU readline library, which has an
2205 extremely customizable interface. Normally, readline is configured via a
2206 file which defines the behavior of the library; the details of the
2207 syntax for this can be found in the readline documentation available
2208 with your system or on the Internet. IPython doesn't read this file (if
2209 it exists) directly, but it does support passing to readline valid
2210 options via a simple interface. In brief, you can customize readline by
2211 setting the following options in your ipythonrc configuration file (note
2212 that these options can not be specified at the command line):
2213
2214 * **readline_parse_and_bind**: this option can appear as many times as
2215 you want, each time defining a string to be executed via a
2216 readline.parse_and_bind() command. The syntax for valid commands
2217 of this kind can be found by reading the documentation for the GNU
2218 readline library, as these commands are of the kind which readline
2219 accepts in its configuration file.
2220 * **readline_remove_delims**: a string of characters to be removed
2221 from the default word-delimiters list used by readline, so that
2222 completions may be performed on strings which contain them. Do not
2223 change the default value unless you know what you're doing.
2224 * **readline_omit__names**: when tab-completion is enabled, hitting
2225 <tab> after a '.' in a name will complete all attributes of an
2226 object, including all the special methods whose names include
2227 double underscores (like __getitem__ or __class__). If you'd
2228 rather not see these names by default, you can set this option to
2229 1. Note that even when this option is set, you can still see those
2230 names by explicitly typing a _ after the period and hitting <tab>:
2231 'name._<tab>' will always complete attribute names starting with '_'.
2232
2233 This option is off by default so that new users see all
2234 attributes of any objects they are dealing with.
2235
2236 You will find the default values along with a corresponding detailed
2237 explanation in your ipythonrc file.
2238
2239
2240 Session logging and restoring
2241 -----------------------------
2242
2243 You can log all input from a session either by starting IPython with
2244 the command line switches -log or -logfile (see sec. `command line
2245 options`_) or by activating the logging at any moment with the magic
2246 function %logstart.
2247
2248 Log files can later be reloaded with the -logplay option and IPython
2249 will attempt to 'replay' the log by executing all the lines in it, thus
2250 restoring the state of a previous session. This feature is not quite
2251 perfect, but can still be useful in many cases.
2252
2253 The log files can also be used as a way to have a permanent record of
2254 any code you wrote while experimenting. Log files are regular text files
2255 which you can later open in your favorite text editor to extract code or
2256 to 'clean them up' before using them to replay a session.
2257
2258 The %logstart function for activating logging in mid-session is used as
2259 follows:
2260
2261 %logstart [log_name [log_mode]]
2262
2263 If no name is given, it defaults to a file named 'log' in your
2264 IPYTHONDIR directory, in 'rotate' mode (see below).
2265
2266 '%logstart name' saves to file 'name' in 'backup' mode. It saves your
2267 history up to that point and then continues logging.
2268
2269 %logstart takes a second optional parameter: logging mode. This can be
2270 one of (note that the modes are given unquoted):
2271
2272 * [over:] overwrite existing log_name.
2273 * [backup:] rename (if exists) to log_name~ and start log_name.
2274 * [append:] well, that says it.
2275 * [rotate:] create rotating logs log_name.1~, log_name.2~, etc.
2276
2277 The %logoff and %logon functions allow you to temporarily stop and
2278 resume logging to a file which had previously been started with
2279 %logstart. They will fail (with an explanation) if you try to use them
2280 before logging has been started.
2281
2282 System shell access
2283 -------------------
2284
2285 Any input line beginning with a ! character is passed verbatim (minus
2286 the !, of course) to the underlying operating system. For example,
2287 typing !ls will run 'ls' in the current directory.
2288
2289 Manual capture of command output
2290 --------------------------------
2291
2292 If the input line begins with two exclamation marks, !!, the command is
2293 executed but its output is captured and returned as a python list, split
2294 on newlines. Any output sent by the subprocess to standard error is
2295 printed separately, so that the resulting list only captures standard
2296 output. The !! syntax is a shorthand for the %sx magic command.
2297
2298 Finally, the %sc magic (short for 'shell capture') is similar to %sx,
2299 but allowing more fine-grained control of the capture details, and
2300 storing the result directly into a named variable. The direct use of
2301 %sc is now deprecated, and you should ise the ``var = !cmd`` syntax
2302 instead.
2303
2304 IPython also allows you to expand the value of python variables when
2305 making system calls. Any python variable or expression which you prepend
2306 with $ will get expanded before the system call is made::
2307
2308 In [1]: pyvar='Hello world'
2309 In [2]: !echo "A python variable: $pyvar"
2310 A python variable: Hello world
2311
2312 If you want the shell to actually see a literal $, you need to type it
2313 twice::
2314
2315 In [3]: !echo "A system variable: $$HOME"
2316 A system variable: /home/fperez
2317
2318 You can pass arbitrary expressions, though you'll need to delimit them
2319 with {} if there is ambiguity as to the extent of the expression::
2320
2321 In [5]: x=10
2322 In [6]: y=20
2323 In [13]: !echo $x+y
2324 10+y
2325 In [7]: !echo ${x+y}
2326 30
2327
2328 Even object attributes can be expanded::
2329
2330 In [12]: !echo $sys.argv
2331 [/home/fperez/usr/bin/ipython]
2332
2333
2334 System command aliases
2335 ----------------------
2336
2337 The %alias magic function and the alias option in the ipythonrc
2338 configuration file allow you to define magic functions which are in fact
2339 system shell commands. These aliases can have parameters.
2340
2341 '%alias alias_name cmd' defines 'alias_name' as an alias for 'cmd'
2342
2343 Then, typing '%alias_name params' will execute the system command 'cmd
2344 params' (from your underlying operating system).
2345
2346 You can also define aliases with parameters using %s specifiers (one per
2347 parameter). The following example defines the %parts function as an
2348 alias to the command 'echo first %s second %s' where each %s will be
2349 replaced by a positional parameter to the call to %parts::
2350
2351 In [1]: alias parts echo first %s second %s
2352 In [2]: %parts A B
2353 first A second B
2354 In [3]: %parts A
2355 Incorrect number of arguments: 2 expected.
2356 parts is an alias to: 'echo first %s second %s'
2357
2358 If called with no parameters, %alias prints the table of currently
2359 defined aliases.
2360
2361 The %rehash/rehashx magics allow you to load your entire $PATH as
2362 ipython aliases. See their respective docstrings (or sec. 6.2
2363 <#sec:magic> for further details).
2364
2365
2366 .. _dreload:
2367
2368 Recursive reload
2369 ----------------
2370
2371 The dreload function does a recursive reload of a module: changes made
2372 to the module since you imported will actually be available without
2373 having to exit.
2374
2375
2376 Verbose and colored exception traceback printouts
2377 -------------------------------------------------
2378
2379 IPython provides the option to see very detailed exception tracebacks,
2380 which can be especially useful when debugging large programs. You can
2381 run any Python file with the %run function to benefit from these
2382 detailed tracebacks. Furthermore, both normal and verbose tracebacks can
2383 be colored (if your terminal supports it) which makes them much easier
2384 to parse visually.
2385
2386 See the magic xmode and colors functions for details (just type %magic).
2387
2388 These features are basically a terminal version of Ka-Ping Yee's cgitb
2389 module, now part of the standard Python library.
2390
2391
2392 .. _Input caching:
2393
2394 Input caching system
2395 --------------------
2396
2397 IPython offers numbered prompts (In/Out) with input and output caching.
2398 All input is saved and can be retrieved as variables (besides the usual
2399 arrow key recall).
2400
2401 The following GLOBAL variables always exist (so don't overwrite them!):
2402 _i: stores previous input. _ii: next previous. _iii: next-next previous.
2403 _ih : a list of all input _ih[n] is the input from line n and this list
2404 is aliased to the global variable In. If you overwrite In with a
2405 variable of your own, you can remake the assignment to the internal list
2406 with a simple 'In=_ih'.
2407
2408 Additionally, global variables named _i<n> are dynamically created (<n>
2409 being the prompt counter), such that
2410 _i<n> == _ih[<n>] == In[<n>].
2411
2412 For example, what you typed at prompt 14 is available as _i14, _ih[14]
2413 and In[14].
2414
2415 This allows you to easily cut and paste multi line interactive prompts
2416 by printing them out: they print like a clean string, without prompt
2417 characters. You can also manipulate them like regular variables (they
2418 are strings), modify or exec them (typing 'exec _i9' will re-execute the
2419 contents of input prompt 9, 'exec In[9:14]+In[18]' will re-execute lines
2420 9 through 13 and line 18).
2421
2422 You can also re-execute multiple lines of input easily by using the
2423 magic %macro function (which automates the process and allows
2424 re-execution without having to type 'exec' every time). The macro system
2425 also allows you to re-execute previous lines which include magic
2426 function calls (which require special processing). Type %macro? or see
2427 sec. 6.2 <#sec:magic> for more details on the macro system.
2428
2429 A history function %hist allows you to see any part of your input
2430 history by printing a range of the _i variables.
2431
2432 .. _Output caching:
2433
2434 Output caching system
2435 ---------------------
2436
2437 For output that is returned from actions, a system similar to the input
2438 cache exists but using _ instead of _i. Only actions that produce a
2439 result (NOT assignments, for example) are cached. If you are familiar
2440 with Mathematica, IPython's _ variables behave exactly like
2441 Mathematica's % variables.
2442
2443 The following GLOBAL variables always exist (so don't overwrite them!):
2444
2445 * [_] (a single underscore) : stores previous output, like Python's
2446 default interpreter.
2447 * [__] (two underscores): next previous.
2448 * [___] (three underscores): next-next previous.
2449
2450 Additionally, global variables named _<n> are dynamically created (<n>
2451 being the prompt counter), such that the result of output <n> is always
2452 available as _<n> (don't use the angle brackets, just the number, e.g.
2453 _21).
2454
2455 These global variables are all stored in a global dictionary (not a
2456 list, since it only has entries for lines which returned a result)
2457 available under the names _oh and Out (similar to _ih and In). So the
2458 output from line 12 can be obtained as _12, Out[12] or _oh[12]. If you
2459 accidentally overwrite the Out variable you can recover it by typing
2460 'Out=_oh' at the prompt.
2461
2462 This system obviously can potentially put heavy memory demands on your
2463 system, since it prevents Python's garbage collector from removing any
2464 previously computed results. You can control how many results are kept
2465 in memory with the option (at the command line or in your ipythonrc
2466 file) cache_size. If you set it to 0, the whole system is completely
2467 disabled and the prompts revert to the classic '>>>' of normal Python.
2468
2469
2470 Directory history
2471 -----------------
2472
2473 Your history of visited directories is kept in the global list _dh, and
2474 the magic %cd command can be used to go to any entry in that list. The
2475 %dhist command allows you to view this history. do ``cd -<TAB`` to
2476 conventiently view the directory history.
2477
2478
2479 Automatic parentheses and quotes
2480 --------------------------------
2481
2482 These features were adapted from Nathan Gray's LazyPython. They are
2483 meant to allow less typing for common situations.
2484
2485
2486 Automatic parentheses
2487 ---------------------
2488
2489 Callable objects (i.e. functions, methods, etc) can be invoked like this
2490 (notice the commas between the arguments)::
2491
2492 >>> callable_ob arg1, arg2, arg3
2493
2494 and the input will be translated to this::
2495
2496 -> callable_ob(arg1, arg2, arg3)
2497
2498 You can force automatic parentheses by using '/' as the first character
2499 of a line. For example::
2500
2501 >>> /globals # becomes 'globals()'
2502
2503 Note that the '/' MUST be the first character on the line! This won't work::
2504
2505 >>> print /globals # syntax error
2506
2507 In most cases the automatic algorithm should work, so you should rarely
2508 need to explicitly invoke /. One notable exception is if you are trying
2509 to call a function with a list of tuples as arguments (the parenthesis
2510 will confuse IPython)::
2511
2512 In [1]: zip (1,2,3),(4,5,6) # won't work
2513
2514 but this will work::
2515
2516 In [2]: /zip (1,2,3),(4,5,6)
2517 ---> zip ((1,2,3),(4,5,6))
2518 Out[2]= [(1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6)]
2519
2520 IPython tells you that it has altered your command line by displaying
2521 the new command line preceded by ->. e.g.::
2522
2523 In [18]: callable list
2524 ----> callable (list)
2525
2526
2527 Automatic quoting
2528 -----------------
2529
2530 You can force automatic quoting of a function's arguments by using ','
2531 or ';' as the first character of a line. For example::
2532
2533 >>> ,my_function /home/me # becomes my_function("/home/me")
2534
2535 If you use ';' instead, the whole argument is quoted as a single string
2536 (while ',' splits on whitespace)::
2537
2538 >>> ,my_function a b c # becomes my_function("a","b","c")
2539
2540 >>> ;my_function a b c # becomes my_function("a b c")
2541
2542 Note that the ',' or ';' MUST be the first character on the line! This
2543 won't work::
2544
2545 >>> x = ,my_function /home/me # syntax error
2546
2547 IPython as your default Python environment
2548 ==========================================
2549
2550 Python honors the environment variable PYTHONSTARTUP and will execute at
2551 startup the file referenced by this variable. If you put at the end of
2552 this file the following two lines of code::
2553
2554 import IPython
2555 IPython.Shell.IPShell().mainloop(sys_exit=1)
2556
2557 then IPython will be your working environment anytime you start Python.
2558 The sys_exit=1 is needed to have IPython issue a call to sys.exit() when
2559 it finishes, otherwise you'll be back at the normal Python '>>>'
2560 prompt.
2561
2562 This is probably useful to developers who manage multiple Python
2563 versions and don't want to have correspondingly multiple IPython
2564 versions. Note that in this mode, there is no way to pass IPython any
2565 command-line options, as those are trapped first by Python itself.
2566
2567 .. _Embedding:
2568
2569 Embedding IPython
2570 =================
2571
2572 It is possible to start an IPython instance inside your own Python
2573 programs. This allows you to evaluate dynamically the state of your
2574 code, operate with your variables, analyze them, etc. Note however that
2575 any changes you make to values while in the shell do not propagate back
2576 to the running code, so it is safe to modify your values because you
2577 won't break your code in bizarre ways by doing so.
2578
2579 This feature allows you to easily have a fully functional python
2580 environment for doing object introspection anywhere in your code with a
2581 simple function call. In some cases a simple print statement is enough,
2582 but if you need to do more detailed analysis of a code fragment this
2583 feature can be very valuable.
2584
2585 It can also be useful in scientific computing situations where it is
2586 common to need to do some automatic, computationally intensive part and
2587 then stop to look at data, plots, etc.
2588 Opening an IPython instance will give you full access to your data and
2589 functions, and you can resume program execution once you are done with
2590 the interactive part (perhaps to stop again later, as many times as
2591 needed).
2592
2593 The following code snippet is the bare minimum you need to include in
2594 your Python programs for this to work (detailed examples follow later)::
2595
2596 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
2597
2598 ipshell = IPShellEmbed()
2599
2600 ipshell() # this call anywhere in your program will start IPython
2601
2602 You can run embedded instances even in code which is itself being run at
2603 the IPython interactive prompt with '%run <filename>'. Since it's easy
2604 to get lost as to where you are (in your top-level IPython or in your
2605 embedded one), it's a good idea in such cases to set the in/out prompts
2606 to something different for the embedded instances. The code examples
2607 below illustrate this.
2608
2609 You can also have multiple IPython instances in your program and open
2610 them separately, for example with different options for data
2611 presentation. If you close and open the same instance multiple times,
2612 its prompt counters simply continue from each execution to the next.
2613
2614 Please look at the docstrings in the Shell.py module for more details on
2615 the use of this system.
2616
2617 The following sample file illustrating how to use the embedding
2618 functionality is provided in the examples directory as example-embed.py.
2619 It should be fairly self-explanatory::
2620
2621
2622 #!/usr/bin/env python
2623
2624 """An example of how to embed an IPython shell into a running program.
2625
2626 Please see the documentation in the IPython.Shell module for more details.
2627
2628 The accompanying file example-embed-short.py has quick code fragments for
2629 embedding which you can cut and paste in your code once you understand how
2630 things work.
2631
2632 The code in this file is deliberately extra-verbose, meant for learning."""
2633
2634 # The basics to get you going:
2635
2636 # IPython sets the __IPYTHON__ variable so you can know if you have nested
2637 # copies running.
2638
2639 # Try running this code both at the command line and from inside IPython (with
2640 # %run example-embed.py)
2641 try:
2642 __IPYTHON__
2643 except NameError:
2644 nested = 0
2645 args = ['']
2646 else:
2647 print "Running nested copies of IPython."
2648 print "The prompts for the nested copy have been modified"
2649 nested = 1
2650 # what the embedded instance will see as sys.argv:
2651 args = ['-pi1','In <\\#>: ','-pi2',' .\\D.: ',
2652 '-po','Out<\\#>: ','-nosep']
2653
2654 # First import the embeddable shell class
2655 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
2656
2657 # Now create an instance of the embeddable shell. The first argument is a
2658 # string with options exactly as you would type them if you were starting
2659 # IPython at the system command line. Any parameters you want to define for
2660 # configuration can thus be specified here.
2661 ipshell = IPShellEmbed(args,
2662 banner = 'Dropping into IPython',
2663 exit_msg = 'Leaving Interpreter, back to program.')
2664
2665 # Make a second instance, you can have as many as you want.
2666 if nested:
2667 args[1] = 'In2<\\#>'
2668 else:
2669 args = ['-pi1','In2<\\#>: ','-pi2',' .\\D.: ',
2670 '-po','Out<\\#>: ','-nosep']
2671 ipshell2 = IPShellEmbed(args,banner = 'Second IPython instance.')
2672
2673 print '\nHello. This is printed from the main controller program.\n'
2674
2675 # You can then call ipshell() anywhere you need it (with an optional
2676 # message):
2677 ipshell('***Called from top level. '
2678 'Hit Ctrl-D to exit interpreter and continue program.\n'
2679 'Note that if you use %kill_embedded, you can fully deactivate\n'
2680 'This embedded instance so it will never turn on again')
2681
2682 print '\nBack in caller program, moving along...\n'
2683
2684 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2685 # More details:
2686
2687 # IPShellEmbed instances don't print the standard system banner and
2688 # messages. The IPython banner (which actually may contain initialization
2689 # messages) is available as <instance>.IP.BANNER in case you want it.
2690
2691 # IPShellEmbed instances print the following information everytime they
2692 # start:
2693
2694 # - A global startup banner.
2695
2696 # - A call-specific header string, which you can use to indicate where in the
2697 # execution flow the shell is starting.
2698
2699 # They also print an exit message every time they exit.
2700
2701 # Both the startup banner and the exit message default to None, and can be set
2702 # either at the instance constructor or at any other time with the
2703 # set_banner() and set_exit_msg() methods.
2704
2705 # The shell instance can be also put in 'dummy' mode globally or on a per-call
2706 # basis. This gives you fine control for debugging without having to change
2707 # code all over the place.
2708
2709 # The code below illustrates all this.
2710
2711
2712 # This is how the global banner and exit_msg can be reset at any point
2713 ipshell.set_banner('Entering interpreter - New Banner')
2714 ipshell.set_exit_msg('Leaving interpreter - New exit_msg')
2715
2716 def foo(m):
2717 s = 'spam'
2718 ipshell('***In foo(). Try @whos, or print s or m:')
2719 print 'foo says m = ',m
2720
2721 def bar(n):
2722 s = 'eggs'
2723 ipshell('***In bar(). Try @whos, or print s or n:')
2724 print 'bar says n = ',n
2725
2726 # Some calls to the above functions which will trigger IPython:
2727 print 'Main program calling foo("eggs")\n'
2728 foo('eggs')
2729
2730 # The shell can be put in 'dummy' mode where calls to it silently return. This
2731 # allows you, for example, to globally turn off debugging for a program with a
2732 # single call.
2733 ipshell.set_dummy_mode(1)
2734 print '\nTrying to call IPython which is now "dummy":'
2735 ipshell()
2736 print 'Nothing happened...'
2737 # The global 'dummy' mode can still be overridden for a single call
2738 print '\nOverriding dummy mode manually:'
2739 ipshell(dummy=0)
2740
2741 # Reactivate the IPython shell
2742 ipshell.set_dummy_mode(0)
2743
2744 print 'You can even have multiple embedded instances:'
2745 ipshell2()
2746
2747 print '\nMain program calling bar("spam")\n'
2748 bar('spam')
2749
2750 print 'Main program finished. Bye!'
2751
2752 #********************** End of file <example-embed.py> ***********************
2753
2754 Once you understand how the system functions, you can use the following
2755 code fragments in your programs which are ready for cut and paste::
2756
2757
2758 """Quick code snippets for embedding IPython into other programs.
2759
2760 See example-embed.py for full details, this file has the bare minimum code for
2761 cut and paste use once you understand how to use the system."""
2762
2763 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2764 # This code loads IPython but modifies a few things if it detects it's running
2765 # embedded in another IPython session (helps avoid confusion)
2766
2767 try:
2768 __IPYTHON__
2769 except NameError:
2770 argv = ['']
2771 banner = exit_msg = ''
2772 else:
2773 # Command-line options for IPython (a list like sys.argv)
2774 argv = ['-pi1','In <\\#>:','-pi2',' .\\D.:','-po','Out<\\#>:']
2775 banner = '*** Nested interpreter ***'
2776 exit_msg = '*** Back in main IPython ***'
2777
2778 # First import the embeddable shell class
2779 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
2780 # Now create the IPython shell instance. Put ipshell() anywhere in your code
2781 # where you want it to open.
2782 ipshell = IPShellEmbed(argv,banner=banner,exit_msg=exit_msg)
2783
2784 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2785 # This code will load an embeddable IPython shell always with no changes for
2786 # nested embededings.
2787
2788 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
2789 ipshell = IPShellEmbed()
2790 # Now ipshell() will open IPython anywhere in the code.
2791
2792 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2793 # This code loads an embeddable shell only if NOT running inside
2794 # IPython. Inside IPython, the embeddable shell variable ipshell is just a
2795 # dummy function.
2796
2797 try:
2798 __IPYTHON__
2799 except NameError:
2800 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
2801 ipshell = IPShellEmbed()
2802 # Now ipshell() will open IPython anywhere in the code
2803 else:
2804 # Define a dummy ipshell() so the same code doesn't crash inside an
2805 # interactive IPython
2806 def ipshell(): pass
2807
2808 #******************* End of file <example-embed-short.py> ********************
2809
2810 Using the Python debugger (pdb)
2811 ===============================
2812
2813 Running entire programs via pdb
2814 -------------------------------
2815
2816 pdb, the Python debugger, is a powerful interactive debugger which
2817 allows you to step through code, set breakpoints, watch variables,
2818 etc. IPython makes it very easy to start any script under the control
2819 of pdb, regardless of whether you have wrapped it into a 'main()'
2820 function or not. For this, simply type '%run -d myscript' at an
2821 IPython prompt. See the %run command's documentation (via '%run?' or
2822 in Sec. magic_ for more details, including how to control where pdb
2823 will stop execution first.
2824
2825 For more information on the use of the pdb debugger, read the included
2826 pdb.doc file (part of the standard Python distribution). On a stock
2827 Linux system it is located at /usr/lib/python2.3/pdb.doc, but the
2828 easiest way to read it is by using the help() function of the pdb module
2829 as follows (in an IPython prompt):
2830
2831 In [1]: import pdb
2832 In [2]: pdb.help()
2833
2834 This will load the pdb.doc document in a file viewer for you automatically.
2835
2836
2837 Automatic invocation of pdb on exceptions
2838 -----------------------------------------
2839
2840 IPython, if started with the -pdb option (or if the option is set in
2841 your rc file) can call the Python pdb debugger every time your code
2842 triggers an uncaught exception. This feature
2843 can also be toggled at any time with the %pdb magic command. This can be
2844 extremely useful in order to find the origin of subtle bugs, because pdb
2845 opens up at the point in your code which triggered the exception, and
2846 while your program is at this point 'dead', all the data is still
2847 available and you can walk up and down the stack frame and understand
2848 the origin of the problem.
2849
2850 Furthermore, you can use these debugging facilities both with the
2851 embedded IPython mode and without IPython at all. For an embedded shell
2852 (see sec. Embedding_), simply call the constructor with
2853 '-pdb' in the argument string and automatically pdb will be called if an
2854 uncaught exception is triggered by your code.
2855
2856 For stand-alone use of the feature in your programs which do not use
2857 IPython at all, put the following lines toward the top of your 'main'
2858 routine::
2859
2860 import sys,IPython.ultraTB
2861 sys.excepthook = IPython.ultraTB.FormattedTB(mode='Verbose',
2862 color_scheme='Linux', call_pdb=1)
2863
2864 The mode keyword can be either 'Verbose' or 'Plain', giving either very
2865 detailed or normal tracebacks respectively. The color_scheme keyword can
2866 be one of 'NoColor', 'Linux' (default) or 'LightBG'. These are the same
2867 options which can be set in IPython with -colors and -xmode.
2868
2869 This will give any of your programs detailed, colored tracebacks with
2870 automatic invocation of pdb.
2871
2872
2873 Extensions for syntax processing
2874 ================================
2875
2876 This isn't for the faint of heart, because the potential for breaking
2877 things is quite high. But it can be a very powerful and useful feature.
2878 In a nutshell, you can redefine the way IPython processes the user input
2879 line to accept new, special extensions to the syntax without needing to
2880 change any of IPython's own code.
2881
2882 In the IPython/Extensions directory you will find some examples
2883 supplied, which we will briefly describe now. These can be used 'as is'
2884 (and both provide very useful functionality), or you can use them as a
2885 starting point for writing your own extensions.
2886
2887
2888 Pasting of code starting with '>>> ' or '... '
2889 ----------------------------------------------
2890
2891 In the python tutorial it is common to find code examples which have
2892 been taken from real python sessions. The problem with those is that all
2893 the lines begin with either '>>> ' or '... ', which makes it impossible
2894 to paste them all at once. One must instead do a line by line manual
2895 copying, carefully removing the leading extraneous characters.
2896
2897 This extension identifies those starting characters and removes them
2898 from the input automatically, so that one can paste multi-line examples
2899 directly into IPython, saving a lot of time. Please look at the file
2900 InterpreterPasteInput.py in the IPython/Extensions directory for details
2901 on how this is done.
2902
2903 IPython comes with a special profile enabling this feature, called
2904 tutorial. Simply start IPython via 'ipython -p tutorial' and the feature
2905 will be available. In a normal IPython session you can activate the
2906 feature by importing the corresponding module with:
2907 In [1]: import IPython.Extensions.InterpreterPasteInput
2908
2909 The following is a 'screenshot' of how things work when this extension
2910 is on, copying an example from the standard tutorial::
2911
2912 IPython profile: tutorial
2913
2914 *** Pasting of code with ">>>" or "..." has been enabled.
2915
2916 In [1]: >>> def fib2(n): # return Fibonacci series up to n
2917 ...: ... """Return a list containing the Fibonacci series up to
2918 n."""
2919 ...: ... result = []
2920 ...: ... a, b = 0, 1
2921 ...: ... while b < n:
2922 ...: ... result.append(b) # see below
2923 ...: ... a, b = b, a+b
2924 ...: ... return result
2925 ...:
2926
2927 In [2]: fib2(10)
2928 Out[2]: [1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8]
2929
2930 Note that as currently written, this extension does not recognize
2931 IPython's prompts for pasting. Those are more complicated, since the
2932 user can change them very easily, they involve numbers and can vary in
2933 length. One could however extract all the relevant information from the
2934 IPython instance and build an appropriate regular expression. This is
2935 left as an exercise for the reader.
2936
2937
2938 Input of physical quantities with units
2939 ---------------------------------------
2940
2941 The module PhysicalQInput allows a simplified form of input for physical
2942 quantities with units. This file is meant to be used in conjunction with
2943 the PhysicalQInteractive module (in the same directory) and
2944 Physics.PhysicalQuantities from Konrad Hinsen's ScientificPython
2945 (http://dirac.cnrs-orleans.fr/ScientificPython/).
2946
2947 The Physics.PhysicalQuantities module defines PhysicalQuantity objects,
2948 but these must be declared as instances of a class. For example, to
2949 define v as a velocity of 3 m/s, normally you would write::
2950
2951 In [1]: v = PhysicalQuantity(3,'m/s')
2952
2953 Using the PhysicalQ_Input extension this can be input instead as:
2954 In [1]: v = 3 m/s
2955 which is much more convenient for interactive use (even though it is
2956 blatantly invalid Python syntax).
2957
2958 The physics profile supplied with IPython (enabled via 'ipython -p
2959 physics') uses these extensions, which you can also activate with:
2960
2961 from math import * # math MUST be imported BEFORE PhysicalQInteractive
2962 from IPython.Extensions.PhysicalQInteractive import *
2963 import IPython.Extensions.PhysicalQInput
2964
2965
2966 Threading support
2967 =================
2968
2969 WARNING: The threading support is still somewhat experimental, and it
2970 has only seen reasonable testing under Linux. Threaded code is
2971 particularly tricky to debug, and it tends to show extremely
2972 platform-dependent behavior. Since I only have access to Linux machines,
2973 I will have to rely on user's experiences and assistance for this area
2974 of IPython to improve under other platforms.
2975
2976 IPython, via the -gthread , -qthread, -q4thread and -wthread options
2977 (described in Sec. `Threading options`_), can run in
2978 multithreaded mode to support pyGTK, Qt3, Qt4 and WXPython applications
2979 respectively. These GUI toolkits need to control the python main loop of
2980 execution, so under a normal Python interpreter, starting a pyGTK, Qt3,
2981 Qt4 or WXPython application will immediately freeze the shell.
2982
2983 IPython, with one of these options (you can only use one at a time),
2984 separates the graphical loop and IPython's code execution run into
2985 different threads. This allows you to test interactively (with %run, for
2986 example) your GUI code without blocking.
2987
2988 A nice mini-tutorial on using IPython along with the Qt Designer
2989 application is available at the SciPy wiki:
2990 http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook/Matplotlib/Qt_with_IPython_and_Designer.
2991
2992
2993 Tk issues
2994 ---------
2995
2996 As indicated in Sec. `Threading options`_, a special -tk option is
2997 provided to try and allow Tk graphical applications to coexist
2998 interactively with WX, Qt or GTK ones. Whether this works at all,
2999 however, is very platform and configuration dependent. Please
3000 experiment with simple test cases before committing to using this
3001 combination of Tk and GTK/Qt/WX threading in a production environment.
3002
3003
3004 I/O pitfalls
3005 ------------
3006
3007 Be mindful that the Python interpreter switches between threads every
3008 $N$ bytecodes, where the default value as of Python 2.3 is $N=100.$ This
3009 value can be read by using the sys.getcheckinterval() function, and it
3010 can be reset via sys.setcheckinterval(N). This switching of threads can
3011 cause subtly confusing effects if one of your threads is doing file I/O.
3012 In text mode, most systems only flush file buffers when they encounter a
3013 '\n'. An instruction as simple as::
3014
3015 print >> filehandle, ''hello world''
3016
3017 actually consists of several bytecodes, so it is possible that the
3018 newline does not reach your file before the next thread switch.
3019 Similarly, if you are writing to a file in binary mode, the file won't
3020 be flushed until the buffer fills, and your other thread may see
3021 apparently truncated files.
3022
3023 For this reason, if you are using IPython's thread support and have (for
3024 example) a GUI application which will read data generated by files
3025 written to from the IPython thread, the safest approach is to open all
3026 of your files in unbuffered mode (the third argument to the file/open
3027 function is the buffering value)::
3028
3029 filehandle = open(filename,mode,0)
3030
3031 This is obviously a brute force way of avoiding race conditions with the
3032 file buffering. If you want to do it cleanly, and you have a resource
3033 which is being shared by the interactive IPython loop and your GUI
3034 thread, you should really handle it with thread locking and
3035 syncrhonization properties. The Python documentation discusses these.
3036
3037 .. _Interactive demos:
3038
3039 Interactive demos with IPython
3040 ==============================
3041
3042 IPython ships with a basic system for running scripts interactively in
3043 sections, useful when presenting code to audiences. A few tags embedded
3044 in comments (so that the script remains valid Python code) divide a file
3045 into separate blocks, and the demo can be run one block at a time, with
3046 IPython printing (with syntax highlighting) the block before executing
3047 it, and returning to the interactive prompt after each block. The
3048 interactive namespace is updated after each block is run with the
3049 contents of the demo's namespace.
3050
3051 This allows you to show a piece of code, run it and then execute
3052 interactively commands based on the variables just created. Once you
3053 want to continue, you simply execute the next block of the demo. The
3054 following listing shows the markup necessary for dividing a script into
3055 sections for execution as a demo::
3056
3057
3058 """A simple interactive demo to illustrate the use of IPython's Demo class.
3059
3060 Any python script can be run as a demo, but that does little more than showing
3061 it on-screen, syntax-highlighted in one shot. If you add a little simple
3062 markup, you can stop at specified intervals and return to the ipython prompt,
3063 resuming execution later.
3064 """
3065
3066 print 'Hello, welcome to an interactive IPython demo.'
3067 print 'Executing this block should require confirmation before proceeding,'
3068 print 'unless auto_all has been set to true in the demo object'
3069
3070 # The mark below defines a block boundary, which is a point where IPython will
3071 # stop execution and return to the interactive prompt.
3072 # Note that in actual interactive execution,
3073 # <demo> --- stop ---
3074
3075 x = 1
3076 y = 2
3077
3078 # <demo> --- stop ---
3079
3080 # the mark below makes this block as silent
3081 # <demo> silent
3082
3083 print 'This is a silent block, which gets executed but not printed.'
3084
3085 # <demo> --- stop ---
3086 # <demo> auto
3087 print 'This is an automatic block.'
3088 print 'It is executed without asking for confirmation, but printed.'
3089 z = x+y
3090
3091 print 'z=',x
3092
3093 # <demo> --- stop ---
3094 # This is just another normal block.
3095 print 'z is now:', z
3096
3097 print 'bye!'
3098
3099 In order to run a file as a demo, you must first make a Demo object out
3100 of it. If the file is named myscript.py, the following code will make a
3101 demo::
3102
3103 from IPython.demo import Demo
3104
3105 mydemo = Demo('myscript.py')
3106
3107 This creates the mydemo object, whose blocks you run one at a time by
3108 simply calling the object with no arguments. If you have autocall active
3109 in IPython (the default), all you need to do is type::
3110
3111 mydemo
3112
3113 and IPython will call it, executing each block. Demo objects can be
3114 restarted, you can move forward or back skipping blocks, re-execute the
3115 last block, etc. Simply use the Tab key on a demo object to see its
3116 methods, and call '?' on them to see their docstrings for more usage
3117 details. In addition, the demo module itself contains a comprehensive
3118 docstring, which you can access via::
3119
3120 from IPython import demo
3121
3122 demo?
3123
3124 Limitations: It is important to note that these demos are limited to
3125 fairly simple uses. In particular, you can not put division marks in
3126 indented code (loops, if statements, function definitions, etc.)
3127 Supporting something like this would basically require tracking the
3128 internal execution state of the Python interpreter, so only top-level
3129 divisions are allowed. If you want to be able to open an IPython
3130 instance at an arbitrary point in a program, you can use IPython's
3131 embedding facilities, described in detail in Sec. 9
3132
3133
3134 .. _Matplotlib support:
3135
3136 Plotting with matplotlib
3137 ========================
3138
3139 The matplotlib library (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net
3140 http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net) provides high quality 2D plotting for
3141 Python. Matplotlib can produce plots on screen using a variety of GUI
3142 toolkits, including Tk, GTK and WXPython. It also provides a number of
3143 commands useful for scientific computing, all with a syntax compatible
3144 with that of the popular Matlab program.
3145
3146 IPython accepts the special option -pylab (Sec. `Command line
3147 options`_). This configures it to support matplotlib, honoring the
3148 settings in the .matplotlibrc file. IPython will detect the user's
3149 choice of matplotlib GUI backend, and automatically select the proper
3150 threading model to prevent blocking. It also sets matplotlib in
3151 interactive mode and modifies %run slightly, so that any
3152 matplotlib-based script can be executed using %run and the final
3153 show() command does not block the interactive shell.
3154
3155 The -pylab option must be given first in order for IPython to
3156 configure its threading mode. However, you can still issue other
3157 options afterwards. This allows you to have a matplotlib-based
3158 environment customized with additional modules using the standard
3159 IPython profile mechanism (Sec. Profiles_): ''ipython -pylab -p
3160 myprofile'' will load the profile defined in ipythonrc-myprofile after
3161 configuring matplotlib.
3162
3163
@@ -0,0 +1,284 b''
1 .. _ipython_as_shell:
2
3 =========================
4 IPython as a system shell
5 =========================
6
7 Overview
8 ========
9
10 The 'sh' profile optimizes IPython for system shell usage. Apart from
11 certain job control functionality that is present in unix (ctrl+z does
12 "suspend"), the sh profile should provide you with most of the
13 functionality you use daily in system shell, and more. Invoke IPython
14 in 'sh' profile by doing 'ipython -p sh', or (in win32) by launching
15 the "pysh" shortcut in start menu.
16
17 If you want to use the features of sh profile as your defaults (which
18 might be a good idea if you use other profiles a lot of the time but
19 still want the convenience of sh profile), add ``import ipy_profile_sh``
20 to your ~/.ipython/ipy_user_conf.py.
21
22 The 'sh' profile is different from the default profile in that:
23
24 * Prompt shows the current directory
25 * Spacing between prompts and input is more compact (no padding with
26 empty lines). The startup banner is more compact as well.
27 * System commands are directly available (in alias table) without
28 requesting %rehashx - however, if you install new programs along
29 your PATH, you might want to run %rehashx to update the persistent
30 alias table
31 * Macros are stored in raw format by default. That is, instead of
32 '_ip.system("cat foo"), the macro will contain text 'cat foo')
33 * Autocall is in full mode
34 * Calling "up" does "cd .."
35
36 The 'sh' profile is different from the now-obsolete (and unavailable)
37 'pysh' profile in that:
38
39 * '$$var = command' and '$var = command' syntax is not supported
40 * anymore. Use 'var = !command' instead (incidentally, this is
41 * available in all IPython profiles). Note that !!command *will*
42 * work.
43
44 Aliases
45 =======
46
47 All of your $PATH has been loaded as IPython aliases, so you should be
48 able to type any normal system command and have it executed. See
49 %alias? and %unalias? for details on the alias facilities. See also
50 %rehashx? for details on the mechanism used to load $PATH.
51
52
53 Directory management
54 ====================
55
56 Since each command passed by ipython to the underlying system is executed
57 in a subshell which exits immediately, you can NOT use !cd to navigate
58 the filesystem.
59
60 IPython provides its own builtin '%cd' magic command to move in the
61 filesystem (the % is not required with automagic on). It also maintains
62 a list of visited directories (use %dhist to see it) and allows direct
63 switching to any of them. Type 'cd?' for more details.
64
65 %pushd, %popd and %dirs are provided for directory stack handling.
66
67
68 Enabled extensions
69 ==================
70
71 Some extensions, listed below, are enabled as default in this profile.
72
73 envpersist
74 ----------
75
76 %env can be used to "remember" environment variable manipulations. Examples::
77
78 %env - Show all environment variables
79 %env VISUAL=jed - set VISUAL to jed
80 %env PATH+=;/foo - append ;foo to PATH
81 %env PATH+=;/bar - also append ;bar to PATH
82 %env PATH-=/wbin; - prepend /wbin; to PATH
83 %env -d VISUAL - forget VISUAL persistent val
84 %env -p - print all persistent env modifications
85
86 ipy_which
87 ---------
88
89 %which magic command. Like 'which' in unix, but knows about ipython aliases.
90
91 Example::
92
93 [C:/ipython]|14> %which st
94 st -> start .
95 [C:/ipython]|15> %which d
96 d -> dir /w /og /on
97 [C:/ipython]|16> %which cp
98 cp -> cp
99 == c:\bin\cp.exe
100 c:\bin\cp.exe
101
102 ipy_app_completers
103 ------------------
104
105 Custom tab completers for some apps like svn, hg, bzr, apt-get. Try 'apt-get install <TAB>' in debian/ubuntu.
106
107 ipy_rehashdir
108 -------------
109
110 Allows you to add system command aliases for commands that are not along your path. Let's say that you just installed Putty and want to be able to invoke it without adding it to path, you can create the alias for it with rehashdir::
111
112 [~]|22> cd c:/opt/PuTTY/
113 [c:opt/PuTTY]|23> rehashdir .
114 <23> ['pageant', 'plink', 'pscp', 'psftp', 'putty', 'puttygen', 'unins000']
115
116 Now, you can execute any of those commams directly::
117
118 [c:opt/PuTTY]|24> cd
119 [~]|25> putty
120
121 (the putty window opens).
122
123 If you want to store the alias so that it will always be available, do '%store putty'. If you want to %store all these aliases persistently, just do it in a for loop::
124
125 [~]|27> for a in _23:
126 |..> %store $a
127 |..>
128 |..>
129 Alias stored: pageant (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\pageant.exe')
130 Alias stored: plink (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\plink.exe')
131 Alias stored: pscp (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\pscp.exe')
132 Alias stored: psftp (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\psftp.exe')
133 ...
134
135 mglob
136 -----
137
138 Provide the magic function %mglob, which makes it easier (than the 'find' command) to collect (possibly recursive) file lists. Examples::
139
140 [c:/ipython]|9> mglob *.py
141 [c:/ipython]|10> mglob *.py rec:*.txt
142 [c:/ipython]|19> workfiles = %mglob !.svn/ !.hg/ !*_Data/ !*.bak rec:.
143
144 Note that the first 2 calls will put the file list in result history (_, _9, _10), and the last one will assign it to 'workfiles'.
145
146
147 Prompt customization
148 ====================
149
150 The sh profile uses the following prompt configurations::
151
152 o.prompt_in1= r'\C_LightBlue[\C_LightCyan\Y2\C_LightBlue]\C_Green|\#>'
153 o.prompt_in2= r'\C_Green|\C_LightGreen\D\C_Green>'
154
155 You can change the prompt configuration to your liking by editing
156 ipy_user_conf.py.
157
158 String lists
159 ============
160
161 String lists (IPython.genutils.SList) are handy way to process output
162 from system commands. They are produced by ``var = !cmd`` syntax.
163
164 First, we acquire the output of 'ls -l'::
165
166 [Q:doc/examples]|2> lines = !ls -l
167 ==
168 ['total 23',
169 '-rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1163 Sep 30 2006 example-demo.py',
170 '-rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1927 Sep 30 2006 example-embed-short.py',
171 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 4606 Sep 1 17:15 example-embed.py',
172 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 1017 Sep 30 2006 example-gnuplot.py',
173 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 339 Jun 11 18:01 extension.py',
174 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 113 Dec 20 2006 seteditor.py',
175 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 245 Dec 12 2006 seteditor.pyc']
176
177 Now, let's take a look at the contents of 'lines' (the first number is
178 the list element number)::
179
180 [Q:doc/examples]|3> lines
181 <3> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() available). Value:
182
183 0: total 23
184 1: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1163 Sep 30 2006 example-demo.py
185 2: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1927 Sep 30 2006 example-embed-short.py
186 3: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 4606 Sep 1 17:15 example-embed.py
187 4: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 1017 Sep 30 2006 example-gnuplot.py
188 5: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 339 Jun 11 18:01 extension.py
189 6: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 113 Dec 20 2006 seteditor.py
190 7: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 245 Dec 12 2006 seteditor.pyc
191
192 Now, let's filter out the 'embed' lines::
193
194 [Q:doc/examples]|4> l2 = lines.grep('embed',prune=1)
195 [Q:doc/examples]|5> l2
196 <5> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() available). Value:
197
198 0: total 23
199 1: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1163 Sep 30 2006 example-demo.py
200 2: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 1017 Sep 30 2006 example-gnuplot.py
201 3: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 339 Jun 11 18:01 extension.py
202 4: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 113 Dec 20 2006 seteditor.py
203 5: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 245 Dec 12 2006 seteditor.pyc
204
205 Now, we want strings having just file names and permissions::
206
207 [Q:doc/examples]|6> l2.fields(8,0)
208 <6> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() available). Value:
209
210 0: total
211 1: example-demo.py -rw-rw-rw-
212 2: example-gnuplot.py -rwxrwxrwx
213 3: extension.py -rwxrwxrwx
214 4: seteditor.py -rwxrwxrwx
215 5: seteditor.pyc -rwxrwxrwx
216
217 Note how the line with 'total' does not raise IndexError.
218
219 If you want to split these (yielding lists), call fields() without
220 arguments::
221
222 [Q:doc/examples]|7> _.fields()
223 <7>
224 [['total'],
225 ['example-demo.py', '-rw-rw-rw-'],
226 ['example-gnuplot.py', '-rwxrwxrwx'],
227 ['extension.py', '-rwxrwxrwx'],
228 ['seteditor.py', '-rwxrwxrwx'],
229 ['seteditor.pyc', '-rwxrwxrwx']]
230
231 If you want to pass these separated with spaces to a command (typical
232 for lists if files), use the .s property::
233
234
235 [Q:doc/examples]|13> files = l2.fields(8).s
236 [Q:doc/examples]|14> files
237 <14> 'example-demo.py example-gnuplot.py extension.py seteditor.py seteditor.pyc'
238 [Q:doc/examples]|15> ls $files
239 example-demo.py example-gnuplot.py extension.py seteditor.py seteditor.pyc
240
241 SLists are inherited from normal python lists, so every list method is
242 available::
243
244 [Q:doc/examples]|21> lines.append('hey')
245
246
247 Real world example: remove all files outside version control
248 ============================================================
249
250 First, capture output of "hg status"::
251
252 [Q:/ipython]|28> out = !hg status
253 ==
254 ['M IPython\\Extensions\\ipy_kitcfg.py',
255 'M IPython\\Extensions\\ipy_rehashdir.py',
256 ...
257 '? build\\lib\\IPython\\Debugger.py',
258 '? build\\lib\\IPython\\Extensions\\InterpreterExec.py',
259 '? build\\lib\\IPython\\Extensions\\InterpreterPasteInput.py',
260 ...
261
262 (lines starting with ? are not under version control).
263
264 ::
265
266 [Q:/ipython]|35> junk = out.grep(r'^\?').fields(1)
267 [Q:/ipython]|36> junk
268 <36> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() availab
269 ...
270 10: build\bdist.win32\winexe\temp\_ctypes.py
271 11: build\bdist.win32\winexe\temp\_hashlib.py
272 12: build\bdist.win32\winexe\temp\_socket.py
273
274 Now we can just remove these files by doing 'rm $junk.s'.
275
276 The .s, .n, .p properties
277 =========================
278
279 The '.s' property returns one string where lines are separated by
280 single space (for convenient passing to system commands). The '.n'
281 property return one string where the lines are separated by '\n'
282 (i.e. the original output of the function). If the items in string
283 list are file names, '.p' can be used to get a list of "path" objects
284 for convenient file manipulation. No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,315 b''
1 .. _tutorial:
2
3 ======================
4 Quick IPython tutorial
5 ======================
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 IPython can be used as an improved replacement for the Python prompt,
10 and for that you don't really need to read any more of this manual. But
11 in this section we'll try to summarize a few tips on how to make the
12 most effective use of it for everyday Python development, highlighting
13 things you might miss in the rest of the manual (which is getting long).
14 We'll give references to parts in the manual which provide more detail
15 when appropriate.
16
17 The following article by Jeremy Jones provides an introductory tutorial
18 about IPython: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2005/01/27/ipython.html
19
20 Highlights
21 ==========
22
23 Tab completion
24 --------------
25
26 TAB-completion, especially for attributes, is a convenient way to explore the
27 structure of any object you're dealing with. Simply type object_name.<TAB>
28 and a list of the object's attributes will be printed (see readline_ for
29 more). Tab completion also works on file and directory names, which combined
30 with IPython's alias system allows you to do from within IPython many of the
31 things you normally would need the system shell for.
32
33 Explore your objects
34 --------------------
35
36 Typing object_name? will print all sorts of details about any object,
37 including docstrings, function definition lines (for call arguments) and
38 constructor details for classes. The magic commands %pdoc, %pdef, %psource
39 and %pfile will respectively print the docstring, function definition line,
40 full source code and the complete file for any object (when they can be
41 found). If automagic is on (it is by default), you don't need to type the '%'
42 explicitly. See sec. `dynamic object information`_ for more.
43
44 The `%run` magic command
45 ------------------------
46
47 The %run magic command allows you to run any python script and load all of
48 its data directly into the interactive namespace. Since the file is re-read
49 from disk each time, changes you make to it are reflected immediately (in
50 contrast to the behavior of import). I rarely use import for code I am
51 testing, relying on %run instead. See magic_ section for more on this and
52 other magic commands, or type the name of any magic command and ? to get
53 details on it. See also sec. dreload_ for a recursive reload command. %run
54 also has special flags for timing the execution of your scripts (-t) and for
55 executing them under the control of either Python's pdb debugger (-d) or
56 profiler (-p). With all of these, %run can be used as the main tool for
57 efficient interactive development of code which you write in your editor of
58 choice.
59
60 Debug a Python script
61 ---------------------
62
63 Use the Python debugger, pdb. The %pdb command allows you to toggle on and
64 off the automatic invocation of an IPython-enhanced pdb debugger (with
65 coloring, tab completion and more) at any uncaught exception. The advantage
66 of this is that pdb starts inside the function where the exception occurred,
67 with all data still available. You can print variables, see code, execute
68 statements and even walk up and down the call stack to track down the true
69 source of the problem (which often is many layers in the stack above where
70 the exception gets triggered). Running programs with %run and pdb active can
71 be an efficient to develop and debug code, in many cases eliminating the need
72 for print statements or external debugging tools. I often simply put a 1/0 in
73 a place where I want to take a look so that pdb gets called, quickly view
74 whatever variables I need to or test various pieces of code and then remove
75 the 1/0. Note also that '%run -d' activates pdb and automatically sets
76 initial breakpoints for you to step through your code, watch variables, etc.
77 See Sec. `Output caching`_ for details.
78
79 Use the output cache
80 --------------------
81
82 All output results are automatically stored in a global dictionary named Out
83 and variables named _1, _2, etc. alias them. For example, the result of input
84 line 4 is available either as Out[4] or as _4. Additionally, three variables
85 named _, __ and ___ are always kept updated with the for the last three
86 results. This allows you to recall any previous result and further use it for
87 new calculations. See Sec. `Output caching`_ for more.
88
89 Suppress output
90 ---------------
91
92 Put a ';' at the end of a line to suppress the printing of output. This is
93 useful when doing calculations which generate long output you are not
94 interested in seeing. The _* variables and the Out[] list do get updated with
95 the contents of the output, even if it is not printed. You can thus still
96 access the generated results this way for further processing.
97
98 Input cache
99 -----------
100
101 A similar system exists for caching input. All input is stored in a global
102 list called In , so you can re-execute lines 22 through 28 plus line 34 by
103 typing 'exec In[22:29]+In[34]' (using Python slicing notation). If you need
104 to execute the same set of lines often, you can assign them to a macro with
105 the %macro function. See sec. `Input caching`_ for more.
106
107 Use your input history
108 ----------------------
109
110 The %hist command can show you all previous input, without line numbers if
111 desired (option -n) so you can directly copy and paste code either back in
112 IPython or in a text editor. You can also save all your history by turning on
113 logging via %logstart; these logs can later be either reloaded as IPython
114 sessions or used as code for your programs.
115
116 Define your own system aliases
117 ------------------------------
118
119 Even though IPython gives you access to your system shell via the ! prefix,
120 it is convenient to have aliases to the system commands you use most often.
121 This allows you to work seamlessly from inside IPython with the same commands
122 you are used to in your system shell. IPython comes with some pre-defined
123 aliases and a complete system for changing directories, both via a stack (see
124 %pushd, %popd and %dhist) and via direct %cd. The latter keeps a history of
125 visited directories and allows you to go to any previously visited one.
126
127 Call system shell commands
128 --------------------------
129
130 Use Python to manipulate the results of system commands. The '!!' special
131 syntax, and the %sc and %sx magic commands allow you to capture system output
132 into Python variables.
133
134 Use Python variables when calling the shell
135 -------------------------------------------
136
137 Expand python variables when calling the shell (either via '!' and '!!' or
138 via aliases) by prepending a $ in front of them. You can also expand complete
139 python expressions. See `System shell access`_ for more.
140
141 Use profiles
142 ------------
143
144 Use profiles to maintain different configurations (modules to load, function
145 definitions, option settings) for particular tasks. You can then have
146 customized versions of IPython for specific purposes. See sec. profiles_ for
147 more.
148
149
150 Embed IPython in your programs
151 ------------------------------
152
153 A few lines of code are enough to load a complete IPython inside your own
154 programs, giving you the ability to work with your data interactively after
155 automatic processing has been completed. See sec. embedding_ for more.
156
157 Use the Python profiler
158 -----------------------
159
160 When dealing with performance issues, the %run command with a -p option
161 allows you to run complete programs under the control of the Python profiler.
162 The %prun command does a similar job for single Python expressions (like
163 function calls).
164
165 Use IPython to present interactive demos
166 ----------------------------------------
167
168 Use the IPython.demo.Demo class to load any Python script as an interactive
169 demo. With a minimal amount of simple markup, you can control the execution
170 of the script, stopping as needed. See sec. `interactive demos`_ for more.
171
172 Run doctests
173 ------------
174
175 Run your doctests from within IPython for development and debugging. The
176 special %doctest_mode command toggles a mode where the prompt, output and
177 exceptions display matches as closely as possible that of the default Python
178 interpreter. In addition, this mode allows you to directly paste in code that
179 contains leading '>>>' prompts, even if they have extra leading whitespace
180 (as is common in doctest files). This combined with the '%history -tn' call
181 to see your translated history (with these extra prompts removed and no line
182 numbers) allows for an easy doctest workflow, where you can go from doctest
183 to interactive execution to pasting into valid Python code as needed.
184
185 Source code handling tips
186 =========================
187
188 IPython is a line-oriented program, without full control of the
189 terminal. Therefore, it doesn't support true multiline editing. However,
190 it has a number of useful tools to help you in dealing effectively with
191 more complex editing.
192
193 The %edit command gives a reasonable approximation of multiline editing,
194 by invoking your favorite editor on the spot. IPython will execute the
195 code you type in there as if it were typed interactively. Type %edit?
196 for the full details on the edit command.
197
198 If you have typed various commands during a session, which you'd like to
199 reuse, IPython provides you with a number of tools. Start by using %hist
200 to see your input history, so you can see the line numbers of all input.
201 Let us say that you'd like to reuse lines 10 through 20, plus lines 24
202 and 28. All the commands below can operate on these with the syntax::
203
204 %command 10-20 24 28
205
206 where the command given can be:
207
208 * %macro <macroname>: this stores the lines into a variable which,
209 when called at the prompt, re-executes the input. Macros can be
210 edited later using '%edit macroname', and they can be stored
211 persistently across sessions with '%store macroname' (the storage
212 system is per-profile). The combination of quick macros,
213 persistent storage and editing, allows you to easily refine
214 quick-and-dirty interactive input into permanent utilities, always
215 available both in IPython and as files for general reuse.
216 * %edit: this will open a text editor with those lines pre-loaded
217 for further modification. It will then execute the resulting
218 file's contents as if you had typed it at the prompt.
219 * %save <filename>: this saves the lines directly to a named file on
220 disk.
221
222 While %macro saves input lines into memory for interactive re-execution,
223 sometimes you'd like to save your input directly to a file. The %save
224 magic does this: its input sytnax is the same as %macro, but it saves
225 your input directly to a Python file. Note that the %logstart command
226 also saves input, but it logs all input to disk (though you can
227 temporarily suspend it and reactivate it with %logoff/%logon); %save
228 allows you to select which lines of input you need to save.
229
230
231 Lightweight 'version control'
232 =============================
233
234 When you call %edit with no arguments, IPython opens an empty editor
235 with a temporary file, and it returns the contents of your editing
236 session as a string variable. Thanks to IPython's output caching
237 mechanism, this is automatically stored::
238
239 In [1]: %edit
240
241 IPython will make a temporary file named: /tmp/ipython_edit_yR-HCN.py
242
243 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
244
245 hello - this is a temporary file
246
247 Out[1]: "print 'hello - this is a temporary file'\n"
248
249 Now, if you call '%edit -p', IPython tries to open an editor with the
250 same data as the last time you used %edit. So if you haven't used %edit
251 in the meantime, this same contents will reopen; however, it will be
252 done in a new file. This means that if you make changes and you later
253 want to find an old version, you can always retrieve it by using its
254 output number, via '%edit _NN', where NN is the number of the output
255 prompt.
256
257 Continuing with the example above, this should illustrate this idea::
258
259 In [2]: edit -p
260
261 IPython will make a temporary file named: /tmp/ipython_edit_nA09Qk.py
262
263 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
264
265 hello - now I made some changes
266
267 Out[2]: "print 'hello - now I made some changes'\n"
268
269 In [3]: edit _1
270
271 IPython will make a temporary file named: /tmp/ipython_edit_gy6-zD.py
272
273 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
274
275 hello - this is a temporary file
276
277 IPython version control at work :)
278
279 Out[3]: "print 'hello - this is a temporary file'\nprint 'IPython version control at work :)'\n"
280
281
282 This section was written after a contribution by Alexander Belchenko on
283 the IPython user list.
284
285
286 Effective logging
287 =================
288
289 A very useful suggestion sent in by Robert Kern follows:
290
291 I recently happened on a nifty way to keep tidy per-project log files. I
292 made a profile for my project (which is called "parkfield")::
293
294 include ipythonrc
295
296 # cancel earlier logfile invocation:
297
298 logfile ''
299
300 execute import time
301
302 execute __cmd = '/Users/kern/research/logfiles/parkfield-%s.log rotate'
303
304 execute __IP.magic_logstart(__cmd % time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d'))
305
306 I also added a shell alias for convenience::
307
308 alias parkfield="ipython -pylab -profile parkfield"
309
310 Now I have a nice little directory with everything I ever type in,
311 organized by project and date.
312
313 Contribute your own: If you have your own favorite tip on using IPython
314 efficiently for a certain task (especially things which can't be done in
315 the normal Python interpreter), don't hesitate to send it!
@@ -0,0 +1,61 b''
1 .. _license:
2
3 =============================
4 License and Copyright
5 =============================
6
7 This files needs to be updated to reflect what the new COPYING.txt files says about our license and copyright!
8
9 IPython is released under the terms of the BSD license, whose general
10 form can be found at: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php. The full text of the
11 IPython license is reproduced below::
12
13 IPython is released under a BSD-type license.
14
15 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Fernando Perez
16 <fperez@colorado.edu>.
17
18 Copyright (c) 2001 Janko Hauser <jhauser@zscout.de> and
19 Nathaniel Gray <n8gray@caltech.edu>.
20
21 All rights reserved.
22
23 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
24 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
25 are met:
26
27 a. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
28 notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
29
30 b. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
31 notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
32 documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
33
34 c. Neither the name of the copyright holders nor the names of any
35 contributors to this software may be used to endorse or promote
36 products derived from this software without specific prior written
37 permission.
38
39 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
40 "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
41 LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
42 FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
43 REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
44 INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
45 BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
46 LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
47 CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
48 LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
49 ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
50 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
51
52 Individual authors are the holders of the copyright for their code and
53 are listed in each file.
54
55 Some files (DPyGetOpt.py, for example) may be licensed under different
56 conditions. Ultimately each file indicates clearly the conditions under
57 which its author/authors have decided to publish the code.
58
59 Versions of IPython up to and including 0.6.3 were released under the
60 GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), available at
61 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html. No newline at end of file
@@ -0,0 +1,189 b''
1 .. _overview:
2
3 ============
4 Introduction
5 ============
6
7 This is the official documentation for IPython 0.x series (i.e. what
8 we are used to refer to just as "IPython"). The original text of the
9 manual (most of which is still in place) has been authored by Fernando
10 Perez, but as recommended usage patterns and new features have
11 emerged, this manual has been updated to reflect that fact. Most of
12 the additions have been authored by Ville M. Vainio.
13
14 The manual has been generated from reStructuredText source markup with
15 Sphinx, which should make it much easier to keep it up-to-date in the
16 future. Some reST artifacts and bugs may still be apparent in the
17 documentation, but this should improve as the toolchain matures.
18
19 Overview
20 ========
21
22 One of Python's most useful features is its interactive interpreter.
23 This system allows very fast testing of ideas without the overhead of
24 creating test files as is typical in most programming languages.
25 However, the interpreter supplied with the standard Python distribution
26 is somewhat limited for extended interactive use.
27
28 IPython is a free software project (released under the BSD license)
29 which tries to:
30
31 1. Provide an interactive shell superior to Python's default. IPython
32 has many features for object introspection, system shell access,
33 and its own special command system for adding functionality when
34 working interactively. It tries to be a very efficient environment
35 both for Python code development and for exploration of problems
36 using Python objects (in situations like data analysis).
37 2. Serve as an embeddable, ready to use interpreter for your own
38 programs. IPython can be started with a single call from inside
39 another program, providing access to the current namespace. This
40 can be very useful both for debugging purposes and for situations
41 where a blend of batch-processing and interactive exploration are
42 needed.
43 3. Offer a flexible framework which can be used as the base
44 environment for other systems with Python as the underlying
45 language. Specifically scientific environments like Mathematica,
46 IDL and Matlab inspired its design, but similar ideas can be
47 useful in many fields.
48 4. Allow interactive testing of threaded graphical toolkits. IPython
49 has support for interactive, non-blocking control of GTK, Qt and
50 WX applications via special threading flags. The normal Python
51 shell can only do this for Tkinter applications.
52
53
54 Main features
55 -------------
56
57 * Dynamic object introspection. One can access docstrings, function
58 definition prototypes, source code, source files and other details
59 of any object accessible to the interpreter with a single
60 keystroke ('?', and using '??' provides additional detail).
61 * Searching through modules and namespaces with '*' wildcards, both
62 when using the '?' system and via the %psearch command.
63 * Completion in the local namespace, by typing TAB at the prompt.
64 This works for keywords, modules, methods, variables and files in the
65 current directory. This is supported via the readline library, and
66 full access to configuring readline's behavior is provided.
67 Custom completers can be implemented easily for different purposes
68 (system commands, magic arguments etc.)
69 * Numbered input/output prompts with command history (persistent
70 across sessions and tied to each profile), full searching in this
71 history and caching of all input and output.
72 * User-extensible 'magic' commands. A set of commands prefixed with
73 % is available for controlling IPython itself and provides
74 directory control, namespace information and many aliases to
75 common system shell commands.
76 * Alias facility for defining your own system aliases.
77 * Complete system shell access. Lines starting with ! are passed
78 directly to the system shell, and using !! or var = !cmd
79 captures shell output into python variables for further use.
80 * Background execution of Python commands in a separate thread.
81 IPython has an internal job manager called jobs, and a
82 conveninence backgrounding magic function called %bg.
83 * The ability to expand python variables when calling the system
84 shell. In a shell command, any python variable prefixed with $ is
85 expanded. A double $$ allows passing a literal $ to the shell (for
86 access to shell and environment variables like $PATH).
87 * Filesystem navigation, via a magic %cd command, along with a
88 persistent bookmark system (using %bookmark) for fast access to
89 frequently visited directories.
90 * A lightweight persistence framework via the %store command, which
91 allows you to save arbitrary Python variables. These get restored
92 automatically when your session restarts.
93 * Automatic indentation (optional) of code as you type (through the
94 readline library).
95 * Macro system for quickly re-executing multiple lines of previous
96 input with a single name. Macros can be stored persistently via
97 %store and edited via %edit.
98 * Session logging (you can then later use these logs as code in your
99 programs). Logs can optionally timestamp all input, and also store
100 session output (marked as comments, so the log remains valid
101 Python source code).
102 * Session restoring: logs can be replayed to restore a previous
103 session to the state where you left it.
104 * Verbose and colored exception traceback printouts. Easier to parse
105 visually, and in verbose mode they produce a lot of useful
106 debugging information (basically a terminal version of the cgitb
107 module).
108 * Auto-parentheses: callable objects can be executed without
109 parentheses: 'sin 3' is automatically converted to 'sin(3)'.
110 * Auto-quoting: using ',' or ';' as the first character forces
111 auto-quoting of the rest of the line: ',my_function a b' becomes
112 automatically 'my_function("a","b")', while ';my_function a b'
113 becomes 'my_function("a b")'.
114 * Extensible input syntax. You can define filters that pre-process
115 user input to simplify input in special situations. This allows
116 for example pasting multi-line code fragments which start with
117 '>>>' or '...' such as those from other python sessions or the
118 standard Python documentation.
119 * Flexible configuration system. It uses a configuration file which
120 allows permanent setting of all command-line options, module
121 loading, code and file execution. The system allows recursive file
122 inclusion, so you can have a base file with defaults and layers
123 which load other customizations for particular projects.
124 * Embeddable. You can call IPython as a python shell inside your own
125 python programs. This can be used both for debugging code or for
126 providing interactive abilities to your programs with knowledge
127 about the local namespaces (very useful in debugging and data
128 analysis situations).
129 * Easy debugger access. You can set IPython to call up an enhanced
130 version of the Python debugger (pdb) every time there is an
131 uncaught exception. This drops you inside the code which triggered
132 the exception with all the data live and it is possible to
133 navigate the stack to rapidly isolate the source of a bug. The
134 %run magic command -with the -d option- can run any script under
135 pdb's control, automatically setting initial breakpoints for you.
136 This version of pdb has IPython-specific improvements, including
137 tab-completion and traceback coloring support. For even easier
138 debugger access, try %debug after seeing an exception. winpdb is
139 also supported, see ipy_winpdb extension.
140 * Profiler support. You can run single statements (similar to
141 profile.run()) or complete programs under the profiler's control.
142 While this is possible with standard cProfile or profile modules,
143 IPython wraps this functionality with magic commands (see '%prun'
144 and '%run -p') convenient for rapid interactive work.
145 * Doctest support. The special %doctest_mode command toggles a mode
146 that allows you to paste existing doctests (with leading '>>>'
147 prompts and whitespace) and uses doctest-compatible prompts and
148 output, so you can use IPython sessions as doctest code.
149
150
151 Portability and Python requirements
152 -----------------------------------
153
154 Python requirements: IPython requires with Python version 2.3 or newer.
155 If you are still using Python 2.2 and can not upgrade, the last version
156 of IPython which worked with Python 2.2 was 0.6.15, so you will have to
157 use that.
158
159 IPython is developed under Linux, but it should work in any reasonable
160 Unix-type system (tested OK under Solaris and the BSD family, for which
161 a port exists thanks to Dryice Liu).
162
163 Mac OS X: it works, apparently without any problems (thanks to Jim Boyle
164 at Lawrence Livermore for the information). Thanks to Andrea Riciputi,
165 Fink support is available.
166
167 CygWin: it works mostly OK, though some users have reported problems
168 with prompt coloring. No satisfactory solution to this has been found so
169 far, you may want to disable colors permanently in the ipythonrc
170 configuration file if you experience problems. If you have proper color
171 support under cygwin, please post to the IPython mailing list so this
172 issue can be resolved for all users.
173
174 Windows: it works well under Windows Vista/XP/2k, and I suspect NT should
175 behave similarly. Section "Installation under windows" describes
176 installation details for Windows, including some additional tools needed
177 on this platform.
178
179 Windows 9x support is present, and has been reported to work fine (at
180 least on WinME).
181
182 Location
183 --------
184
185 IPython is generously hosted at http://ipython.scipy.org by the
186 Enthought, Inc and the SciPy project. This site offers downloads,
187 subversion access, mailing lists and a bug tracking system. I am very
188 grateful to Enthought (http://www.enthought.com) and all of the SciPy
189 team for their contribution. No newline at end of file
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1 ====================================
2 Using IPython for Parallel computing
3 ====================================
4
5 User Documentation
6 ==================
7
8 .. toctree::
9 :maxdepth: 2
10
11 parallel_intro.txt
12 parallel_multiengine.txt
13 parallel_task.txt
14 parallel_mpi.txt
15
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1 .. _ip1par:
2
3 ======================================
4 Using IPython for parallel computing
5 ======================================
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 Introduction
10 ============
11
12 This file gives an overview of IPython. IPython has a sophisticated and
13 powerful architecture for parallel and distributed computing. This
14 architecture abstracts out parallelism in a very general way, which
15 enables IPython to support many different styles of parallelism
16 including:
17
18 * Single program, multiple data (SPMD) parallelism.
19 * Multiple program, multiple data (MPMD) parallelism.
20 * Message passing using ``MPI``.
21 * Task farming.
22 * Data parallel.
23 * Combinations of these approaches.
24 * Custom user defined approaches.
25
26 Most importantly, IPython enables all types of parallel applications to
27 be developed, executed, debugged and monitored *interactively*. Hence,
28 the ``I`` in IPython. The following are some example usage cases for IPython:
29
30 * Quickly parallelize algorithms that are embarrassingly parallel
31 using a number of simple approaches. Many simple things can be
32 parallelized interactively in one or two lines of code.
33 * Steer traditional MPI applications on a supercomputer from an
34 IPython session on your laptop.
35 * Analyze and visualize large datasets (that could be remote and/or
36 distributed) interactively using IPython and tools like
37 matplotlib/TVTK.
38 * Develop, test and debug new parallel algorithms
39 (that may use MPI) interactively.
40 * Tie together multiple MPI jobs running on different systems into
41 one giant distributed and parallel system.
42 * Start a parallel job on your cluster and then have a remote
43 collaborator connect to it and pull back data into their
44 local IPython session for plotting and analysis.
45 * Run a set of tasks on a set of CPUs using dynamic load balancing.
46
47 Architecture overview
48 =====================
49
50 The IPython architecture consists of three components:
51
52 * The IPython engine.
53 * The IPython controller.
54 * Various controller Clients.
55
56 IPython engine
57 ---------------
58
59 The IPython engine is a Python instance that takes Python commands over a
60 network connection. Eventually, the IPython engine will be a full IPython
61 interpreter, but for now, it is a regular Python interpreter. The engine
62 can also handle incoming and outgoing Python objects sent over a network
63 connection. When multiple engines are started, parallel and distributed
64 computing becomes possible. An important feature of an IPython engine is
65 that it blocks while user code is being executed. Read on for how the
66 IPython controller solves this problem to expose a clean asynchronous API
67 to the user.
68
69 IPython controller
70 ------------------
71
72 The IPython controller provides an interface for working with a set of
73 engines. At an general level, the controller is a process to which
74 IPython engines can connect. For each connected engine, the controller
75 manages a queue. All actions that can be performed on the engine go
76 through this queue. While the engines themselves block when user code is
77 run, the controller hides that from the user to provide a fully
78 asynchronous interface to a set of engines. Because the controller
79 listens on a network port for engines to connect to it, it must be
80 started before any engines are started.
81
82 The controller also provides a single point of contact for users who wish
83 to utilize the engines connected to the controller. There are different
84 ways of working with a controller. In IPython these ways correspond to different interfaces that the controller is adapted to. Currently we have two default interfaces to the controller:
85
86 * The MultiEngine interface.
87 * The Task interface.
88
89 Advanced users can easily add new custom interfaces to enable other
90 styles of parallelism.
91
92 .. note::
93
94 A single controller and set of engines can be accessed
95 through multiple interfaces simultaneously. This opens the
96 door for lots of interesting things.
97
98 Controller clients
99 ------------------
100
101 For each controller interface, there is a corresponding client. These
102 clients allow users to interact with a set of engines through the
103 interface.
104
105 Security
106 --------
107
108 By default (as long as `pyOpenSSL` is installed) all network connections between the controller and engines and the controller and clients are secure. What does this mean? First of all, all of the connections will be encrypted using SSL. Second, the connections are authenticated. We handle authentication in a `capabilities`__ based security model. In this model, a "capability (known in some systems as a key) is a communicable, unforgeable token of authority". Put simply, a capability is like a key to your house. If you have the key to your house, you can get in, if not you can't.
109
110 .. __: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability-based_security
111
112 In our architecture, the controller is the only process that listens on network ports, and is thus responsible to creating these keys. In IPython, these keys are known as Foolscap URLs, or FURLs, because of the underlying network protocol we are using. As a user, you don't need to know anything about the details of these FURLs, other than that when the controller starts, it saves a set of FURLs to files named something.furl. The default location of these files is your ~./ipython directory.
113
114 To connect and authenticate to the controller an engine or client simply needs to present an appropriate furl (that was originally created by the controller) to the controller. Thus, the .furl files need to be copied to a location where the clients and engines can find them. Typically, this is the ~./ipython directory on the host where the client/engine is running (which could be a different host than the controller). Once the .furl files are copied over, everything should work fine.
115
116 Getting Started
117 ===============
118
119 To use IPython for parallel computing, you need to start one instance of
120 the controller and one or more instances of the engine. The controller
121 and each engine can run on different machines or on the same machine.
122 Because of this, there are many different possibilities for setting up
123 the IP addresses and ports used by the various processes.
124
125 Starting the controller and engine on your local machine
126 --------------------------------------------------------
127
128 This is the simplest configuration that can be used and is useful for
129 testing the system and on machines that have multiple cores and/or
130 multple CPUs. The easiest way of doing this is using the ``ipcluster``
131 command::
132
133 $ ipcluster -n 4
134
135 This will start an IPython controller and then 4 engines that connect to
136 the controller. Lastly, the script will print out the Python commands
137 that you can use to connect to the controller. It is that easy.
138
139 Underneath the hood, the ``ipcluster`` script uses two other top-level
140 scripts that you can also use yourself. These scripts are
141 ``ipcontroller``, which starts the controller and ``ipengine`` which
142 starts one engine. To use these scripts to start things on your local
143 machine, do the following.
144
145 First start the controller::
146
147 $ ipcontroller &
148
149 Next, start however many instances of the engine you want using (repeatedly) the command::
150
151 $ ipengine &
152
153 .. warning::
154
155 The order of the above operations is very important. You *must*
156 start the controller before the engines, since the engines connect
157 to the controller as they get started.
158
159 On some platforms you may need to give these commands in the form
160 ``(ipcontroller &)`` and ``(ipengine &)`` for them to work properly. The
161 engines should start and automatically connect to the controller on the
162 default ports, which are chosen for this type of setup. You are now ready
163 to use the controller and engines from IPython.
164
165 Starting the controller and engines on different machines
166 ---------------------------------------------------------
167
168 This section needs to be updated to reflect the new Foolscap capabilities based
169 model.
170
171 Using ``ipcluster`` with ``ssh``
172 --------------------------------
173
174 The ``ipcluster`` command can also start a controller and engines using
175 ``ssh``. We need more documentation on this, but for now here is any
176 example startup script::
177
178 controller = dict(host='myhost',
179 engine_port=None, # default is 10105
180 control_port=None,
181 )
182
183 # keys are hostnames, values are the number of engine on that host
184 engines = dict(node1=2,
185 node2=2,
186 node3=2,
187 node3=2,
188 )
189
190 Starting engines using ``mpirun``
191 ---------------------------------
192
193 The IPython engines can be started using ``mpirun``/``mpiexec``, even if
194 the engines don't call MPI_Init() or use the MPI API in any way. This is
195 supported on modern MPI implementations like `Open MPI`_.. This provides
196 an really nice way of starting a bunch of engine. On a system with MPI
197 installed you can do::
198
199 mpirun -n 4 ipengine --controller-port=10000 --controller-ip=host0
200
201 .. _Open MPI: http://www.open-mpi.org/
202
203 More details on using MPI with IPython can be found :ref:`here <parallelmpi>`.
204
205 Log files
206 ---------
207
208 All of the components of IPython have log files associated with them.
209 These log files can be extremely useful in debugging problems with
210 IPython and can be found in the directory ``~/.ipython/log``. Sending
211 the log files to us will often help us to debug any problems.
212
213 Next Steps
214 ==========
215
216 Once you have started the IPython controller and one or more engines, you
217 are ready to use the engines to do somnething useful. To make sure
218 everything is working correctly, try the following commands::
219
220 In [1]: from ipython1.kernel import client
221
222 In [2]: mec = client.MultiEngineClient() # This looks for .furl files in ~./ipython
223
224 In [4]: mec.get_ids()
225 Out[4]: [0, 1, 2, 3]
226
227 In [5]: mec.execute('print "Hello World"')
228 Out[5]:
229 <Results List>
230 [0] In [1]: print "Hello World"
231 [0] Out[1]: Hello World
232
233 [1] In [1]: print "Hello World"
234 [1] Out[1]: Hello World
235
236 [2] In [1]: print "Hello World"
237 [2] Out[1]: Hello World
238
239 [3] In [1]: print "Hello World"
240 [3] Out[1]: Hello World
241
242 If this works, you are ready to learn more about the :ref:`MultiEngine <parallelmultiengine>` and :ref:`Task <paralleltask>` interfaces to the controller.
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1 .. _parallelmpi:
2
3 =======================
4 Using MPI with IPython
5 =======================
6
7 The simplest way of getting started with MPI is to install an MPI implementation
8 (we recommend `Open MPI`_) and `mpi4py`_ and then start the engines using the
9 ``mpirun`` command::
10
11 mpirun -n 4 ipengine --mpi=mpi4py
12
13 This will automatically import `mpi4py`_ and make sure that `MPI_Init` is called
14 at the right time. We also have built in support for `PyTrilinos`_, which can be
15 used (assuming `PyTrilinos`_ is installed) by starting the engines with::
16
17 mpirun -n 4 ipengine --mpi=pytrilinos
18
19 .. _MPI: http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/
20 .. _mpi4py: http://mpi4py.scipy.org/
21 .. _Open MPI: http://www.open-mpi.org/
22 .. _PyTrilinos: http://trilinos.sandia.gov/packages/pytrilinos/ No newline at end of file
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1 .. _parallelmultiengine:
2
3 =================================
4 IPython's MultiEngine interface
5 =================================
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 The MultiEngine interface represents one possible way of working with a
10 set of IPython engines. The basic idea behind the MultiEngine interface is
11 that the capabilities of each engine are explicitly exposed to the user.
12 Thus, in the MultiEngine interface, each engine is given an id that is
13 used to identify the engine and give it work to do. This interface is very
14 intuitive and is designed with interactive usage in mind, and is thus the
15 best place for new users of IPython to begin.
16
17 Starting the IPython controller and engines
18 ===========================================
19
20 To follow along with this tutorial, you will need to start the IPython
21 controller and four IPython engines. The simplest way of doing this is to
22 use the ``ipcluster`` command::
23
24 $ ipcluster -n 4
25
26 For more detailed information about starting the controller and engines, see our :ref:`introduction <ip1par>` to using IPython for parallel computing.
27
28 Creating a ``MultiEngineClient`` instance
29 =========================================
30
31 The first step is to import the IPython ``client`` module and then create a ``MultiEngineClient`` instance::
32
33 In [1]: from ipython1.kernel import client
34
35 In [2]: mec = client.MultiEngineClient()
36
37 To make sure there are engines connected to the controller, use can get a list of engine ids::
38
39 In [3]: mec.get_ids()
40 Out[3]: [0, 1, 2, 3]
41
42 Here we see that there are four engines ready to do work for us.
43
44 Running Python commands
45 =======================
46
47 The most basic type of operation that can be performed on the engines is to execute Python code. Executing Python code can be done in blocking or non-blocking mode (blocking is default) using the ``execute`` method.
48
49 Blocking execution
50 ------------------
51
52 In blocking mode, the ``MultiEngineClient`` object (called ``mec`` in
53 these examples) submits the command to the controller, which places the
54 command in the engines' queues for execution. The ``execute`` call then
55 blocks until the engines are done executing the command::
56
57 # The default is to run on all engines
58 In [4]: mec.execute('a=5')
59 Out[4]:
60 <Results List>
61 [0] In [1]: a=5
62 [1] In [1]: a=5
63 [2] In [1]: a=5
64 [3] In [1]: a=5
65
66 In [5]: mec.execute('b=10')
67 Out[5]:
68 <Results List>
69 [0] In [2]: b=10
70 [1] In [2]: b=10
71 [2] In [2]: b=10
72 [3] In [2]: b=10
73
74 Python commands can be executed on specific engines by calling execute using the ``targets`` keyword argument::
75
76 In [6]: mec.execute('c=a+b',targets=[0,2])
77 Out[6]:
78 <Results List>
79 [0] In [3]: c=a+b
80 [2] In [3]: c=a+b
81
82
83 In [7]: mec.execute('c=a-b',targets=[1,3])
84 Out[7]:
85 <Results List>
86 [1] In [3]: c=a-b
87 [3] In [3]: c=a-b
88
89
90 In [8]: mec.execute('print c')
91 Out[8]:
92 <Results List>
93 [0] In [4]: print c
94 [0] Out[4]: 15
95
96 [1] In [4]: print c
97 [1] Out[4]: -5
98
99 [2] In [4]: print c
100 [2] Out[4]: 15
101
102 [3] In [4]: print c
103 [3] Out[4]: -5
104
105 This example also shows one of the most important things about the IPython engines: they have a persistent user namespaces. The ``execute`` method returns a Python ``dict`` that contains useful information::
106
107 In [9]: result_dict = mec.execute('d=10; print d')
108
109 In [10]: for r in result_dict:
110 ....: print r
111 ....:
112 ....:
113 {'input': {'translated': 'd=10; print d', 'raw': 'd=10; print d'}, 'number': 5, 'id': 0, 'stdout': '10\n'}
114 {'input': {'translated': 'd=10; print d', 'raw': 'd=10; print d'}, 'number': 5, 'id': 1, 'stdout': '10\n'}
115 {'input': {'translated': 'd=10; print d', 'raw': 'd=10; print d'}, 'number': 5, 'id': 2, 'stdout': '10\n'}
116 {'input': {'translated': 'd=10; print d', 'raw': 'd=10; print d'}, 'number': 5, 'id': 3, 'stdout': '10\n'}
117
118 Non-blocking execution
119 ----------------------
120
121 In non-blocking mode, ``execute`` submits the command to be executed and then returns a
122 ``PendingResult`` object immediately. The ``PendingResult`` object gives you a way of getting a
123 result at a later time through its ``get_result`` method or ``r`` attribute. This allows you to
124 quickly submit long running commands without blocking your local Python/IPython session::
125
126 # In blocking mode
127 In [6]: mec.execute('import time')
128 Out[6]:
129 <Results List>
130 [0] In [1]: import time
131 [1] In [1]: import time
132 [2] In [1]: import time
133 [3] In [1]: import time
134
135 # In non-blocking mode
136 In [7]: pr = mec.execute('time.sleep(10)',block=False)
137
138 # Now block for the result
139 In [8]: pr.get_result()
140 Out[8]:
141 <Results List>
142 [0] In [2]: time.sleep(10)
143 [1] In [2]: time.sleep(10)
144 [2] In [2]: time.sleep(10)
145 [3] In [2]: time.sleep(10)
146
147 # Again in non-blocking mode
148 In [9]: pr = mec.execute('time.sleep(10)',block=False)
149
150 # Poll to see if the result is ready
151 In [10]: pr.get_result(block=False)
152
153 # A shorthand for get_result(block=True)
154 In [11]: pr.r
155 Out[11]:
156 <Results List>
157 [0] In [3]: time.sleep(10)
158 [1] In [3]: time.sleep(10)
159 [2] In [3]: time.sleep(10)
160 [3] In [3]: time.sleep(10)
161
162 Often, it is desirable to wait until a set of ``PendingResult`` objects are done. For this, there is a the method ``barrier``. This method takes a tuple of ``PendingResult`` objects and blocks until all of the associated results are ready::
163
164 In [72]: mec.block=False
165
166 # A trivial list of PendingResults objects
167 In [73]: pr_list = [mec.execute('time.sleep(3)') for i in range(10)]
168
169 # Wait until all of them are done
170 In [74]: mec.barrier(pr_list)
171
172 # Then, their results are ready using get_result or the r attribute
173 In [75]: pr_list[0].r
174 Out[75]:
175 <Results List>
176 [0] In [20]: time.sleep(3)
177 [1] In [19]: time.sleep(3)
178 [2] In [20]: time.sleep(3)
179 [3] In [19]: time.sleep(3)
180
181
182 The ``block`` and ``targets`` keyword arguments and attributes
183 --------------------------------------------------------------
184
185 Most commands in the multiengine interface (like ``execute``) accept ``block`` and ``targets``
186 as keyword arguments. As we have seen above, these keyword arguments control the blocking mode
187 and which engines the command is applied to. The ``MultiEngineClient`` class also has ``block``
188 and ``targets`` attributes that control the default behavior when the keyword arguments are not
189 provided. Thus the following logic is used for ``block`` and ``targets``:
190
191 * If no keyword argument is provided, the instance attributes are used.
192 * Keyword argument, if provided override the instance attributes.
193
194 The following examples demonstrate how to use the instance attributes::
195
196 In [16]: mec.targets = [0,2]
197
198 In [17]: mec.block = False
199
200 In [18]: pr = mec.execute('a=5')
201
202 In [19]: pr.r
203 Out[19]:
204 <Results List>
205 [0] In [6]: a=5
206 [2] In [6]: a=5
207
208 # Note targets='all' means all engines
209 In [20]: mec.targets = 'all'
210
211 In [21]: mec.block = True
212
213 In [22]: mec.execute('b=10; print b')
214 Out[22]:
215 <Results List>
216 [0] In [7]: b=10; print b
217 [0] Out[7]: 10
218
219 [1] In [6]: b=10; print b
220 [1] Out[6]: 10
221
222 [2] In [7]: b=10; print b
223 [2] Out[7]: 10
224
225 [3] In [6]: b=10; print b
226 [3] Out[6]: 10
227
228 The ``block`` and ``targets`` instance attributes also determine the behavior of the parallel
229 magic commands...
230
231
232 Parallel magic commands
233 -----------------------
234
235 We provide a few IPython magic commands (``%px``, ``%autopx`` and ``%result``) that make it more pleasant to execute Python commands on the engines interactively. These are simply shortcuts to ``execute`` and ``get_result``. The ``%px`` magic executes a single Python command on the engines specified by the `magicTargets``targets` attribute of the ``MultiEngineClient`` instance (by default this is 'all')::
236
237 # Make this MultiEngineClient active for parallel magic commands
238 In [23]: mec.activate()
239
240 In [24]: mec.block=True
241
242 In [25]: import numpy
243
244 In [26]: %px import numpy
245 Executing command on Controller
246 Out[26]:
247 <Results List>
248 [0] In [8]: import numpy
249 [1] In [7]: import numpy
250 [2] In [8]: import numpy
251 [3] In [7]: import numpy
252
253
254 In [27]: %px a = numpy.random.rand(2,2)
255 Executing command on Controller
256 Out[27]:
257 <Results List>
258 [0] In [9]: a = numpy.random.rand(2,2)
259 [1] In [8]: a = numpy.random.rand(2,2)
260 [2] In [9]: a = numpy.random.rand(2,2)
261 [3] In [8]: a = numpy.random.rand(2,2)
262
263
264 In [28]: %px print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
265 Executing command on Controller
266 Out[28]:
267 <Results List>
268 [0] In [10]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
269 [0] Out[10]: [ 1.28167017 0.14197338]
270
271 [1] In [9]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
272 [1] Out[9]: [-0.14093616 1.27877273]
273
274 [2] In [10]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
275 [2] Out[10]: [-0.37023573 1.06779409]
276
277 [3] In [9]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
278 [3] Out[9]: [ 0.83664764 -0.25602658]
279
280 The ``%result`` magic gets and prints the stdin/stdout/stderr of the last command executed on each engine. It is simply a shortcut to the ``get_result`` method::
281
282 In [29]: %result
283 Out[29]:
284 <Results List>
285 [0] In [10]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
286 [0] Out[10]: [ 1.28167017 0.14197338]
287
288 [1] In [9]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
289 [1] Out[9]: [-0.14093616 1.27877273]
290
291 [2] In [10]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
292 [2] Out[10]: [-0.37023573 1.06779409]
293
294 [3] In [9]: print numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
295 [3] Out[9]: [ 0.83664764 -0.25602658]
296
297 The ``%autopx`` magic switches to a mode where everything you type is executed on the engines given by the ``targets`` attribute::
298
299 In [30]: mec.block=False
300
301 In [31]: %autopx
302 Auto Parallel Enabled
303 Type %autopx to disable
304
305 In [32]: max_evals = []
306 <ipython1.kernel.multiengineclient.PendingResult object at 0x17b8a70>
307
308 In [33]: for i in range(100):
309 ....: a = numpy.random.rand(10,10)
310 ....: a = a+a.transpose()
311 ....: evals = numpy.linalg.eigvals(a)
312 ....: max_evals.append(evals[0].real)
313 ....:
314 ....:
315 <ipython1.kernel.multiengineclient.PendingResult object at 0x17af8f0>
316
317 In [34]: %autopx
318 Auto Parallel Disabled
319
320 In [35]: mec.block=True
321
322 In [36]: px print "Average max eigenvalue is: ", sum(max_evals)/len(max_evals)
323 Executing command on Controller
324 Out[36]:
325 <Results List>
326 [0] In [13]: print "Average max eigenvalue is: ", sum(max_evals)/len(max_evals)
327 [0] Out[13]: Average max eigenvalue is: 10.1387247332
328
329 [1] In [12]: print "Average max eigenvalue is: ", sum(max_evals)/len(max_evals)
330 [1] Out[12]: Average max eigenvalue is: 10.2076902286
331
332 [2] In [13]: print "Average max eigenvalue is: ", sum(max_evals)/len(max_evals)
333 [2] Out[13]: Average max eigenvalue is: 10.1891484655
334
335 [3] In [12]: print "Average max eigenvalue is: ", sum(max_evals)/len(max_evals)
336 [3] Out[12]: Average max eigenvalue is: 10.1158837784
337
338 Using the ``with`` statement of Python 2.5
339 ------------------------------------------
340
341 Python 2.5 introduced the ``with`` statement. The ``MultiEngineClient`` can be used with the ``with`` statement to execute a block of code on the engines indicated by the ``targets`` attribute::
342
343 In [3]: with mec:
344 ...: client.remote() # Required so the following code is not run locally
345 ...: a = 10
346 ...: b = 30
347 ...: c = a+b
348 ...:
349 ...:
350
351 In [4]: mec.get_result()
352 Out[4]:
353 <Results List>
354 [0] In [1]: a = 10
355 b = 30
356 c = a+b
357
358 [1] In [1]: a = 10
359 b = 30
360 c = a+b
361
362 [2] In [1]: a = 10
363 b = 30
364 c = a+b
365
366 [3] In [1]: a = 10
367 b = 30
368 c = a+b
369
370 This is basically another way of calling execute, but one with allows you to avoid writing code in strings. When used in this way, the attributes ``targets`` and ``block`` are used to control how the code is executed. For now, if you run code in non-blocking mode you won't have access to the ``PendingResult``.
371
372 Moving Python object around
373 ===========================
374
375 In addition to executing code on engines, you can transfer Python objects to and from your
376 IPython session and the engines. In IPython, these operations are called ``push`` (sending an
377 object to the engines) and ``pull`` (getting an object from the engines).
378
379 Basic push and pull
380 -------------------
381
382 Here are some examples of how you use ``push`` and ``pull``::
383
384 In [38]: mec.push(dict(a=1.03234,b=3453))
385 Out[38]: [None, None, None, None]
386
387 In [39]: mec.pull('a')
388 Out[39]: [1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234]
389
390 In [40]: mec.pull('b',targets=0)
391 Out[40]: [3453]
392
393 In [41]: mec.pull(('a','b'))
394 Out[41]: [[1.03234, 3453], [1.03234, 3453], [1.03234, 3453], [1.03234, 3453]]
395
396 In [42]: mec.zip_pull(('a','b'))
397 Out[42]: [(1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234), (3453, 3453, 3453, 3453)]
398
399 In [43]: mec.push(dict(c='speed'))
400 Out[43]: [None, None, None, None]
401
402 In [44]: %px print c
403 Executing command on Controller
404 Out[44]:
405 <Results List>
406 [0] In [14]: print c
407 [0] Out[14]: speed
408
409 [1] In [13]: print c
410 [1] Out[13]: speed
411
412 [2] In [14]: print c
413 [2] Out[14]: speed
414
415 [3] In [13]: print c
416 [3] Out[13]: speed
417
418 In non-blocking mode ``push`` and ``pull`` also return ``PendingResult`` objects::
419
420 In [47]: mec.block=False
421
422 In [48]: pr = mec.pull('a')
423
424 In [49]: pr.r
425 Out[49]: [1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234, 1.03234]
426
427
428 Push and pull for functions
429 ---------------------------
430
431 Functions can also be pushed and pulled using ``push_function`` and ``pull_function``::
432
433 In [53]: def f(x):
434 ....: return 2.0*x**4
435 ....:
436
437 In [54]: mec.push_function(dict(f=f))
438 Out[54]: [None, None, None, None]
439
440 In [55]: mec.execute('y = f(4.0)')
441 Out[55]:
442 <Results List>
443 [0] In [15]: y = f(4.0)
444 [1] In [14]: y = f(4.0)
445 [2] In [15]: y = f(4.0)
446 [3] In [14]: y = f(4.0)
447
448
449 In [56]: px print y
450 Executing command on Controller
451 Out[56]:
452 <Results List>
453 [0] In [16]: print y
454 [0] Out[16]: 512.0
455
456 [1] In [15]: print y
457 [1] Out[15]: 512.0
458
459 [2] In [16]: print y
460 [2] Out[16]: 512.0
461
462 [3] In [15]: print y
463 [3] Out[15]: 512.0
464
465
466 Dictionary interface
467 --------------------
468
469 As a shorthand to ``push`` and ``pull``, the ``MultiEngineClient`` class implements some of the Python dictionary interface. This make the remote namespaces of the engines appear as a local dictionary. Underneath, this uses ``push`` and ``pull``::
470
471 In [50]: mec.block=True
472
473 In [51]: mec['a']=['foo','bar']
474
475 In [52]: mec['a']
476 Out[52]: [['foo', 'bar'], ['foo', 'bar'], ['foo', 'bar'], ['foo', 'bar']]
477
478 Scatter and gather
479 ------------------
480
481 Sometimes it is useful to partition a sequence and push the partitions to different engines. In
482 MPI language, this is know as scatter/gather and we follow that terminology. However, it is
483 important to remember that in IPython ``scatter`` is from the interactive IPython session to
484 the engines and ``gather`` is from the engines back to the interactive IPython session. For
485 scatter/gather operations between engines, MPI should be used::
486
487 In [58]: mec.scatter('a',range(16))
488 Out[58]: [None, None, None, None]
489
490 In [59]: px print a
491 Executing command on Controller
492 Out[59]:
493 <Results List>
494 [0] In [17]: print a
495 [0] Out[17]: [0, 1, 2, 3]
496
497 [1] In [16]: print a
498 [1] Out[16]: [4, 5, 6, 7]
499
500 [2] In [17]: print a
501 [2] Out[17]: [8, 9, 10, 11]
502
503 [3] In [16]: print a
504 [3] Out[16]: [12, 13, 14, 15]
505
506
507 In [60]: mec.gather('a')
508 Out[60]: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]
509
510 Other things to look at
511 =======================
512
513 Parallel map
514 ------------
515
516 Python's builtin ``map`` functions allows a function to be applied to a sequence element-by-element. This type of code is typically trivial to parallelize. In fact, the MultiEngine interface in IPython already has a parallel version of ``map`` that works just like its serial counterpart::
517
518 In [63]: serial_result = map(lambda x:x**10, range(32))
519
520 In [64]: parallel_result = mec.map(lambda x:x**10, range(32))
521
522 In [65]: serial_result==parallel_result
523 Out[65]: True
524
525 As you would expect, the parallel version of ``map`` is also influenced by the ``block`` and ``targets`` keyword arguments and attributes.
526
527 How to do parallel list comprehensions
528 --------------------------------------
529
530 In many cases list comprehensions are nicer than using the map function. While we don't have fully parallel list comprehensions, it is simple to get the basic effect using ``scatter`` and ``gather``::
531
532 In [66]: mec.scatter('x',range(64))
533 Out[66]: [None, None, None, None]
534
535 In [67]: px y = [i**10 for i in x]
536 Executing command on Controller
537 Out[67]:
538 <Results List>
539 [0] In [19]: y = [i**10 for i in x]
540 [1] In [18]: y = [i**10 for i in x]
541 [2] In [19]: y = [i**10 for i in x]
542 [3] In [18]: y = [i**10 for i in x]
543
544
545 In [68]: y = mec.gather('y')
546
547 In [69]: print y
548 [0, 1, 1024, 59049, 1048576, 9765625, 60466176, 282475249, 1073741824,...]
549
550 Parallel Exceptions
551 -------------------
552
553 In the MultiEngine interface, parallel commands can raise Python exceptions, just like serial commands. But, it is a little subtle, because a single parallel command can actually raise multiple exceptions (one for each engine the command was run on). To express this idea, the MultiEngine interface has a ``CompositeError`` exception class that will be raised in most cases. The ``CompositeError`` class is a special type of exception that wraps one or more other types of exceptions. Here is how it works::
554
555 In [76]: mec.block=True
556
557 In [77]: mec.execute('1/0')
558 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
559 CompositeError Traceback (most recent call last)
560
561 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
562
563 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in execute(self, lines, targets, block)
564 432 targets, block = self._findTargetsAndBlock(targets, block)
565 433 result = blockingCallFromThread(self.smultiengine.execute, lines,
566 --> 434 targets=targets, block=block)
567 435 if block:
568 436 result = ResultList(result)
569
570 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.pyc in blockingCallFromThread(f, *a, **kw)
571 72 result.raiseException()
572 73 except Exception, e:
573 ---> 74 raise e
574 75 return result
575 76
576
577 CompositeError: one or more exceptions from call to method: execute
578 [0:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
579 [1:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
580 [2:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
581 [3:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
582
583 Notice how the error message printed when ``CompositeError`` is raised has information about the individual exceptions that were raised on each engine. If you want, you can even raise one of these original exceptions::
584
585 In [80]: try:
586 ....: mec.execute('1/0')
587 ....: except client.CompositeError, e:
588 ....: e.raise_exception()
589 ....:
590 ....:
591 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
592 ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
593
594 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
595
596 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/error.pyc in raise_exception(self, excid)
597 156 raise IndexError("an exception with index %i does not exist"%excid)
598 157 else:
599 --> 158 raise et, ev, etb
600 159
601 160 def collect_exceptions(rlist, method):
602
603 ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
604
605 If you are working in IPython, you can simple type ``%debug`` after one of these ``CompositeError`` is raised, and inspect the exception instance::
606
607 In [81]: mec.execute('1/0')
608 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
609 CompositeError Traceback (most recent call last)
610
611 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
612
613 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in execute(self, lines, targets, block)
614 432 targets, block = self._findTargetsAndBlock(targets, block)
615 433 result = blockingCallFromThread(self.smultiengine.execute, lines,
616 --> 434 targets=targets, block=block)
617 435 if block:
618 436 result = ResultList(result)
619
620 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.pyc in blockingCallFromThread(f, *a, **kw)
621 72 result.raiseException()
622 73 except Exception, e:
623 ---> 74 raise e
624 75 return result
625 76
626
627 CompositeError: one or more exceptions from call to method: execute
628 [0:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
629 [1:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
630 [2:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
631 [3:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
632
633 In [82]: %debug
634 >
635
636 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.py(74)blockingCallFromThread()
637 73 except Exception, e:
638 ---> 74 raise e
639 75 return result
640
641 # With the debugger running, e is the exceptions instance. We can tab complete
642 # on it and see the extra methods that are available.
643 ipdb> e.
644 e.__class__ e.__getitem__ e.__new__ e.__setstate__ e.args
645 e.__delattr__ e.__getslice__ e.__reduce__ e.__str__ e.elist
646 e.__dict__ e.__hash__ e.__reduce_ex__ e.__weakref__ e.message
647 e.__doc__ e.__init__ e.__repr__ e._get_engine_str e.print_tracebacks
648 e.__getattribute__ e.__module__ e.__setattr__ e._get_traceback e.raise_exception
649 ipdb> e.print_tracebacks()
650 [0:execute]:
651 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
652 ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
653
654 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
655
656 ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
657
658 [1:execute]:
659 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
660 ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
661
662 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
663
664 ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
665
666 [2:execute]:
667 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
668 ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
669
670 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
671
672 ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
673
674 [3:execute]:
675 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
676 ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most recent call last)
677
678 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<string> in <module>()
679
680 ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
681
682 All of this same error handling magic even works in non-blocking mode::
683
684 In [83]: mec.block=False
685
686 In [84]: pr = mec.execute('1/0')
687
688 In [85]: pr.r
689 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
690 CompositeError Traceback (most recent call last)
691
692 /ipython1-client-r3021/docs/examples/<ipython console> in <module>()
693
694 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in _get_r(self)
695 170
696 171 def _get_r(self):
697 --> 172 return self.get_result(block=True)
698 173
699 174 r = property(_get_r)
700
701 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in get_result(self, default, block)
702 131 return self.result
703 132 try:
704 --> 133 result = self.client.get_pending_deferred(self.result_id, block)
705 134 except error.ResultNotCompleted:
706 135 return default
707
708 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/multiengineclient.pyc in get_pending_deferred(self, deferredID, block)
709 385
710 386 def get_pending_deferred(self, deferredID, block):
711 --> 387 return blockingCallFromThread(self.smultiengine.get_pending_deferred, deferredID, block)
712 388
713 389 def barrier(self, pendingResults):
714
715 /ipython1-client-r3021/ipython1/kernel/twistedutil.pyc in blockingCallFromThread(f, *a, **kw)
716 72 result.raiseException()
717 73 except Exception, e:
718 ---> 74 raise e
719 75 return result
720 76
721
722 CompositeError: one or more exceptions from call to method: execute
723 [0:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
724 [1:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
725 [2:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
726 [3:execute]: ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero
727
728
@@ -0,0 +1,240 b''
1 .. _paralleltask:
2
3 =================================
4 The IPython Task interface
5 =================================
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 The ``Task`` interface to the controller presents the engines as a fault tolerant, dynamic load-balanced system or workers. Unlike the ``MultiEngine`` interface, in the ``Task`` interface, the user have no direct access to individual engines. In some ways, this interface is simpler, but in other ways it is more powerful. Best of all the user can use both of these interfaces at the same time to take advantage or both of their strengths. When the user can break up the user's work into segments that do not depend on previous execution, the ``Task`` interface is ideal. But it also has more power and flexibility, allowing the user to guide the distribution of jobs, without having to assign Tasks to engines explicitly.
10
11 Starting the IPython controller and engines
12 ===========================================
13
14 To follow along with this tutorial, the user will need to start the IPython
15 controller and four IPython engines. The simplest way of doing this is to
16 use the ``ipcluster`` command::
17
18 $ ipcluster -n 4
19
20 For more detailed information about starting the controller and engines, see our :ref:`introduction <ip1par>` to using IPython for parallel computing.
21
22 The magic here is that this single controller and set of engines is running both the MultiEngine and ``Task`` interfaces simultaneously.
23
24 QuickStart Task Farming
25 =======================
26
27 First, a quick example of how to start running the most basic Tasks.
28 The first step is to import the IPython ``client`` module and then create a ``TaskClient`` instance::
29
30 In [1]: from ipython1.kernel import client
31
32 In [2]: tc = client.TaskClient()
33
34 Then the user wrap the commands the user want to run in Tasks::
35
36 In [3]: tasklist = []
37 In [4]: for n in range(1000):
38 ... tasklist.append(client.Task("a = %i"%n, pull="a"))
39
40 The first argument of the ``Task`` constructor is a string, the command to be executed. The most important optional keyword argument is ``pull``, which can be a string or list of strings, and it specifies the variable names to be saved as results of the ``Task``.
41
42 Next, the user need to submit the Tasks to the ``TaskController`` with the ``TaskClient``::
43
44 In [5]: taskids = [ tc.run(t) for t in tasklist ]
45
46 This will give the user a list of the TaskIDs used by the controller to keep track of the Tasks and their results. Now at some point the user are going to want to get those results back. The ``barrier`` method allows the user to wait for the Tasks to finish running::
47
48 In [6]: tc.barrier(taskids)
49
50 This command will block until all the Tasks in ``taskids`` have finished. Now, the user probably want to look at the user's results::
51
52 In [7]: task_results = [ tc.get_task_result(taskid) for taskid in taskids ]
53
54 Now the user have a list of ``TaskResult`` objects, which have the actual result as a dictionary, but also keep track of some useful metadata about the ``Task``::
55
56 In [8]: tr = ``Task``_results[73]
57
58 In [9]: tr
59 Out[9]: ``TaskResult``[ID:73]:{'a':73}
60
61 In [10]: tr.engineid
62 Out[10]: 1
63
64 In [11]: tr.submitted, tr.completed, tr.duration
65 Out[11]: ("2008/03/08 03:41:42", "2008/03/08 03:41:44", 2.12345)
66
67 The actual results are stored in a dictionary, ``tr.results``, and a namespace object ``tr.ns`` which accesses the result keys by attribute::
68
69 In [12]: tr.results['a']
70 Out[12]: 73
71
72 In [13]: tr.ns.a
73 Out[13]: 73
74
75 That should cover the basics of running simple Tasks. There are several more powerful things the user can do with Tasks covered later. The most useful probably being using a ``MutiEngineClient`` interface to initialize all the engines with the import dependencies necessary to run the user's Tasks.
76
77 There are many options for running and managing Tasks. The best way to learn further about the ``Task`` interface is to study the examples in ``docs/examples``. If the user do so and learn a lots about this interface, we encourage the user to expand this documentation about the ``Task`` system.
78
79 Overview of the Task System
80 ===========================
81
82 The user's view of the ``Task`` system has three basic objects: The ``TaskClient``, the ``Task``, and the ``TaskResult``. The names of these three objects well indicate their role.
83
84 The ``TaskClient`` is the user's ``Task`` farming connection to the IPython cluster. Unlike the ``MultiEngineClient``, the ``TaskControler`` handles all the scheduling and distribution of work, so the ``TaskClient`` has no notion of engines, it just submits Tasks and requests their results. The Tasks are described as ``Task`` objects, and their results are wrapped in ``TaskResult`` objects. Thus, there are very few necessary methods for the user to manage.
85
86 Inside the task system is a Scheduler object, which assigns tasks to workers. The default scheduler is a simple FIFO queue. Subclassing the Scheduler should be easy, just implementing your own priority system.
87
88 The TaskClient
89 ==============
90
91 The ``TaskClient`` is the object the user use to connect to the ``Controller`` that is managing the user's Tasks. It is the analog of the ``MultiEngineClient`` for the standard IPython multiplexing interface. As with all client interfaces, the first step is to import the IPython Client Module::
92
93 In [1]: from ipython1.kernel import client
94
95 Just as with the ``MultiEngineClient``, the user create the ``TaskClient`` with a tuple, containing the ip-address and port of the ``Controller``. the ``client`` module conveniently has the default address of the ``Task`` interface of the controller. Creating a default ``TaskClient`` object would be done with this::
96
97 In [2]: tc = client.TaskClient(client.default_task_address)
98
99 or, if the user want to specify a non default location of the ``Controller``, the user can specify explicitly::
100
101 In [3]: tc = client.TaskClient(("192.168.1.1", 10113))
102
103 As discussed earlier, the ``TaskClient`` only has a few basic methods.
104
105 * ``tc.run(task)``
106 ``run`` is the method by which the user submits Tasks. It takes exactly one argument, a ``Task`` object. All the advanced control of ``Task`` behavior is handled by properties of the ``Task`` object, rather than the submission command, so they will be discussed later in the `Task`_ section. ``run`` returns an integer, the ``Task``ID by which the ``Task`` and its results can be tracked and retrieved::
107
108 In [4]: ``Task``ID = tc.run(``Task``)
109
110 * ``tc.get_task_result(taskid, block=``False``)``
111 ``get_task_result`` is the method by which results are retrieved. It takes a single integer argument, the ``Task``ID`` of the result the user wish to retrieve. ``get_task_result`` also takes a keyword argument ``block``. ``block`` specifies whether the user actually want to wait for the result. If ``block`` is false, as it is by default, ``get_task_result`` will return immediately. If the ``Task`` has completed, it will return the ``TaskResult`` object for that ``Task``. But if the ``Task`` has not completed, it will return ``None``. If the user specify ``block=``True``, then ``get_task_result`` will wait for the ``Task`` to complete, and always return the ``TaskResult`` for the requested ``Task``.
112 * ``tc.barrier(taskid(s))``
113 ``barrier`` is a synchronization method. It takes exactly one argument, a ``Task``ID or list of taskIDs. ``barrier`` will block until all the specified Tasks have completed. In practice, a barrier is often called between the ``Task`` submission section of the code and the result gathering section::
114
115 In [5]: taskIDs = [ tc.run(``Task``) for ``Task`` in myTasks ]
116
117 In [6]: tc.get_task_result(taskIDs[-1]) is None
118 Out[6]: ``True``
119
120 In [7]: tc.barrier(``Task``ID)
121
122 In [8]: results = [ tc.get_task_result(tid) for tid in taskIDs ]
123
124 * ``tc.queue_status(verbose=``False``)``
125 ``queue_status`` is a method for querying the state of the ``TaskControler``. ``queue_status`` returns a dict of the form::
126
127 {'scheduled': Tasks that have been submitted but yet run
128 'pending' : Tasks that are currently running
129 'succeeded': Tasks that have completed successfully
130 'failed' : Tasks that have finished with a failure
131 }
132
133 if @verbose is not specified (or is ``False``), then the values of the dict are integers - the number of Tasks in each state. if @verbose is ``True``, then each element in the dict is a list of the taskIDs in that state::
134
135 In [8]: tc.queue_status()
136 Out[8]: {'scheduled': 4,
137 'pending' : 2,
138 'succeeded': 5,
139 'failed' : 1
140 }
141
142 In [9]: tc.queue_status(verbose=True)
143 Out[9]: {'scheduled': [8,9,10,11],
144 'pending' : [6,7],
145 'succeeded': [0,1,2,4,5],
146 'failed' : [3]
147 }
148
149 * ``tc.abort(taskid)``
150 ``abort`` allows the user to abort Tasks that have already been submitted. ``abort`` will always return immediately. If the ``Task`` has completed, ``abort`` will raise an ``IndexError ``Task`` Already Completed``. An obvious case for ``abort`` would be where the user submits a long-running ``Task`` with a number of retries (see ``Task``_ section for how to specify retries) in an interactive session, but realizes there has been a typo. The user can then abort the ``Task``, preventing certain failures from cluttering up the queue. It can also be used for parallel search-type problems, where only one ``Task`` will give the solution, so once the user find the solution, the user would want to abort all remaining Tasks to prevent wasted work.
151 * ``tc.spin()``
152 ``spin`` simply triggers the scheduler in the ``TaskControler``. Under most normal circumstances, this will do nothing. The primary known usage case involves the ``Task`` dependency (see `Dependencies`_). The dependency is a function of an Engine's ``properties``, but changing the ``properties`` via the ``MutliEngineClient`` does not trigger a reschedule event. The main example case for this requires the following event sequence:
153 * ``engine`` is available, ``Task`` is submitted, but ``engine`` does not have ``Task``'s dependencies.
154 * ``engine`` gets necessary dependencies while no new Tasks are submitted or completed.
155 * now ``engine`` can run ``Task``, but a ``Task`` event is required for the ``TaskControler`` to try scheduling ``Task`` again.
156
157 ``spin`` is just an empty ping method to ensure that the Controller has scheduled all available Tasks, and should not be needed under most normal circumstances.
158
159 That covers the ``TaskClient``, a simple interface to the cluster. With this, the user can submit jobs (and abort if necessary), request their results, synchronize on arbitrary subsets of jobs.
160
161 .. _task: The Task Object
162
163 The Task Object
164 ===============
165
166 The ``Task`` is the basic object for describing a job. It can be used in a very simple manner, where the user just specifies a command string to be executed as the ``Task``. The usage of this first argument is exactly the same as the ``execute`` method of the ``MultiEngine`` (in fact, ``execute`` is called to run the code)::
167
168 In [1]: t = client.Task("a = str(id)")
169
170 This ``Task`` would run, and store the string representation of the ``id`` element in ``a`` in each worker's namespace, but it is fairly useless because the user does not know anything about the state of the ``worker`` on which it ran at the time of retrieving results. It is important that each ``Task`` not expect the state of the ``worker`` to persist after the ``Task`` is completed.
171 There are many different situations for using ``Task`` Farming, and the ``Task`` object has many attributes for use in customizing the ``Task`` behavior. All of a ``Task``'s attributes may be specified in the constructor, through keyword arguments, or after ``Task`` construction through attribute assignment.
172
173 Data Attributes
174 ***************
175 It is likely that the user may want to move data around before or after executing the ``Task``. We provide methods of sending data to initialize the worker's namespace, and specifying what data to bring back as the ``Task``'s results.
176
177 * pull = []
178 The obvious case is as above, where ``t`` would execute and store the result of ``myfunc`` in ``a``, it is likely that the user would want to bring ``a`` back to their namespace. This is done through the ``pull`` attribute. ``pull`` can be a string or list of strings, and it specifies the names of variables to be retrieved. The ``TaskResult`` object retrieved by ``get_task_result`` will have a dictionary of keys and values, and the ``Task``'s ``pull`` attribute determines what goes into it::
179
180 In [2]: t = client.Task("a = str(id)", pull = "a")
181
182 In [3]: t = client.Task("a = str(id)", pull = ["a", "id"])
183
184 * push = {}
185 A user might also want to initialize some data into the namespace before the code part of the ``Task`` is run. Enter ``push``. ``push`` is a dictionary of key/value pairs to be loaded from the user's namespace into the worker's immediately before execution::
186
187 In [4]: t = client.Task("a = f(submitted)", push=dict(submitted=time.time()), pull="a")
188
189 push and pull result directly in calling an ``engine``'s ``push`` and ``pull`` methods before and after ``Task`` execution respectively, and thus their api is the same.
190
191 Namespace Cleaning
192 ******************
193 When a user is running a large number of Tasks, it is likely that the namespace of the worker's could become cluttered. Some Tasks might be sensitive to clutter, while others might be known to cause namespace pollution. For these reasons, Tasks have two boolean attributes for cleaning up the namespace.
194
195 * ``clear_after``
196 if clear_after is specified ``True``, the worker on which the ``Task`` was run will be reset (via ``engine.reset``) upon completion of the ``Task``. This can be useful for both Tasks that produce clutter or Tasks whose intermediate data one might wish to be kept private::
197
198 In [5]: t = client.Task("a = range(1e10)", pull = "a",clear_after=True)
199
200
201 * ``clear_before``
202 as one might guess, clear_before is identical to ``clear_after``, but it takes place before the ``Task`` is run. This ensures that the ``Task`` runs on a fresh worker::
203
204 In [6]: t = client.Task("a = globals()", pull = "a",clear_before=True)
205
206 Of course, a user can both at the same time, ensuring that all workers are clear except when they are currently running a job. Both of these default to ``False``.
207
208 Fault Tolerance
209 ***************
210 It is possible that Tasks might fail, and there are a variety of reasons this could happen. One might be that the worker it was running on disconnected, and there was nothing wrong with the ``Task`` itself. With the fault tolerance attributes of the ``Task``, the user can specify how many times to resubmit the ``Task``, and what to do if it never succeeds.
211
212 * ``retries``
213 ``retries`` is an integer, specifying the number of times a ``Task`` is to be retried. It defaults to zero. It is often a good idea for this number to be 1 or 2, to protect the ``Task`` from disconnecting engines, but not a large number. If a ``Task`` is failing 100 times, there is probably something wrong with the ``Task``. The canonical bad example:
214
215 In [7]: t = client.Task("os.kill(os.getpid(), 9)", retries=99)
216
217 This would actually take down 100 workers.
218
219 * ``recovery_task``
220 ``recovery_task`` is another ``Task`` object, to be run in the event of the original ``Task`` still failing after running out of retries. Since ``recovery_task`` is another ``Task`` object, it can have its own ``recovery_task``. The chain of Tasks is limitless, except loops are not allowed (that would be bad!).
221
222 Dependencies
223 ************
224 Dependencies are the most powerful part of the ``Task`` farming system, because it allows the user to do some classification of the workers, and guide the ``Task`` distribution without meddling with the controller directly. It makes use of two objects - the ``Task``'s ``depend`` attribute, and the engine's ``properties``. See the `MultiEngine`_ reference for how to use engine properties. The engine properties api exists for extending IPython, allowing conditional execution and new controllers that make decisions based on properties of its engines. Currently the ``Task`` dependency is the only internal use of the properties api.
225
226 .. _MultiEngine: ./parallel_multiengine
227
228 The ``depend`` attribute of a ``Task`` must be a function of exactly one argument, the worker's properties dictionary, and it should return ``True`` if the ``Task`` should be allowed to run on the worker and ``False`` if not. The usage in the controller is fault tolerant, so exceptions raised by ``Task.depend`` will be ignored and functionally equivalent to always returning ``False``. Tasks`` with invalid ``depend`` functions will never be assigned to a worker::
229
230 In [8]: def dep(properties):
231 ... return properties["RAM"] > 2**32 # have at least 4GB
232 In [9]: t = client.Task("a = bigfunc()", depend=dep)
233
234 It is important to note that assignment of values to the properties dict is done entirely by the user, either locally (in the engine) using the EngineAPI, or remotely, through the ``MultiEngineClient``'s get/set_properties methods.
235
236
237
238
239
240
@@ -1,99 +1,104 b''
1 1 # encoding: utf-8
2 2
3 3 """This is the official entry point to IPython's configuration system. """
4 4
5 5 __docformat__ = "restructuredtext en"
6 6
7 7 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 8 # Copyright (C) 2008 The IPython Development Team
9 9 #
10 10 # Distributed under the terms of the BSD License. The full license is in
11 11 # the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
12 12 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 13
14 14 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 15 # Imports
16 16 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 17
18 18 import os
19 19 from IPython.config.cutils import get_home_dir, get_ipython_dir
20 20 from IPython.external.configobj import ConfigObj
21 21
22 # Traitlets config imports
23 from IPython.config import traitlets
24 from IPython.config.config import *
25 from traitlets import *
26
22 27 class ConfigObjManager(object):
23 28
24 29 def __init__(self, configObj, filename):
25 30 self.current = configObj
26 31 self.current.indent_type = ' '
27 32 self.filename = filename
28 33 # self.write_default_config_file()
29 34
30 35 def get_config_obj(self):
31 36 return self.current
32 37
33 38 def update_config_obj(self, newConfig):
34 39 self.current.merge(newConfig)
35 40
36 41 def update_config_obj_from_file(self, filename):
37 42 newConfig = ConfigObj(filename, file_error=False)
38 43 self.current.merge(newConfig)
39 44
40 45 def update_config_obj_from_default_file(self, ipythondir=None):
41 46 fname = self.resolve_file_path(self.filename, ipythondir)
42 47 self.update_config_obj_from_file(fname)
43 48
44 49 def write_config_obj_to_file(self, filename):
45 50 f = open(filename, 'w')
46 51 self.current.write(f)
47 52 f.close()
48 53
49 54 def write_default_config_file(self):
50 55 ipdir = get_ipython_dir()
51 56 fname = ipdir + '/' + self.filename
52 57 if not os.path.isfile(fname):
53 58 print "Writing the configuration file to: " + fname
54 59 self.write_config_obj_to_file(fname)
55 60
56 61 def _import(self, key):
57 62 package = '.'.join(key.split('.')[0:-1])
58 63 obj = key.split('.')[-1]
59 64 execString = 'from %s import %s' % (package, obj)
60 65 exec execString
61 66 exec 'temp = %s' % obj
62 67 return temp
63 68
64 69 def resolve_file_path(self, filename, ipythondir = None):
65 70 """Resolve filenames into absolute paths.
66 71
67 72 This function looks in the following directories in order:
68 73
69 74 1. In the current working directory or by absolute path with ~ expanded
70 75 2. In ipythondir if that is set
71 76 3. In the IPYTHONDIR environment variable if it exists
72 77 4. In the ~/.ipython directory
73 78
74 79 Note: The IPYTHONDIR is also used by the trunk version of IPython so
75 80 changing it will also affect it was well.
76 81 """
77 82
78 83 # In cwd or by absolute path with ~ expanded
79 84 trythis = os.path.expanduser(filename)
80 85 if os.path.isfile(trythis):
81 86 return trythis
82 87
83 88 # In ipythondir if it is set
84 89 if ipythondir is not None:
85 90 trythis = ipythondir + '/' + filename
86 91 if os.path.isfile(trythis):
87 92 return trythis
88 93
89 94 trythis = get_ipython_dir() + '/' + filename
90 95 if os.path.isfile(trythis):
91 96 return trythis
92 97
93 98 return None
94 99
95 100
96 101
97 102
98 103
99 104
@@ -1,36 +1,31 b''
1 1 include README_Windows.txt
2 2 include win32_manual_post_install.py
3 3 include ipython.py
4 4
5 5 graft scripts
6 6
7 7 graft setupext
8 8
9 9 graft IPython/UserConfig
10 10
11 11 graft IPython/kernel
12 12 graft IPython/config
13 13 graft IPython/testing
14 14 graft IPython/tools
15 15
16 graft doc
17 exclude doc/\#*
18 exclude doc/*.1
19 exclude doc/ChangeLog.*
20 exclude doc/update_version.sh
16 graft docs
17 exclude docs/\#*
18 exclude docs/man/*.1
19 exclude docs/ChangeLog.*
21 20
22 21 # There seems to be no way of excluding whole subdirectories, other than
23 22 # manually excluding all their subdirs. distutils really is horrible...
24 exclude doc/attic/*
25 exclude doc/build/doctrees/*
26 exclude doc/build/html/_sources/*
27 exclude doc/build/html/_static/*
28 exclude doc/build/html/*
29 exclude doc/build/latex/*
23 exclude docs/attic/*
24 exclude docs/build/*
30 25
31 26 global-exclude *~
32 27 global-exclude *.flc
33 28 global-exclude *.pyc
34 29 global-exclude .dircopy.log
35 30 global-exclude .svn
36 31 global-exclude .bzr
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/ChangeLog to docs/ChangeLog
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/README.txt to docs/README.txt
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/README_Windows.txt to docs/README_Windows.txt
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/api_changes.txt to docs/api_changes.txt
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/COPYING to docs/attic/COPYING
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/attic/ipnb_google_soc.lyx to docs/attic/ipnb_google_soc.lyx
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/attic/nbexample.py to docs/attic/nbexample.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/attic/nbexample_latex.py to docs/attic/nbexample_latex.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/attic/nbexample_output.py to docs/attic/nbexample_output.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/attic/new_design.lyx to docs/attic/new_design.lyx
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/do_sphinx.py to docs/do_sphinx.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/ipython.el to docs/emacs/ipython.el
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/example-demo.py to docs/examples/core/example-demo.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/example-embed-short.py to docs/examples/core/example-embed-short.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/example-embed.py to docs/examples/core/example-embed.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/example-gnuplot.py to docs/examples/core/example-gnuplot.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/extension.py to docs/examples/core/extension.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/ipy.vim to docs/examples/core/ipy.vim
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/ipython_here_shell_extension.reg to docs/examples/core/ipython_here_shell_extension.reg
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/leo_bridge_demo.leo to docs/examples/core/leo_bridge_demo.leo
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/examples/seteditor.py to docs/examples/core/seteditor.py
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/ipython.1 to docs/man/ipython.1
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/pycolor.1 to docs/man/pycolor.1
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/pycon.ico to docs/pycon.ico
@@ -1,132 +1,161 b''
1 1 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
2 2 #
3 3 # IPython documentation build configuration file, created by
4 # sphinx-quickstart.py on Sat Mar 29 15:36:13 2008.
4 # sphinx-quickstart on Thu May 8 16:45:02 2008.
5 5 #
6 6 # This file is execfile()d with the current directory set to its containing dir.
7 7 #
8 8 # The contents of this file are pickled, so don't put values in the namespace
9 9 # that aren't pickleable (module imports are okay, they're removed automatically).
10 10 #
11 11 # All configuration values have a default value; values that are commented out
12 12 # serve to show the default value.
13 13
14 import sys
14 import sys, os
15 15
16 # If your extensions are in another directory, add it here.
17 #sys.path.append('some/directory')
16 # If your extensions are in another directory, add it here. If the directory
17 # is relative to the documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it
18 # absolute, like shown here.
19 #sys.path.append(os.path.abspath('some/directory'))
18 20
19 21 # General configuration
20 22 # ---------------------
21 23
22 24 # Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be extensions
23 # coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.addons.*') or your custom ones.
25 # coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom ones.
24 26 #extensions = []
25 27
26 28 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
27 29 templates_path = ['_templates']
28 30
29 31 # The suffix of source filenames.
30 source_suffix = '.rst'
32 source_suffix = '.txt'
31 33
32 34 # The master toctree document.
33 master_doc = 'ipython'
35 master_doc = 'index'
34 36
35 37 # General substitutions.
36 38 project = 'IPython'
37 copyright = '2008, Fernando Perez'
39 copyright = '2008, The IPython Development Team'
38 40
39 41 # The default replacements for |version| and |release|, also used in various
40 42 # other places throughout the built documents.
41 43 #
42 44 # The short X.Y version.
43 version = '0.8.3'
45 version = '0.9'
44 46 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
45 release = '0.8.3'
47 release = '0.9'
46 48
47 49 # There are two options for replacing |today|: either, you set today to some
48 50 # non-false value, then it is used:
49 51 #today = ''
50 52 # Else, today_fmt is used as the format for a strftime call.
51 53 today_fmt = '%B %d, %Y'
52 54
53 55 # List of documents that shouldn't be included in the build.
54 56 #unused_docs = []
55 57
58 # List of directories, relative to source directories, that shouldn't be searched
59 # for source files.
60 #exclude_dirs = []
61
56 62 # If true, '()' will be appended to :func: etc. cross-reference text.
57 63 #add_function_parentheses = True
58 64
59 65 # If true, the current module name will be prepended to all description
60 66 # unit titles (such as .. function::).
61 67 #add_module_names = True
62 68
63 69 # If true, sectionauthor and moduleauthor directives will be shown in the
64 70 # output. They are ignored by default.
65 71 #show_authors = False
66 72
67 73 # The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
68 74 pygments_style = 'sphinx'
69 75
70 76
71 77 # Options for HTML output
72 78 # -----------------------
73 79
74 80 # The style sheet to use for HTML and HTML Help pages. A file of that name
75 81 # must exist either in Sphinx' static/ path, or in one of the custom paths
76 82 # given in html_static_path.
77 83 html_style = 'default.css'
78 84
85 # The name for this set of Sphinx documents. If None, it defaults to
86 # "<project> v<release> documentation".
87 #html_title = None
88
89 # The name of an image file (within the static path) to place at the top of
90 # the sidebar.
91 #html_logo = None
92
79 93 # Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
80 94 # relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
81 95 # so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
82 96 html_static_path = ['_static']
83 97
84 98 # If not '', a 'Last updated on:' timestamp is inserted at every page bottom,
85 99 # using the given strftime format.
86 100 html_last_updated_fmt = '%b %d, %Y'
87 101
88 102 # If true, SmartyPants will be used to convert quotes and dashes to
89 103 # typographically correct entities.
90 104 #html_use_smartypants = True
91 105
92 # Content template for the index page.
93 #html_index = ''
94
95 106 # Custom sidebar templates, maps document names to template names.
96 107 #html_sidebars = {}
97 108
98 109 # Additional templates that should be rendered to pages, maps page names to
99 110 # template names.
100 111 #html_additional_pages = {}
101 112
102 113 # If false, no module index is generated.
103 114 #html_use_modindex = True
104 115
105 116 # If true, the reST sources are included in the HTML build as _sources/<name>.
106 117 #html_copy_source = True
107 118
119 # If true, an OpenSearch description file will be output, and all pages will
120 # contain a <link> tag referring to it. The value of this option must be the
121 # base URL from which the finished HTML is served.
122 #html_use_opensearch = ''
123
124 # If nonempty, this is the file name suffix for HTML files (e.g. ".xhtml").
125 #html_file_suffix = ''
126
108 127 # Output file base name for HTML help builder.
109 128 htmlhelp_basename = 'IPythondoc'
110 129
111 130
112 131 # Options for LaTeX output
113 132 # ------------------------
114 133
115 134 # The paper size ('letter' or 'a4').
116 latex_paper_size = 'a4'
135 latex_paper_size = 'letter'
117 136
118 137 # The font size ('10pt', '11pt' or '12pt').
119 138 latex_font_size = '10pt'
120 139
121 140 # Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
122 141 # (source start file, target name, title, author, document class [howto/manual]).
123 latex_documents = [('ipython','ipython.tex','IPython Documentation','Fernando Perez (and contributors)','manual')]
142 latex_documents = [
143 ('index', 'IPython.tex', 'IPython Documentation', 'The IPython Development Team', 'manual'),
144 ]
145
146 # The name of an image file (relative to this directory) to place at the top of
147 # the title page.
148 #latex_logo = None
149
150 # For "manual" documents, if this is true, then toplevel headings are parts,
151 # not chapters.
152 #latex_use_parts = False
124 153
125 154 # Additional stuff for the LaTeX preamble.
126 155 #latex_preamble = ''
127 156
128 157 # Documents to append as an appendix to all manuals.
129 158 #latex_appendices = []
130 159
131 160 # If false, no module index is generated.
132 161 #latex_use_modindex = True
1 NO CONTENT: file renamed from doc/update_version.sh to docs/update_version.sh
@@ -1,169 +1,174 b''
1 1 #!/usr/bin/env python
2 2 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
3 3 """Setup script for IPython.
4 4
5 5 Under Posix environments it works like a typical setup.py script.
6 6 Under Windows, the command sdist is not supported, since IPython
7 7 requires utilities which are not available under Windows."""
8 8
9 9 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 10 # Copyright (C) 2008 The IPython Development Team
11 11 #
12 12 # Distributed under the terms of the BSD License. The full license is in
13 13 # the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
14 14 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 15
16 16 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 17 # Imports
18 18 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 19
20 20 # Stdlib imports
21 21 import os
22 22 import sys
23 23
24 24 from glob import glob
25 25
26 26 # BEFORE importing distutils, remove MANIFEST. distutils doesn't properly
27 27 # update it when the contents of directories change.
28 28 if os.path.exists('MANIFEST'): os.remove('MANIFEST')
29 29
30 30 from distutils.core import setup
31 31
32 32 # Local imports
33 33 from IPython.genutils import target_update
34 34
35 35 from setupbase import (
36 36 setup_args,
37 37 find_packages,
38 38 find_package_data,
39 39 find_scripts,
40 40 find_data_files,
41 41 check_for_dependencies
42 42 )
43 43
44 44 isfile = os.path.isfile
45 45
46 46 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
47 47 # Handle OS specific things
48 48 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
49 49
50 50 if os.name == 'posix':
51 51 os_name = 'posix'
52 52 elif os.name in ['nt','dos']:
53 53 os_name = 'windows'
54 54 else:
55 55 print 'Unsupported operating system:',os.name
56 56 sys.exit(1)
57 57
58 58 # Under Windows, 'sdist' has not been supported. Now that the docs build with
59 59 # Sphinx it might work, but let's not turn it on until someone confirms that it
60 60 # actually works.
61 61 if os_name == 'windows' and 'sdist' in sys.argv:
62 62 print 'The sdist command is not available under Windows. Exiting.'
63 63 sys.exit(1)
64 64
65 65 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
66 66 # Things related to the IPython documentation
67 67 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
68 68
69 69 # update the manuals when building a source dist
70 70 if len(sys.argv) >= 2 and sys.argv[1] in ('sdist','bdist_rpm'):
71 71 import textwrap
72 72
73 73 # List of things to be updated. Each entry is a triplet of args for
74 74 # target_update()
75 75 to_update = [
76 76 # FIXME - Disabled for now: we need to redo an automatic way
77 77 # of generating the magic info inside the rst.
78 78 #('doc/magic.tex',
79 79 #['IPython/Magic.py'],
80 80 #"cd doc && ./update_magic.sh" ),
81 81
82 82 ('doc/ipython.1.gz',
83 83 ['doc/ipython.1'],
84 84 "cd doc && gzip -9c ipython.1 > ipython.1.gz"),
85 85
86 86 ('doc/pycolor.1.gz',
87 87 ['doc/pycolor.1'],
88 88 "cd doc && gzip -9c pycolor.1 > pycolor.1.gz"),
89 89 ]
90 90
91 # Only build the docs is sphinx is present
91 92 try:
92 93 import sphinx
93 94 except ImportError:
94 95 pass
95 96 else:
97 pass
98 # BEG: This is disabled as I am not sure what to depend on.
99 # I actually don't think we should be automatically building
100 # the docs for people.
96 101 # The do_sphinx scripts builds html and pdf, so just one
97 102 # target is enough to cover all manual generation
98 to_update.append(
99 ('doc/manual/ipython.pdf',
100 ['IPython/Release.py','doc/source/ipython.rst'],
101 "cd doc && python do_sphinx.py")
102 )
103 # to_update.append(
104 # ('doc/manual/ipython.pdf',
105 # ['IPython/Release.py','doc/source/ipython.rst'],
106 # "cd docs && python do_sphinx.py")
107 # )
103 108 [ target_update(*t) for t in to_update ]
104 109
105 110 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
106 111 # Find all the packages, package data, scripts and data_files
107 112 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
108 113
109 114 packages = find_packages()
110 115 package_data = find_package_data()
111 116 scripts = find_scripts()
112 117 data_files = find_data_files()
113 118
114 119 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
115 120 # Handle dependencies and setuptools specific things
116 121 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
117 122
118 123 # This dict is used for passing extra arguments that are setuptools
119 124 # specific to setup
120 125 setuptools_extra_args = {}
121 126
122 127 if 'setuptools' in sys.modules:
123 128 setuptools_extra_args['zip_safe'] = False
124 129 setuptools_extra_args['entry_points'] = {
125 130 'console_scripts': [
126 131 'ipython = IPython.ipapi:launch_new_instance',
127 132 'pycolor = IPython.PyColorize:main',
128 133 'ipcontroller = IPython.kernel.scripts.ipcontroller:main',
129 134 'ipengine = IPython.kernel.scripts.ipengine:main',
130 135 'ipcluster = IPython.kernel.scripts.ipcluster:main'
131 136 ]
132 137 }
133 138 setup_args["extras_require"] = dict(
134 139 kernel = [
135 140 "zope.interface>=3.4.1",
136 141 "Twisted>=8.0.1",
137 142 "foolscap>=0.2.6"
138 143 ],
139 144 doc=['Sphinx>=0.3','pygments'],
140 145 test='nose>=0.10.1',
141 146 security=["pyOpenSSL>=0.6"]
142 147 )
143 148 # Allow setuptools to handle the scripts
144 149 scripts = []
145 150 # eggs will lack docs, examples
146 151 data_files = []
147 152 else:
148 153 # package_data of setuptools was introduced to distutils in 2.4
149 154 cfgfiles = filter(isfile, glob('IPython/UserConfig/*'))
150 155 if sys.version_info < (2,4):
151 156 data_files.append(('lib', 'IPython/UserConfig', cfgfiles))
152 157 # If we are running without setuptools, call this function which will
153 158 # check for dependencies an inform the user what is needed. This is
154 159 # just to make life easy for users.
155 160 check_for_dependencies()
156 161
157 162
158 163 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
159 164 # Do the actual setup now
160 165 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
161 166
162 167 setup_args['packages'] = packages
163 168 setup_args['package_data'] = package_data
164 169 setup_args['scripts'] = scripts
165 170 setup_args['data_files'] = data_files
166 171 setup_args.update(setuptools_extra_args)
167 172
168 173 if __name__ == '__main__':
169 174 setup(**setup_args)
@@ -1,230 +1,226 b''
1 1 # encoding: utf-8
2 2
3 3 """
4 4 This module defines the things that are used in setup.py for building IPython
5 5
6 6 This includes:
7 7
8 8 * The basic arguments to setup
9 9 * Functions for finding things like packages, package data, etc.
10 10 * A function for checking dependencies.
11 11 """
12 12
13 13 __docformat__ = "restructuredtext en"
14 14
15 15 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16 16 # Copyright (C) 2008 The IPython Development Team
17 17 #
18 18 # Distributed under the terms of the BSD License. The full license is in
19 19 # the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
20 20 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 21
22 22 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 23 # Imports
24 24 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 25
26 26 import os, sys
27 27
28 28 from glob import glob
29 29
30 30 from setupext import install_data_ext
31 31
32 32 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
33 33 # Useful globals and utility functions
34 34 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
35 35
36 36 # A few handy globals
37 37 isfile = os.path.isfile
38 38 pjoin = os.path.join
39 39
40 40 def oscmd(s):
41 41 print ">", s
42 42 os.system(s)
43 43
44 44 # A little utility we'll need below, since glob() does NOT allow you to do
45 45 # exclusion on multiple endings!
46 46 def file_doesnt_endwith(test,endings):
47 47 """Return true if test is a file and its name does NOT end with any
48 48 of the strings listed in endings."""
49 49 if not isfile(test):
50 50 return False
51 51 for e in endings:
52 52 if test.endswith(e):
53 53 return False
54 54 return True
55 55
56 56 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
57 57 # Basic project information
58 58 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
59 59
60 60 # Release.py contains version, authors, license, url, keywords, etc.
61 61 execfile(pjoin('IPython','Release.py'))
62 62
63 63 # Create a dict with the basic information
64 64 # This dict is eventually passed to setup after additional keys are added.
65 65 setup_args = dict(
66 66 name = name,
67 67 version = version,
68 68 description = description,
69 69 long_description = long_description,
70 70 author = author,
71 71 author_email = author_email,
72 72 url = url,
73 73 download_url = download_url,
74 74 license = license,
75 75 platforms = platforms,
76 76 keywords = keywords,
77 77 cmdclass = {'install_data': install_data_ext},
78 78 )
79 79
80 80
81 81 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
82 82 # Find packages
83 83 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
84 84
85 85 def add_package(packages, pname, config=False, tests=False, scripts=False, others=None):
86 86 """
87 87 Add a package to the list of packages, including certain subpackages.
88 88 """
89 89 packages.append('.'.join(['IPython',pname]))
90 90 if config:
91 91 packages.append('.'.join(['IPython',pname,'config']))
92 92 if tests:
93 93 packages.append('.'.join(['IPython',pname,'tests']))
94 94 if scripts:
95 95 packages.append('.'.join(['IPython',pname,'scripts']))
96 96 if others is not None:
97 97 for o in others:
98 98 packages.append('.'.join(['IPython',pname,o]))
99 99
100 100 def find_packages():
101 101 """
102 102 Find all of IPython's packages.
103 103 """
104 104 packages = ['IPython']
105 105 add_package(packages, 'config', tests=True)
106 106 add_package(packages , 'Extensions')
107 107 add_package(packages, 'external')
108 108 add_package(packages, 'gui')
109 109 add_package(packages, 'gui.wx')
110 110 add_package(packages, 'kernel', config=True, tests=True, scripts=True)
111 111 add_package(packages, 'kernel.core', config=True, tests=True)
112 112 add_package(packages, 'testing', tests=True)
113 113 add_package(packages, 'tools', tests=True)
114 114 add_package(packages, 'UserConfig')
115 115 return packages
116 116
117 117 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
118 118 # Find package data
119 119 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
120 120
121 121 def find_package_data():
122 122 """
123 123 Find IPython's package_data.
124 124 """
125 125 # This is not enough for these things to appear in an sdist.
126 126 # We need to muck with the MANIFEST to get this to work
127 127 package_data = {'IPython.UserConfig' : ['*'] }
128 128 return package_data
129 129
130 130
131 131 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
132 132 # Find data files
133 133 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
134 134
135 135 def find_data_files():
136 136 """
137 137 Find IPython's data_files.
138 138 """
139 139
140 140 # I can't find how to make distutils create a nested dir. structure, so
141 141 # in the meantime do it manually. Butt ugly.
142 142 # Note that http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~noel/distutils.html, ex. 2/3, contain
143 143 # information on how to do this more cleanly once python 2.4 can be assumed.
144 144 # Thanks to Noel for the tip.
145 145 docdirbase = 'share/doc/ipython'
146 146 manpagebase = 'share/man/man1'
147 147
148 148 # We only need to exclude from this things NOT already excluded in the
149 149 # MANIFEST.in file.
150 150 exclude = ('.sh','.1.gz')
151 docfiles = filter(lambda f:file_doesnt_endwith(f,exclude),glob('doc/*'))
152 examfiles = filter(isfile, glob('doc/examples/*.py'))
153 manfiles = filter(isfile, glob('doc/manual/*'))
154 manstatic = filter(isfile, glob('doc/manual/_static/*'))
155 manpages = filter(isfile, glob('doc/*.1.gz'))
156 scriptfiles = filter(isfile, ['scripts/ipython','scripts/pycolor',
157 'scripts/irunner'])
151 # We need to figure out how we want to package all of our rst docs?
152 # docfiles = filter(lambda f:file_doesnt_endwith(f,exclude),glob('docs/*'))
153 examfiles = filter(isfile, glob('docs/examples/core/*.py'))
154 examfiles.append(filter(isfile, glob('docs/examples/kernel/*.py')))
155 manpages = filter(isfile, glob('docs/man/*.1.gz'))
158 156 igridhelpfiles = filter(isfile, glob('IPython/Extensions/igrid_help.*'))
159 157
160 data_files = [('data', docdirbase, docfiles),
158 data_files = [#('data', docdirbase, docfiles),
161 159 ('data', pjoin(docdirbase, 'examples'),examfiles),
162 ('data', pjoin(docdirbase, 'manual'),manfiles),
163 ('data', pjoin(docdirbase, 'manual/_static'),manstatic),
164 160 ('data', manpagebase, manpages),
165 161 ('data',pjoin(docdirbase, 'extensions'),igridhelpfiles),
166 162 ]
167 163 return data_files
168 164
169 165 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
170 166 # Find scripts
171 167 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
172 168
173 169 def find_scripts():
174 170 """
175 171 Find IPython's scripts.
176 172 """
177 173 scripts = []
178 174 scripts.append('IPython/kernel/scripts/ipengine')
179 175 scripts.append('IPython/kernel/scripts/ipcontroller')
180 176 scripts.append('IPython/kernel/scripts/ipcluster')
181 177 scripts.append('scripts/ipython')
182 178 scripts.append('scripts/pycolor')
183 179 scripts.append('scripts/irunner')
184 180
185 181 # Script to be run by the windows binary installer after the default setup
186 182 # routine, to add shortcuts and similar windows-only things. Windows
187 183 # post-install scripts MUST reside in the scripts/ dir, otherwise distutils
188 184 # doesn't find them.
189 185 if 'bdist_wininst' in sys.argv:
190 186 if len(sys.argv) > 2 and ('sdist' in sys.argv or 'bdist_rpm' in sys.argv):
191 187 print >> sys.stderr,"ERROR: bdist_wininst must be run alone. Exiting."
192 188 sys.exit(1)
193 189 scripts.append('scripts/ipython_win_post_install.py')
194 190
195 191 return scripts
196 192
197 193 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
198 194 # Find scripts
199 195 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
200 196
201 197 def check_for_dependencies():
202 198 """Check for IPython's dependencies.
203 199
204 200 This function should NOT be called if running under setuptools!
205 201 """
206 202 from setupext.setupext import (
207 203 print_line, print_raw, print_status, print_message,
208 204 check_for_zopeinterface, check_for_twisted,
209 205 check_for_foolscap, check_for_pyopenssl,
210 206 check_for_sphinx, check_for_pygments,
211 207 check_for_nose, check_for_pexpect
212 208 )
213 209 print_line()
214 210 print_raw("BUILDING IPYTHON")
215 211 print_status('python', sys.version)
216 212 print_status('platform', sys.platform)
217 213 if sys.platform == 'win32':
218 214 print_status('Windows version', sys.getwindowsversion())
219 215
220 216 print_raw("")
221 217 print_raw("OPTIONAL DEPENDENCIES")
222 218
223 219 check_for_zopeinterface()
224 220 check_for_twisted()
225 221 check_for_foolscap()
226 222 check_for_pyopenssl()
227 223 check_for_sphinx()
228 224 check_for_pygments()
229 225 check_for_nose()
230 226 check_for_pexpect() No newline at end of file
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@@ -1,622 +0,0 b''
1 # encoding: utf-8
2
3 """Mix of ConfigObj and Struct-like access.
4
5 Provides:
6
7 - Coupling a Struct object to a ConfigObj one, so that changes to the Traited
8 instance propagate back into the ConfigObj.
9
10 - A declarative interface for describing configurations that automatically maps
11 to valid ConfigObj representations.
12
13 - From these descriptions, valid .conf files can be auto-generated, with class
14 docstrings and traits information used for initial auto-documentation.
15
16 - Hierarchical inclusion of files, so that a base config can be overridden only
17 in specific spots.
18
19
20 Notes:
21
22 The file creation policy is:
23
24 1. Creating a SConfigManager(FooConfig,'missingfile.conf') will work
25 fine, and 'missingfile.conf' will be created empty.
26
27 2. Creating SConfigManager(FooConfig,'OKfile.conf') where OKfile.conf has
28
29 include = 'missingfile.conf'
30
31 conks out with IOError.
32
33 My rationale is that creating top-level empty files is a common and
34 reasonable need, but that having invalid include statements should
35 raise an error right away, so people know immediately that their files
36 have gone stale.
37
38
39 TODO:
40
41 - Turn the currently interactive tests into proper doc/unit tests. Complete
42 docstrings.
43
44 - Write the real ipython1 config system using this. That one is more
45 complicated than either the MPL one or the fake 'ipythontest' that I wrote
46 here, and it requires solving the issue of declaring references to other
47 objects inside the config files.
48
49 - [Low priority] Write a custom TraitsUI view so that hierarchical
50 configurations provide nicer interactive editing. The automatic system is
51 remarkably good, but for very complex configurations having a nicely
52 organized view would be nice.
53 """
54
55 __docformat__ = "restructuredtext en"
56 __license__ = 'BSD'
57
58 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
59 # Copyright (C) 2008 The IPython Development Team
60 #
61 # Distributed under the terms of the BSD License. The full license is in
62 # the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
63 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
64
65 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
66 # Imports
67 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
68
69 ############################################################################
70 # Stdlib imports
71 ############################################################################
72 from cStringIO import StringIO
73 from inspect import isclass
74
75 import os
76 import textwrap
77
78 ############################################################################
79 # External imports
80 ############################################################################
81
82 from IPython.external import configobj
83
84 ############################################################################
85 # Utility functions
86 ############################################################################
87
88 def get_split_ind(seq, N):
89 """seq is a list of words. Return the index into seq such that
90 len(' '.join(seq[:ind])<=N
91 """
92
93 sLen = 0
94 # todo: use Alex's xrange pattern from the cbook for efficiency
95 for (word, ind) in zip(seq, range(len(seq))):
96 sLen += len(word) + 1 # +1 to account for the len(' ')
97 if sLen>=N: return ind
98 return len(seq)
99
100 def wrap(prefix, text, cols, max_lines=6):
101 """'wrap text with prefix at length cols"""
102 pad = ' '*len(prefix.expandtabs())
103 available = cols - len(pad)
104
105 seq = text.split(' ')
106 Nseq = len(seq)
107 ind = 0
108 lines = []
109 while ind<Nseq:
110 lastInd = ind
111 ind += get_split_ind(seq[ind:], available)
112 lines.append(seq[lastInd:ind])
113
114 num_lines = len(lines)
115 abbr_end = max_lines // 2
116 abbr_start = max_lines - abbr_end
117 lines_skipped = False
118 for i in range(num_lines):
119 if i == 0:
120 # add the prefix to the first line, pad with spaces otherwise
121 ret = prefix + ' '.join(lines[i]) + '\n'
122 elif i < abbr_start or i > num_lines-abbr_end-1:
123 ret += pad + ' '.join(lines[i]) + '\n'
124 else:
125 if not lines_skipped:
126 lines_skipped = True
127 ret += ' <...snipped %d lines...> \n' % (num_lines-max_lines)
128 # for line in lines[1:]:
129 # ret += pad + ' '.join(line) + '\n'
130 return ret[:-1]
131
132 def dedent(txt):
133 """A modified version of textwrap.dedent, specialized for docstrings.
134
135 This version doesn't get confused by the first line of text having
136 inconsistent indentation from the rest, which happens a lot in docstrings.
137
138 :Examples:
139
140 >>> s = '''
141 ... First line.
142 ... More...
143 ... End'''
144
145 >>> print dedent(s)
146 First line.
147 More...
148 End
149
150 >>> s = '''First line
151 ... More...
152 ... End'''
153
154 >>> print dedent(s)
155 First line
156 More...
157 End
158 """
159 out = [textwrap.dedent(t) for t in txt.split('\n',1)
160 if t and not t.isspace()]
161 return '\n'.join(out)
162
163
164 def comment(strng,indent=''):
165 """return an input string, commented out"""
166 template = indent + '# %s'
167 lines = [template % s for s in strng.splitlines(True)]
168 return ''.join(lines)
169
170
171 def configobj2str(cobj):
172 """Dump a Configobj instance to a string."""
173 outstr = StringIO()
174 cobj.write(outstr)
175 return outstr.getvalue()
176
177 def get_config_filename(conf):
178 """Find the filename attribute of a ConfigObj given a sub-section object.
179 """
180 depth = conf.depth
181 for d in range(depth):
182 conf = conf.parent
183 return conf.filename
184
185 def sconf2File(sconf,fname,force=False):
186 """Write a SConfig instance to a given filename.
187
188 :Keywords:
189
190 force : bool (False)
191 If true, force writing even if the file exists.
192 """
193
194 if os.path.isfile(fname) and not force:
195 raise IOError("File %s already exists, use force=True to overwrite" %
196 fname)
197
198 txt = repr(sconf)
199
200 fobj = open(fname,'w')
201 fobj.write(txt)
202 fobj.close()
203
204 def filter_scalars(sc):
205 """ input sc MUST be sorted!!!"""
206 scalars = []
207 maxi = len(sc)-1
208 i = 0
209 while i<len(sc):
210 t = sc[i]
211 if t.startswith('_sconf_'):
212 # Skip altogether private _sconf_ attributes, so we actually issue
213 # a 'continue' call to avoid the append(t) below
214 i += 1
215 continue
216 scalars.append(t)
217 i += 1
218
219 return scalars
220
221
222 def get_scalars(obj):
223 """Return scalars for a Sconf class object"""
224
225 skip = set(['trait_added','trait_modified'])
226 sc = [k for k in obj.__dict__ if not k.startswith('_')]
227 sc.sort()
228 return filter_scalars(sc)
229
230
231 def get_sections(obj,sectionClass):
232 """Return sections for a Sconf class object"""
233 return [(n,v) for (n,v) in obj.__dict__.iteritems()
234 if isclass(v) and issubclass(v,sectionClass)]
235
236
237 def get_instance_sections(inst):
238 """Return sections for a Sconf instance"""
239 sections = [(k,v) for k,v in inst.__dict__.iteritems()
240 if isinstance(v,SConfig) and not k=='_sconf_parent']
241 # Sort the sections by name
242 sections.sort(key=lambda x:x[0])
243 return sections
244
245
246 def partition_instance(obj):
247 """Return scalars,sections for a given Sconf instance.
248 """
249 scnames = []
250 sections = []
251 for k,v in obj.__dict__.iteritems():
252 if isinstance(v,SConfig):
253 if not k=='_sconf_parent':
254 sections.append((k,v))
255 else:
256 scnames.append(k)
257
258 # Sort the sections by name
259 sections.sort(key=lambda x:x[0])
260
261 # Sort the scalar names, filter them and then extract the actual objects
262 scnames.sort()
263 scnames = filter_scalars(scnames)
264 scalars = [(s,obj.__dict__[s]) for s in scnames]
265
266 return scalars, sections
267
268
269 def mk_ConfigObj(filename,mk_missing_file=True):
270 """Return a ConfigObj instance with our hardcoded conventions.
271
272 Use a simple factory that wraps our option choices for using ConfigObj.
273 I'm hard-wiring certain choices here, so we'll always use instances with
274 THESE choices.
275
276 :Parameters:
277
278 filename : string
279 File to read from.
280
281 :Keywords:
282 makeMissingFile : bool (True)
283 If true, the file named by `filename` may not yet exist and it will be
284 automatically created (empty). Else, if `filename` doesn't exist, an
285 IOError will be raised.
286 """
287
288 if mk_missing_file:
289 create_empty = True
290 file_error = False
291 else:
292 create_empty = False
293 file_error = True
294
295 return configobj.ConfigObj(filename,
296 create_empty=create_empty,
297 file_error=file_error,
298 indent_type=' ',
299 interpolation='Template',
300 unrepr=True)
301
302 nullConf = mk_ConfigObj(None)
303
304
305 class RecursiveConfigObj(object):
306 """Object-oriented interface for recursive ConfigObj constructions."""
307
308 def __init__(self,filename):
309 """Return a ConfigObj instance with our hardcoded conventions.
310
311 Use a simple factory that wraps our option choices for using ConfigObj.
312 I'm hard-wiring certain choices here, so we'll always use instances with
313 THESE choices.
314
315 :Parameters:
316
317 filename : string
318 File to read from.
319 """
320
321 self.comp = []
322 self.conf = self._load(filename)
323
324 def _load(self,filename,mk_missing_file=True):
325 conf = mk_ConfigObj(filename,mk_missing_file)
326
327 # Do recursive loading. We only allow (or at least honor) the include
328 # tag at the top-level. For now, we drop the inclusion information so
329 # that there are no restrictions on which levels of the SConfig
330 # hierarchy can use include statements. But this means that
331
332 # if bookkeeping of each separate component of the recursive
333 # construction was requested, make a separate object for storage
334 # there, since we don't want that to be modified by the inclusion
335 # process.
336 self.comp.append(mk_ConfigObj(filename,mk_missing_file))
337
338 incfname = conf.pop('include',None)
339 if incfname is not None:
340 # Do recursive load. We don't want user includes that point to
341 # missing files to fail silently, so in the recursion we disable
342 # auto-creation of missing files.
343 confinc = self._load(incfname,mk_missing_file=False)
344
345 # Update with self to get proper ordering (included files provide
346 # base data, current one overwrites)
347 confinc.update(conf)
348 # And do swap to return the updated structure
349 conf = confinc
350 # Set the filename to be the original file instead of the included
351 # one
352 conf.filename = filename
353 return conf
354
355 ############################################################################
356 # Main SConfig class and supporting exceptions
357 ############################################################################
358
359 class SConfigError(Exception): pass
360
361 class SConfigInvalidKeyError(SConfigError): pass
362
363 class SConfig(object):
364 """A class representing configuration objects.
365
366 Note: this class should NOT have any traits itself, since the actual traits
367 will be declared by subclasses. This class is meant to ONLY declare the
368 necessary initialization/validation methods. """
369
370 # Any traits declared here are prefixed with _sconf_ so that our special
371 # formatting/analysis utilities can distinguish them from user traits and
372 # can avoid them.
373
374 # Once created, the tree's hierarchy can NOT be modified
375 _sconf_parent = None
376
377 def __init__(self,config=None,parent=None,monitor=None):
378 """Makes an SConfig object out of a ConfigObj instance
379 """
380
381 if config is None:
382 config = mk_ConfigObj(None)
383
384 # Validate the set of scalars ...
385 my_scalars = set(get_scalars(self))
386 cf_scalars = set(config.scalars)
387 invalid_scalars = cf_scalars - my_scalars
388 if invalid_scalars:
389 config_fname = get_config_filename(config)
390 m=("In config defined in file: %r\n"
391 "Error processing section: %s\n"
392 "These keys are invalid : %s\n"
393 "Valid key names : %s\n"
394 % (config_fname,self.__class__.__name__,
395 list(invalid_scalars),list(my_scalars)))
396 raise SConfigInvalidKeyError(m)
397
398 # ... and sections
399 section_items = get_sections(self.__class__,SConfig)
400 my_sections = set([n for n,v in section_items])
401 cf_sections = set(config.sections)
402 invalid_sections = cf_sections - my_sections
403 if invalid_sections:
404 config_fname = get_config_filename(config)
405 m = ("In config defined in file: %r\n"
406 "Error processing section: %s\n"
407 "These subsections are invalid : %s\n"
408 "Valid subsection names : %s\n"
409 % (config_fname,self.__class__.__name__,
410 list(invalid_sections),list(my_sections)))
411 raise SConfigInvalidKeyError(m)
412
413 self._sconf_parent = parent
414
415 # Now set the traits based on the config
416 for k in my_scalars:
417 setattr(self,k,config[k])
418
419 # And build subsections
420 for s,v in section_items:
421 sec_config = config.setdefault(s,{})
422 section = v(sec_config,self,monitor=monitor)
423
424 # We must use add_trait instead of setattr because we inherit from
425 # HasStrictTraits, but we need to then do a 'dummy' getattr call on
426 # self so the class trait propagates to the instance.
427 self.add_trait(s,section)
428 getattr(self,s)
429
430 def __repr__(self,depth=0):
431 """Dump a section to a string."""
432
433 indent = ' '*(depth)
434
435 top_name = self.__class__.__name__
436
437 if depth == 0:
438 label = '# %s - plaintext (in .conf format)\n' % top_name
439 else:
440 # Section titles are indented one level less than their contents in
441 # the ConfigObj write methods.
442 sec_indent = ' '*(depth-1)
443 label = '\n'+sec_indent+('[' * depth) + top_name + (']'*depth)
444
445 out = [label]
446
447 doc = self.__class__.__doc__
448 if doc is not None:
449 out.append(comment(dedent(doc),indent))
450
451 scalars, sections = partition_instance(self)
452
453 for s,v in scalars:
454 try:
455 info = self.__base_traits__[s].handler.info()
456 # Get a short version of info with lines of max. 78 chars, so
457 # that after commenting them out (with '# ') they are at most
458 # 80-chars long.
459 out.append(comment(wrap('',info.replace('\n', ' '),78-len(indent)),indent))
460 except (KeyError,AttributeError):
461 pass
462 out.append(indent+('%s = %r' % (s,v)))
463
464 for sname,sec in sections:
465 out.append(sec.__repr__(depth+1))
466
467 return '\n'.join(out)
468
469 def __str__(self):
470 return self.__class__.__name__
471
472
473 ##############################################################################
474 # High-level class(es) and utilities for handling a coupled pair of SConfig and
475 # ConfigObj instances.
476 ##############################################################################
477
478 def path_to_root(obj):
479 """Find the path to the root of a nested SConfig instance."""
480 ob = obj
481 path = []
482 while ob._sconf_parent is not None:
483 path.append(ob.__class__.__name__)
484 ob = ob._sconf_parent
485 path.reverse()
486 return path
487
488
489 def set_value(fconf,path,key,value):
490 """Set a value on a ConfigObj instance, arbitrarily deep."""
491 section = fconf
492 for sname in path:
493 section = section.setdefault(sname,{})
494 section[key] = value
495
496
497 def fmonitor(fconf):
498 """Make a monitor for coupling SConfig instances to ConfigObj ones.
499
500 We must use a closure because Traits makes assumptions about the functions
501 used with on_trait_change() that prevent the use of a callable instance.
502 """
503
504 def mon(obj,name,new):
505 #print 'OBJ:',obj # dbg
506 #print 'NAM:',name # dbg
507 #print 'NEW:',new # dbg
508 set_value(fconf,path_to_root(obj),name,new)
509
510 return mon
511
512
513 class SConfigManager(object):
514 """A simple object to manage and sync a SConfig and a ConfigObj pair.
515 """
516
517 def __init__(self,configClass,configFilename,filePriority=True):
518 """Make a new SConfigManager.
519
520 :Parameters:
521
522 configClass : class
523
524 configFilename : string
525 If the filename points to a non-existent file, it will be created
526 empty. This is useful when creating a file form from an existing
527 configClass with the class defaults.
528
529
530 :Keywords:
531
532 filePriority : bool (True)
533
534 If true, at construction time the file object takes priority and
535 overwrites the contents of the config object. Else, the data flow
536 is reversed and the file object will be overwritten with the
537 configClass defaults at write() time.
538 """
539
540 rconf = RecursiveConfigObj(configFilename)
541 # In a hierarchical object, the two following fconfs are *very*
542 # different. In self.fconf, we'll keep the outer-most fconf associated
543 # directly to the original filename. self.fconf_combined, instead,
544 # contains an object which has the combined effect of having merged all
545 # the called files in the recursive chain.
546 self.fconf = rconf.comp[0]
547 self.fconf_combined = rconf.conf
548
549 # Create a monitor to track and apply trait changes to the sconf
550 # instance over into the fconf one
551 monitor = fmonitor(self.fconf)
552
553 if filePriority:
554 self.sconf = configClass(self.fconf_combined,monitor=monitor)
555 else:
556 # Push defaults onto file object
557 self.sconf = configClass(mk_ConfigObj(None),monitor=monitor)
558 self.fconfUpdate(self.fconf,self.sconf)
559
560 def fconfUpdate(self,fconf,sconf):
561 """Update the fconf object with the data from sconf"""
562
563 scalars, sections = partition_instance(sconf)
564
565 for s,v in scalars:
566 fconf[s] = v
567
568 for secname,sec in sections:
569 self.fconfUpdate(fconf.setdefault(secname,{}),sec)
570
571 def write(self,filename=None):
572 """Write out to disk.
573
574 This method writes out only to the top file in a hierarchical
575 configuration, which means that the class defaults and other values not
576 explicitly set in the top level file are NOT written out.
577
578 :Keywords:
579
580 filename : string (None)
581 If given, the output is written to this file, otherwise the
582 .filename attribute of the top-level configuration object is used.
583 """
584 if filename is not None:
585 file_obj = open(filename,'w')
586 out = self.fconf.write(file_obj)
587 file_obj.close()
588 return out
589 else:
590 return self.fconf.write()
591
592 def writeAll(self,filename=None):
593 """Write out the entire configuration to disk.
594
595 This method, in contrast with write(), updates the .fconf_combined
596 object with the *entire* .sconf instance, and then writes it out to
597 disk. This method is thus useful for generating files that have a
598 self-contained, non-hierarchical file.
599
600 :Keywords:
601
602 filename : string (None)
603 If given, the output is written to this file, otherwise the
604 .filename attribute of the top-level configuration object is used.
605 """
606 if filename is not None:
607 file_obj = open(filename,'w')
608 self.fconfUpdate(self.fconf_combined,self.sconf)
609 out = self.fconf_combined.write(file_obj)
610 file_obj.close()
611 return out
612 else:
613 self.fconfUpdate(self.fconf_combined,self.sconf)
614 return self.fconf_combined.write()
615
616 def sconf_str(self):
617 return str(self.sconf)
618
619 def fconf_str(self):
620 return configobj2str(self.fconf)
621
622 __repr__ = __str__ = fconf_str
@@ -1,37 +0,0 b''
1 """Little utilities for testing tconfig.
2
3 This module is meant to be used via
4
5 import sctst; reload(sctst)
6 from sctst import *
7
8 at the top of the actual test scripts, so that they all get the entire set of
9 common test tools with minimal fuss.
10 """
11
12 # Standard library imports
13 import os
14 import sys
15 from pprint import pprint
16
17 # Our own imports.
18
19 from IPython.config import sconfig
20 reload(sconfig)
21
22 from sconfig import mkConfigObj, RecursiveConfigObj, SConfigManager, \
23 sconf2file
24
25 # Simple utilities/classes for testing
26
27 def cat(fname):
28 print '### FILENAME:',fname
29 print open(fname).read()
30
31
32 class App(object):
33 """A trivial 'application' class to be initialized.
34 """
35 def __init__(self,config_class,config_filename):
36 self.rcman = SConfigManager(config_class,config_filename)
37 self.rc = self.rcman.sconf
@@ -1,14 +0,0 b''
1 # Toy example of a TConfig-based configuration description
2
3 # This is the class declaration for the configuration:
4
5 # SimpleConfig
6 # Configuration for my application
7
8 solver = "Iterative2"
9
10 [Protocol]
11 # Specify the Protocol
12
13 ptype = "http2"
14 max_users = 4
@@ -1,14 +0,0 b''
1 # Toy example of a TConfig-based configuration description
2
3 # This is the class declaration for the configuration:
4
5 # SimpleConfig
6 # Configuration for my application
7
8 datafile = string(default='data.txt')
9 solver = option('Direct','Iterative')
10
11 [Protocol]
12 # Specify the Protocol
13 ptype = option('http','ftp','ssh')
14 max_users = integer(1,10)
@@ -1,59 +0,0 b''
1 """Toy example of reading an SConf object."""
2
3 from IPython.external.configobj import ConfigObj
4 from IPython.external import configobj, validate
5
6
7 from IPython.config import sconfig
8 reload(sconfig)
9
10 configspecfilename = 'simple.spec.conf'
11 filename = 'simple.conf'
12
13 print '*'*80
14 configspec = ConfigObj(configspecfilename, encoding='UTF8',
15 list_values=False)
16 print sconfig.configobj2str(configspec)
17
18 print '*'*80
19 config = ConfigObj(filename, configspec=configspec,
20 interpolation='Template',
21 unrepr=True)
22 print sconfig.configobj2str(config)
23 vdt = validate.Validator()
24 test = config.validate(vdt,preserve_errors=True)
25
26 ####
27 vdt = validate.Validator()
28 class Bunch: pass
29 vf = Bunch()
30 vf.__dict__.update(vdt.functions)
31 vf.pass_ = vdt.functions['pass']
32 vf.__dict__.pop('',None)
33 vf.__dict__.pop('pass',None)
34 ###
35
36
37 if test==True:
38 print 'All OK'
39 else:
40 err = configobj.flatten_errors(config,test)
41 print 'Flat errors:'
42 for secs,key,result in err:
43 if secs == []:
44 print 'DEFAULT:','key:',key,'err:',result
45 else:
46 print 'Secs:',secs,'key:',key,'err:',result
47
48
49 ##
50 print '*'*80
51
52 sc = sconfig.SConfig(configspecfilename)
53
54
55
56 ####
57
58
59
@@ -1,11 +0,0 b''
1 Please see the doc/ directory for full manuals and other documents. The manual is
2 prepared using the LyX system (www.lyx.org), but in the doc/manual directory
3 you'll find HTML and PDF versions.
4
5 These manuals normally get installed to $PREFIX/share/doc/ipython-VERSION, unless you
6 redirect the installer via a --prefix/--home option. Normally, $PREFIX is
7 /usr, but your Python may be installed elsewhere. You can see its value by
8 running:
9
10 python -c "import sys;print sys.prefix"
11
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@@ -1,5879 +0,0 b''
1 .. IPython documentation master file, created by sphinx-quickstart.py on Mon Mar 24 17:01:34 2008.
2 You can adapt this file completely to your liking, but it should at least
3 contain the root 'toctree' directive.
4
5 IPython documentation
6 =====================
7
8 Contents:
9
10 .. toctree::
11 :maxdepth: 2
12
13 Indices and tables
14 ==================
15
16 * :ref:`genindex`
17 * :ref:`modindex`
18 * :ref:`search`
19
20 Introduction
21 ============
22
23 This is the official documentation for IPython 0.x series (i.e. what
24 we are used to refer to just as "IPython"). The original text of the
25 manual (most of which is still in place) has been authored by Fernando
26 Perez, but as recommended usage patterns and new features have
27 emerged, this manual has been updated to reflect that fact. Most of
28 the additions have been authored by Ville M. Vainio.
29
30 The manual has been generated from reStructuredText source markup with
31 Sphinx, which should make it much easier to keep it up-to-date in the
32 future. Some reST artifacts and bugs may still be apparent in the
33 documentation, but this should improve as the toolchain matures.
34
35 Overview
36 ========
37
38 One of Python's most useful features is its interactive interpreter.
39 This system allows very fast testing of ideas without the overhead of
40 creating test files as is typical in most programming languages.
41 However, the interpreter supplied with the standard Python distribution
42 is somewhat limited for extended interactive use.
43
44 IPython is a free software project (released under the BSD license)
45 which tries to:
46
47 1. Provide an interactive shell superior to Python's default. IPython
48 has many features for object introspection, system shell access,
49 and its own special command system for adding functionality when
50 working interactively. It tries to be a very efficient environment
51 both for Python code development and for exploration of problems
52 using Python objects (in situations like data analysis).
53 2. Serve as an embeddable, ready to use interpreter for your own
54 programs. IPython can be started with a single call from inside
55 another program, providing access to the current namespace. This
56 can be very useful both for debugging purposes and for situations
57 where a blend of batch-processing and interactive exploration are
58 needed.
59 3. Offer a flexible framework which can be used as the base
60 environment for other systems with Python as the underlying
61 language. Specifically scientific environments like Mathematica,
62 IDL and Matlab inspired its design, but similar ideas can be
63 useful in many fields.
64 4. Allow interactive testing of threaded graphical toolkits. IPython
65 has support for interactive, non-blocking control of GTK, Qt and
66 WX applications via special threading flags. The normal Python
67 shell can only do this for Tkinter applications.
68
69
70 Main features
71 -------------
72
73 * Dynamic object introspection. One can access docstrings, function
74 definition prototypes, source code, source files and other details
75 of any object accessible to the interpreter with a single
76 keystroke ('?', and using '??' provides additional detail).
77 * Searching through modules and namespaces with '*' wildcards, both
78 when using the '?' system and via the %psearch command.
79 * Completion in the local namespace, by typing TAB at the prompt.
80 This works for keywords, modules, methods, variables and files in the
81 current directory. This is supported via the readline library, and
82 full access to configuring readline's behavior is provided.
83 Custom completers can be implemented easily for different purposes
84 (system commands, magic arguments etc.)
85 * Numbered input/output prompts with command history (persistent
86 across sessions and tied to each profile), full searching in this
87 history and caching of all input and output.
88 * User-extensible 'magic' commands. A set of commands prefixed with
89 % is available for controlling IPython itself and provides
90 directory control, namespace information and many aliases to
91 common system shell commands.
92 * Alias facility for defining your own system aliases.
93 * Complete system shell access. Lines starting with ! are passed
94 directly to the system shell, and using !! or var = !cmd
95 captures shell output into python variables for further use.
96 * Background execution of Python commands in a separate thread.
97 IPython has an internal job manager called jobs, and a
98 conveninence backgrounding magic function called %bg.
99 * The ability to expand python variables when calling the system
100 shell. In a shell command, any python variable prefixed with $ is
101 expanded. A double $$ allows passing a literal $ to the shell (for
102 access to shell and environment variables like $PATH).
103 * Filesystem navigation, via a magic %cd command, along with a
104 persistent bookmark system (using %bookmark) for fast access to
105 frequently visited directories.
106 * A lightweight persistence framework via the %store command, which
107 allows you to save arbitrary Python variables. These get restored
108 automatically when your session restarts.
109 * Automatic indentation (optional) of code as you type (through the
110 readline library).
111 * Macro system for quickly re-executing multiple lines of previous
112 input with a single name. Macros can be stored persistently via
113 %store and edited via %edit.
114 * Session logging (you can then later use these logs as code in your
115 programs). Logs can optionally timestamp all input, and also store
116 session output (marked as comments, so the log remains valid
117 Python source code).
118 * Session restoring: logs can be replayed to restore a previous
119 session to the state where you left it.
120 * Verbose and colored exception traceback printouts. Easier to parse
121 visually, and in verbose mode they produce a lot of useful
122 debugging information (basically a terminal version of the cgitb
123 module).
124 * Auto-parentheses: callable objects can be executed without
125 parentheses: 'sin 3' is automatically converted to 'sin(3)'.
126 * Auto-quoting: using ',' or ';' as the first character forces
127 auto-quoting of the rest of the line: ',my_function a b' becomes
128 automatically 'my_function("a","b")', while ';my_function a b'
129 becomes 'my_function("a b")'.
130 * Extensible input syntax. You can define filters that pre-process
131 user input to simplify input in special situations. This allows
132 for example pasting multi-line code fragments which start with
133 '>>>' or '...' such as those from other python sessions or the
134 standard Python documentation.
135 * Flexible configuration system. It uses a configuration file which
136 allows permanent setting of all command-line options, module
137 loading, code and file execution. The system allows recursive file
138 inclusion, so you can have a base file with defaults and layers
139 which load other customizations for particular projects.
140 * Embeddable. You can call IPython as a python shell inside your own
141 python programs. This can be used both for debugging code or for
142 providing interactive abilities to your programs with knowledge
143 about the local namespaces (very useful in debugging and data
144 analysis situations).
145 * Easy debugger access. You can set IPython to call up an enhanced
146 version of the Python debugger (pdb) every time there is an
147 uncaught exception. This drops you inside the code which triggered
148 the exception with all the data live and it is possible to
149 navigate the stack to rapidly isolate the source of a bug. The
150 %run magic command -with the -d option- can run any script under
151 pdb's control, automatically setting initial breakpoints for you.
152 This version of pdb has IPython-specific improvements, including
153 tab-completion and traceback coloring support. For even easier
154 debugger access, try %debug after seeing an exception. winpdb is
155 also supported, see ipy_winpdb extension.
156 * Profiler support. You can run single statements (similar to
157 profile.run()) or complete programs under the profiler's control.
158 While this is possible with standard cProfile or profile modules,
159 IPython wraps this functionality with magic commands (see '%prun'
160 and '%run -p') convenient for rapid interactive work.
161 * Doctest support. The special %doctest_mode command toggles a mode
162 that allows you to paste existing doctests (with leading '>>>'
163 prompts and whitespace) and uses doctest-compatible prompts and
164 output, so you can use IPython sessions as doctest code.
165
166
167 Portability and Python requirements
168 -----------------------------------
169
170 Python requirements: IPython requires with Python version 2.3 or newer.
171 If you are still using Python 2.2 and can not upgrade, the last version
172 of IPython which worked with Python 2.2 was 0.6.15, so you will have to
173 use that.
174
175 IPython is developed under Linux, but it should work in any reasonable
176 Unix-type system (tested OK under Solaris and the BSD family, for which
177 a port exists thanks to Dryice Liu).
178
179 Mac OS X: it works, apparently without any problems (thanks to Jim Boyle
180 at Lawrence Livermore for the information). Thanks to Andrea Riciputi,
181 Fink support is available.
182
183 CygWin: it works mostly OK, though some users have reported problems
184 with prompt coloring. No satisfactory solution to this has been found so
185 far, you may want to disable colors permanently in the ipythonrc
186 configuration file if you experience problems. If you have proper color
187 support under cygwin, please post to the IPython mailing list so this
188 issue can be resolved for all users.
189
190 Windows: it works well under Windows Vista/XP/2k, and I suspect NT should
191 behave similarly. Section "Installation under windows" describes
192 installation details for Windows, including some additional tools needed
193 on this platform.
194
195 Windows 9x support is present, and has been reported to work fine (at
196 least on WinME).
197
198 Location
199 --------
200
201 IPython is generously hosted at http://ipython.scipy.org by the
202 Enthought, Inc and the SciPy project. This site offers downloads,
203 subversion access, mailing lists and a bug tracking system. I am very
204 grateful to Enthought (http://www.enthought.com) and all of the SciPy
205 team for their contribution.
206
207 Installation
208 ============
209
210 Instant instructions
211 --------------------
212
213 If you are of the impatient kind, under Linux/Unix simply untar/unzip
214 the download, then install with 'python setup.py install'. Under
215 Windows, double-click on the provided .exe binary installer.
216
217 Then, take a look at Customization_ section for configuring things
218 optimally and `Quick tips`_ for quick tips on efficient use of
219 IPython. You can later refer to the rest of the manual for all the
220 gory details.
221
222 See the notes in upgrading_ section for upgrading IPython versions.
223
224
225 Detailed Unix instructions (Linux, Mac OS X, etc.)
226
227 For RPM based systems, simply install the supplied package in the usual
228 manner. If you download the tar archive, the process is:
229
230 1. Unzip/untar the ipython-XXX.tar.gz file wherever you want (XXX is
231 the version number). It will make a directory called ipython-XXX.
232 Change into that directory where you will find the files README
233 and setup.py. Once you've completed the installation, you can
234 safely remove this directory.
235 2. If you are installing over a previous installation of version
236 0.2.0 or earlier, first remove your $HOME/.ipython directory,
237 since the configuration file format has changed somewhat (the '='
238 were removed from all option specifications). Or you can call
239 ipython with the -upgrade option and it will do this automatically
240 for you.
241 3. IPython uses distutils, so you can install it by simply typing at
242 the system prompt (don't type the $)::
243
244 $ python setup.py install
245
246 Note that this assumes you have root access to your machine. If
247 you don't have root access or don't want IPython to go in the
248 default python directories, you'll need to use the ``--home`` option
249 (or ``--prefix``). For example::
250
251 $ python setup.py install --home $HOME/local
252
253 will install IPython into $HOME/local and its subdirectories
254 (creating them if necessary).
255 You can type::
256
257 $ python setup.py --help
258
259 for more details.
260
261 Note that if you change the default location for ``--home`` at
262 installation, IPython may end up installed at a location which is
263 not part of your $PYTHONPATH environment variable. In this case,
264 you'll need to configure this variable to include the actual
265 directory where the IPython/ directory ended (typically the value
266 you give to ``--home`` plus /lib/python).
267
268
269 Mac OSX information
270 -------------------
271
272 Under OSX, there is a choice you need to make. Apple ships its own build
273 of Python, which lives in the core OSX filesystem hierarchy. You can
274 also manually install a separate Python, either purely by hand
275 (typically in /usr/local) or by using Fink, which puts everything under
276 /sw. Which route to follow is a matter of personal preference, as I've
277 seen users who favor each of the approaches. Here I will simply list the
278 known installation issues under OSX, along with their solutions.
279
280 This page: http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~tobis/pylab.html contains
281 information on this topic, with additional details on how to make
282 IPython and matplotlib play nicely under OSX.
283
284 To run IPython and readline on OSX "Leopard" system python, see the
285 wiki page at http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/InstallationOSXLeopard
286
287
288 GUI problems
289 ------------
290
291 The following instructions apply to an install of IPython under OSX from
292 unpacking the .tar.gz distribution and installing it for the default
293 Python interpreter shipped by Apple. If you are using a fink install,
294 fink will take care of these details for you, by installing IPython
295 against fink's Python.
296
297 IPython offers various forms of support for interacting with graphical
298 applications from the command line, from simple Tk apps (which are in
299 principle always supported by Python) to interactive control of WX, Qt
300 and GTK apps. Under OSX, however, this requires that ipython is
301 installed by calling the special pythonw script at installation time,
302 which takes care of coordinating things with Apple's graphical environment.
303
304 So when installing under OSX, it is best to use the following command::
305
306 $ sudo pythonw setup.py install --install-scripts=/usr/local/bin
307
308 or
309
310 $ sudo pythonw setup.py install --install-scripts=/usr/bin
311
312 depending on where you like to keep hand-installed executables.
313
314 The resulting script will have an appropriate shebang line (the first
315 line in the script whic begins with #!...) such that the ipython
316 interpreter can interact with the OS X GUI. If the installed version
317 does not work and has a shebang line that points to, for example, just
318 /usr/bin/python, then you might have a stale, cached version in your
319 build/scripts-<python-version> directory. Delete that directory and
320 rerun the setup.py.
321
322 It is also a good idea to use the special flag ``--install-scripts`` as
323 indicated above, to ensure that the ipython scripts end up in a location
324 which is part of your $PATH. Otherwise Apple's Python will put the
325 scripts in an internal directory not available by default at the command
326 line (if you use /usr/local/bin, you need to make sure this is in your
327 $PATH, which may not be true by default).
328
329
330 Readline problems
331 -----------------
332
333 By default, the Python version shipped by Apple does not include the
334 readline library, so central to IPython's behavior. If you install
335 IPython against Apple's Python, you will not have arrow keys, tab
336 completion, etc. For Mac OSX 10.3 (Panther), you can find a prebuilt
337 readline library here:
338 http://pythonmac.org/packages/readline-5.0-py2.3-macosx10.3.zip
339
340 If you are using OSX 10.4 (Tiger), after installing this package you
341 need to either:
342
343 1. move readline.so from /Library/Python/2.3 to
344 /Library/Python/2.3/site-packages, or
345 2. install http://pythonmac.org/packages/TigerPython23Compat.pkg.zip
346
347 Users installing against Fink's Python or a properly hand-built one
348 should not have this problem.
349
350
351 DarwinPorts
352 -----------
353
354 I report here a message from an OSX user, who suggests an alternative
355 means of using IPython under this operating system with good results.
356 Please let me know of any updates that may be useful for this section.
357 His message is reproduced verbatim below:
358
359 From: Markus Banfi <markus.banfi-AT-mospheira.net>
360
361 As a MacOS X (10.4.2) user I prefer to install software using
362 DawinPorts instead of Fink. I had no problems installing ipython
363 with DarwinPorts. It's just:
364
365 sudo port install py-ipython
366
367 It automatically resolved all dependencies (python24, readline,
368 py-readline). So far I did not encounter any problems with the
369 DarwinPorts port of ipython.
370
371
372
373 Windows instructions
374 --------------------
375
376 Some of IPython's very useful features are:
377
378 * Integrated readline support (Tab-based file, object and attribute
379 completion, input history across sessions, editable command line,
380 etc.)
381 * Coloring of prompts, code and tracebacks.
382
383 .. _pyreadline:
384
385 These, by default, are only available under Unix-like operating systems.
386 However, thanks to Gary Bishop's work, Windows XP/2k users can also
387 benefit from them. His readline library originally implemented both GNU
388 readline functionality and color support, so that IPython under Windows
389 XP/2k can be as friendly and powerful as under Unix-like environments.
390
391 This library, now named PyReadline, has been absorbed by the IPython
392 team (Jörgen Stenarson, in particular), and it continues to be developed
393 with new features, as well as being distributed directly from the
394 IPython site.
395
396 The PyReadline extension requires CTypes and the windows IPython
397 installer needs PyWin32, so in all you need:
398
399 1. PyWin32 from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32.
400 2. PyReadline for Windows from
401 http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/PyReadline/Intro. That page contains
402 further details on using and configuring the system to your liking.
403 3. Finally, only if you are using Python 2.3 or 2.4, you need CTypes
404 from http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes(you must use
405 version 0.9.1 or newer). This package is included in Python 2.5,
406 so you don't need to manually get it if your Python version is 2.5
407 or newer.
408
409 Warning about a broken readline-like library: several users have
410 reported problems stemming from using the pseudo-readline library at
411 http://newcenturycomputers.net/projects/readline.html. This is a broken
412 library which, while called readline, only implements an incomplete
413 subset of the readline API. Since it is still called readline, it fools
414 IPython's detection mechanisms and causes unpredictable crashes later.
415 If you wish to use IPython under Windows, you must NOT use this library,
416 which for all purposes is (at least as of version 1.6) terminally broken.
417
418
419 Installation procedure
420 ----------------------
421
422 Once you have the above installed, from the IPython download directory
423 grab the ipython-XXX.win32.exe file, where XXX represents the version
424 number. This is a regular windows executable installer, which you can
425 simply double-click to install. It will add an entry for IPython to your
426 Start Menu, as well as registering IPython in the Windows list of
427 applications, so you can later uninstall it from the Control Panel.
428
429 IPython tries to install the configuration information in a directory
430 named .ipython (_ipython under Windows) located in your 'home'
431 directory. IPython sets this directory by looking for a HOME environment
432 variable; if such a variable does not exist, it uses HOMEDRIVE\HOMEPATH
433 (these are always defined by Windows). This typically gives something
434 like C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName, but your local details may
435 vary. In this directory you will find all the files that configure
436 IPython's defaults, and you can put there your profiles and extensions.
437 This directory is automatically added by IPython to sys.path, so
438 anything you place there can be found by import statements.
439
440
441 Upgrading
442 ---------
443
444 For an IPython upgrade, you should first uninstall the previous version.
445 This will ensure that all files and directories (such as the
446 documentation) which carry embedded version strings in their names are
447 properly removed.
448
449
450 Manual installation under Win32
451 -------------------------------
452
453 In case the automatic installer does not work for some reason, you can
454 download the ipython-XXX.tar.gz file, which contains the full IPython
455 source distribution (the popular WinZip can read .tar.gz files). After
456 uncompressing the archive, you can install it at a command terminal just
457 like any other Python module, by using 'python setup.py install'.
458
459 After the installation, run the supplied win32_manual_post_install.py
460 script, which creates the necessary Start Menu shortcuts for you.
461
462
463 .. upgrading:
464
465 Upgrading from a previous version
466 ---------------------------------
467
468 If you are upgrading from a previous version of IPython, you may want
469 to upgrade the contents of your ~/.ipython directory. Just run
470 %upgrade, look at the diffs and delete the suggested files manually,
471 if you think you can lose the old versions. %upgrade will never
472 overwrite or delete anything.
473
474 Initial configuration of your environment
475 =========================================
476
477 This section will help you set various things in your environment for
478 your IPython sessions to be as efficient as possible. All of IPython's
479 configuration information, along with several example files, is stored
480 in a directory named by default $HOME/.ipython. You can change this by
481 defining the environment variable IPYTHONDIR, or at runtime with the
482 command line option -ipythondir.
483
484 If all goes well, the first time you run IPython it should
485 automatically create a user copy of the config directory for you,
486 based on its builtin defaults. You can look at the files it creates to
487 learn more about configuring the system. The main file you will modify
488 to configure IPython's behavior is called ipythonrc (with a .ini
489 extension under Windows), included for reference in `ipythonrc`_
490 section. This file is very commented and has many variables you can
491 change to suit your taste, you can find more details in
492 Sec. customization_. Here we discuss the basic things you will want to
493 make sure things are working properly from the beginning.
494
495
496 .. _Accessing help:
497
498 Access to the Python help system
499 --------------------------------
500
501 This is true for Python in general (not just for IPython): you should
502 have an environment variable called PYTHONDOCS pointing to the directory
503 where your HTML Python documentation lives. In my system it's
504 /usr/share/doc/python-docs-2.3.4/html, check your local details or ask
505 your systems administrator.
506
507 This is the directory which holds the HTML version of the Python
508 manuals. Unfortunately it seems that different Linux distributions
509 package these files differently, so you may have to look around a bit.
510 Below I show the contents of this directory on my system for reference::
511
512 [html]> ls
513 about.dat acks.html dist/ ext/ index.html lib/ modindex.html
514 stdabout.dat tut/ about.html api/ doc/ icons/ inst/ mac/ ref/ style.css
515
516 You should really make sure this variable is correctly set so that
517 Python's pydoc-based help system works. It is a powerful and convenient
518 system with full access to the Python manuals and all modules accessible
519 to you.
520
521 Under Windows it seems that pydoc finds the documentation automatically,
522 so no extra setup appears necessary.
523
524
525 Editor
526 ------
527
528 The %edit command (and its alias %ed) will invoke the editor set in your
529 environment as EDITOR. If this variable is not set, it will default to
530 vi under Linux/Unix and to notepad under Windows. You may want to set
531 this variable properly and to a lightweight editor which doesn't take
532 too long to start (that is, something other than a new instance of
533 Emacs). This way you can edit multi-line code quickly and with the power
534 of a real editor right inside IPython.
535
536 If you are a dedicated Emacs user, you should set up the Emacs server so
537 that new requests are handled by the original process. This means that
538 almost no time is spent in handling the request (assuming an Emacs
539 process is already running). For this to work, you need to set your
540 EDITOR environment variable to 'emacsclient'. The code below, supplied
541 by Francois Pinard, can then be used in your .emacs file to enable the
542 server::
543
544 (defvar server-buffer-clients)
545 (when (and (fboundp 'server-start) (string-equal (getenv "TERM") 'xterm))
546 (server-start)
547 (defun fp-kill-server-with-buffer-routine ()
548 (and server-buffer-clients (server-done)))
549 (add-hook 'kill-buffer-hook 'fp-kill-server-with-buffer-routine))
550
551 You can also set the value of this editor via the commmand-line option
552 '-editor' or in your ipythonrc file. This is useful if you wish to use
553 specifically for IPython an editor different from your typical default
554 (and for Windows users who tend to use fewer environment variables).
555
556
557 Color
558 -----
559
560 The default IPython configuration has most bells and whistles turned on
561 (they're pretty safe). But there's one that may cause problems on some
562 systems: the use of color on screen for displaying information. This is
563 very useful, since IPython can show prompts and exception tracebacks
564 with various colors, display syntax-highlighted source code, and in
565 general make it easier to visually parse information.
566
567 The following terminals seem to handle the color sequences fine:
568
569 * Linux main text console, KDE Konsole, Gnome Terminal, E-term,
570 rxvt, xterm.
571 * CDE terminal (tested under Solaris). This one boldfaces light colors.
572 * (X)Emacs buffers. See the emacs_ section for more details on
573 using IPython with (X)Emacs.
574 * A Windows (XP/2k) command prompt with pyreadline_.
575 * A Windows (XP/2k) CygWin shell. Although some users have reported
576 problems; it is not clear whether there is an issue for everyone
577 or only under specific configurations. If you have full color
578 support under cygwin, please post to the IPython mailing list so
579 this issue can be resolved for all users.
580
581 These have shown problems:
582
583 * Windows command prompt in WinXP/2k logged into a Linux machine via
584 telnet or ssh.
585 * Windows native command prompt in WinXP/2k, without Gary Bishop's
586 extensions. Once Gary's readline library is installed, the normal
587 WinXP/2k command prompt works perfectly.
588
589 Currently the following color schemes are available:
590
591 * NoColor: uses no color escapes at all (all escapes are empty '' ''
592 strings). This 'scheme' is thus fully safe to use in any terminal.
593 * Linux: works well in Linux console type environments: dark
594 background with light fonts. It uses bright colors for
595 information, so it is difficult to read if you have a light
596 colored background.
597 * LightBG: the basic colors are similar to those in the Linux scheme
598 but darker. It is easy to read in terminals with light backgrounds.
599
600 IPython uses colors for two main groups of things: prompts and
601 tracebacks which are directly printed to the terminal, and the object
602 introspection system which passes large sets of data through a pager.
603
604
605 Input/Output prompts and exception tracebacks
606 ---------------------------------------------
607
608 You can test whether the colored prompts and tracebacks work on your
609 system interactively by typing '%colors Linux' at the prompt (use
610 '%colors LightBG' if your terminal has a light background). If the input
611 prompt shows garbage like::
612
613 [0;32mIn [[1;32m1[0;32m]: [0;00m
614
615 instead of (in color) something like::
616
617 In [1]:
618
619 this means that your terminal doesn't properly handle color escape
620 sequences. You can go to a 'no color' mode by typing '%colors NoColor'.
621
622 You can try using a different terminal emulator program (Emacs users,
623 see below). To permanently set your color preferences, edit the file
624 $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc and set the colors option to the desired value.
625
626
627 Object details (types, docstrings, source code, etc.)
628 -----------------------------------------------------
629
630 IPython has a set of special functions for studying the objects you
631 are working with, discussed in detail in Sec. `dynamic object
632 information`_. But this system relies on passing information which is
633 longer than your screen through a data pager, such as the common Unix
634 less and more programs. In order to be able to see this information in
635 color, your pager needs to be properly configured. I strongly
636 recommend using less instead of more, as it seems that more simply can
637 not understand colored text correctly.
638
639 In order to configure less as your default pager, do the following:
640
641 1. Set the environment PAGER variable to less.
642 2. Set the environment LESS variable to -r (plus any other options
643 you always want to pass to less by default). This tells less to
644 properly interpret control sequences, which is how color
645 information is given to your terminal.
646
647 For the csh or tcsh shells, add to your ~/.cshrc file the lines::
648
649 setenv PAGER less
650 setenv LESS -r
651
652 There is similar syntax for other Unix shells, look at your system
653 documentation for details.
654
655 If you are on a system which lacks proper data pagers (such as Windows),
656 IPython will use a very limited builtin pager.
657
658 .. _emacs:
659
660 (X)Emacs configuration
661 ----------------------
662
663 Thanks to the work of Alexander Schmolck and Prabhu Ramachandran,
664 currently (X)Emacs and IPython get along very well.
665
666 Important note: You will need to use a recent enough version of
667 python-mode.el, along with the file ipython.el. You can check that the
668 version you have of python-mode.el is new enough by either looking at
669 the revision number in the file itself, or asking for it in (X)Emacs via
670 M-x py-version. Versions 4.68 and newer contain the necessary fixes for
671 proper IPython support.
672
673 The file ipython.el is included with the IPython distribution, in the
674 documentation directory (where this manual resides in PDF and HTML
675 formats).
676
677 Once you put these files in your Emacs path, all you need in your .emacs
678 file is::
679
680 (require 'ipython)
681
682 This should give you full support for executing code snippets via
683 IPython, opening IPython as your Python shell via C-c !, etc.
684
685 If you happen to get garbage instead of colored prompts as described in
686 the previous section, you may need to set also in your .emacs file::
687
688 (setq ansi-color-for-comint-mode t)
689
690
691 Notes:
692
693 * There is one caveat you should be aware of: you must start the
694 IPython shell before attempting to execute any code regions via
695 ``C-c |``. Simply type C-c ! to start IPython before passing any code
696 regions to the interpreter, and you shouldn't experience any
697 problems.
698 This is due to a bug in Python itself, which has been fixed for
699 Python 2.3, but exists as of Python 2.2.2 (reported as SF bug [
700 737947 ]).
701 * The (X)Emacs support is maintained by Alexander Schmolck, so all
702 comments/requests should be directed to him through the IPython
703 mailing lists.
704 * This code is still somewhat experimental so it's a bit rough
705 around the edges (although in practice, it works quite well).
706 * Be aware that if you customize py-python-command previously, this
707 value will override what ipython.el does (because loading the
708 customization variables comes later).
709
710 .. Quick tips:
711
712 Quick tips
713 ==========
714
715 IPython can be used as an improved replacement for the Python prompt,
716 and for that you don't really need to read any more of this manual. But
717 in this section we'll try to summarize a few tips on how to make the
718 most effective use of it for everyday Python development, highlighting
719 things you might miss in the rest of the manual (which is getting long).
720 We'll give references to parts in the manual which provide more detail
721 when appropriate.
722
723 The following article by Jeremy Jones provides an introductory tutorial
724 about IPython:
725 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2005/01/27/ipython.html
726
727 * The TAB key. TAB-completion, especially for attributes, is a
728 convenient way to explore the structure of any object you're
729 dealing with. Simply type object_name.<TAB> and a list of the
730 object's attributes will be printed (see readline_ for
731 more). Tab completion also works on
732 file and directory names, which combined with IPython's alias
733 system allows you to do from within IPython many of the things you
734 normally would need the system shell for.
735 * Explore your objects. Typing object_name? will print all sorts of
736 details about any object, including docstrings, function
737 definition lines (for call arguments) and constructor details for
738 classes. The magic commands %pdoc, %pdef, %psource and %pfile will
739 respectively print the docstring, function definition line, full
740 source code and the complete file for any object (when they can be
741 found). If automagic is on (it is by default), you don't need to
742 type the '%' explicitly. See sec. `dynamic object information`_
743 for more.
744 * The %run magic command allows you to run any python script and
745 load all of its data directly into the interactive namespace.
746 Since the file is re-read from disk each time, changes you make to
747 it are reflected immediately (in contrast to the behavior of
748 import). I rarely use import for code I am testing, relying on
749 %run instead. See magic_ section for more on this
750 and other magic commands, or type the name of any magic command
751 and ? to get details on it. See also sec. dreload_ for a
752 recursive reload command.
753 %run also has special flags for timing the execution of your
754 scripts (-t) and for executing them under the control of either
755 Python's pdb debugger (-d) or profiler (-p). With all of these,
756 %run can be used as the main tool for efficient interactive
757 development of code which you write in your editor of choice.
758 * Use the Python debugger, pdb. The %pdb
759 command allows you to toggle on and off the automatic invocation
760 of an IPython-enhanced pdb debugger (with coloring, tab completion
761 and more) at any uncaught exception. The advantage of this is that
762 pdb starts inside the function where the exception occurred, with
763 all data still available. You can print variables, see code,
764 execute statements and even walk up and down the call stack to
765 track down the true source of the problem (which often is many
766 layers in the stack above where the exception gets triggered).
767 Running programs with %run and pdb active can be an efficient to
768 develop and debug code, in many cases eliminating the need for
769 print statements or external debugging tools. I often simply put a
770 1/0 in a place where I want to take a look so that pdb gets
771 called, quickly view whatever variables I need to or test various
772 pieces of code and then remove the 1/0.
773 Note also that '%run -d' activates pdb and automatically sets
774 initial breakpoints for you to step through your code, watch
775 variables, etc. See Sec. `Output caching`_ for
776 details.
777 * Use the output cache. All output results are automatically stored
778 in a global dictionary named Out and variables named _1, _2, etc.
779 alias them. For example, the result of input line 4 is available
780 either as Out[4] or as _4. Additionally, three variables named _,
781 __ and ___ are always kept updated with the for the last three
782 results. This allows you to recall any previous result and further
783 use it for new calculations. See Sec. `Output caching`_ for more.
784 * Put a ';' at the end of a line to supress the printing of output.
785 This is useful when doing calculations which generate long output
786 you are not interested in seeing. The _* variables and the Out[]
787 list do get updated with the contents of the output, even if it is
788 not printed. You can thus still access the generated results this
789 way for further processing.
790 * A similar system exists for caching input. All input is stored in
791 a global list called In , so you can re-execute lines 22 through
792 28 plus line 34 by typing 'exec In[22:29]+In[34]' (using Python
793 slicing notation). If you need to execute the same set of lines
794 often, you can assign them to a macro with the %macro function.
795 See sec. `Input caching`_ for more.
796 * Use your input history. The %hist command can show you all
797 previous input, without line numbers if desired (option -n) so you
798 can directly copy and paste code either back in IPython or in a
799 text editor. You can also save all your history by turning on
800 logging via %logstart; these logs can later be either reloaded as
801 IPython sessions or used as code for your programs.
802 * Define your own system aliases. Even though IPython gives you
803 access to your system shell via the ! prefix, it is convenient to
804 have aliases to the system commands you use most often. This
805 allows you to work seamlessly from inside IPython with the same
806 commands you are used to in your system shell.
807 IPython comes with some pre-defined aliases and a complete system
808 for changing directories, both via a stack (see %pushd, %popd and
809 %dhist) and via direct %cd. The latter keeps a history of visited
810 directories and allows you to go to any previously visited one.
811 * Use Python to manipulate the results of system commands. The '!!'
812 special syntax, and the %sc and %sx magic commands allow you to
813 capture system output into Python variables.
814 * Expand python variables when calling the shell (either via '!' and
815 '!!' or via aliases) by prepending a $ in front of them. You can
816 also expand complete python expressions. See
817 `System shell access`_ for more.
818 * Use profiles to maintain different configurations (modules to
819 load, function definitions, option settings) for particular tasks.
820 You can then have customized versions of IPython for specific
821 purposes. See sec. profiles_ for more.
822 * Embed IPython in your programs. A few lines of code are enough to
823 load a complete IPython inside your own programs, giving you the
824 ability to work with your data interactively after automatic
825 processing has been completed. See sec. embedding_
826 for more.
827 * Use the Python profiler. When dealing with performance issues, the
828 %run command with a -p option allows you to run complete programs
829 under the control of the Python profiler. The %prun command does a
830 similar job for single Python expressions (like function calls).
831 * Use the IPython.demo.Demo class to load any Python script as an
832 interactive demo. With a minimal amount of simple markup, you can
833 control the execution of the script, stopping as needed. See
834 sec. `interactive demos`_ for more.
835 * Run your doctests from within IPython for development and
836 debugging. The special %doctest_mode command toggles a mode where
837 the prompt, output and exceptions display matches as closely as
838 possible that of the default Python interpreter. In addition, this
839 mode allows you to directly paste in code that contains leading
840 '>>>' prompts, even if they have extra leading whitespace (as is
841 common in doctest files). This combined with the '%history -tn'
842 call to see your translated history (with these extra prompts
843 removed and no line numbers) allows for an easy doctest workflow,
844 where you can go from doctest to interactive execution to pasting
845 into valid Python code as needed.
846
847
848 Source code handling tips
849 -------------------------
850
851 IPython is a line-oriented program, without full control of the
852 terminal. Therefore, it doesn't support true multiline editing. However,
853 it has a number of useful tools to help you in dealing effectively with
854 more complex editing.
855
856 The %edit command gives a reasonable approximation of multiline editing,
857 by invoking your favorite editor on the spot. IPython will execute the
858 code you type in there as if it were typed interactively. Type %edit?
859 for the full details on the edit command.
860
861 If you have typed various commands during a session, which you'd like to
862 reuse, IPython provides you with a number of tools. Start by using %hist
863 to see your input history, so you can see the line numbers of all input.
864 Let us say that you'd like to reuse lines 10 through 20, plus lines 24
865 and 28. All the commands below can operate on these with the syntax::
866
867 %command 10-20 24 28
868
869 where the command given can be:
870
871 * %macro <macroname>: this stores the lines into a variable which,
872 when called at the prompt, re-executes the input. Macros can be
873 edited later using '%edit macroname', and they can be stored
874 persistently across sessions with '%store macroname' (the storage
875 system is per-profile). The combination of quick macros,
876 persistent storage and editing, allows you to easily refine
877 quick-and-dirty interactive input into permanent utilities, always
878 available both in IPython and as files for general reuse.
879 * %edit: this will open a text editor with those lines pre-loaded
880 for further modification. It will then execute the resulting
881 file's contents as if you had typed it at the prompt.
882 * %save <filename>: this saves the lines directly to a named file on
883 disk.
884
885 While %macro saves input lines into memory for interactive re-execution,
886 sometimes you'd like to save your input directly to a file. The %save
887 magic does this: its input sytnax is the same as %macro, but it saves
888 your input directly to a Python file. Note that the %logstart command
889 also saves input, but it logs all input to disk (though you can
890 temporarily suspend it and reactivate it with %logoff/%logon); %save
891 allows you to select which lines of input you need to save.
892
893
894 Lightweight 'version control'
895 -----------------------------
896
897 When you call %edit with no arguments, IPython opens an empty editor
898 with a temporary file, and it returns the contents of your editing
899 session as a string variable. Thanks to IPython's output caching
900 mechanism, this is automatically stored::
901
902 In [1]: %edit
903
904 IPython will make a temporary file named: /tmp/ipython_edit_yR-HCN.py
905
906 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
907
908 hello - this is a temporary file
909
910 Out[1]: "print 'hello - this is a temporary file'\n"
911
912 Now, if you call '%edit -p', IPython tries to open an editor with the
913 same data as the last time you used %edit. So if you haven't used %edit
914 in the meantime, this same contents will reopen; however, it will be
915 done in a new file. This means that if you make changes and you later
916 want to find an old version, you can always retrieve it by using its
917 output number, via '%edit _NN', where NN is the number of the output
918 prompt.
919
920 Continuing with the example above, this should illustrate this idea::
921
922 In [2]: edit -p
923
924 IPython will make a temporary file named: /tmp/ipython_edit_nA09Qk.py
925
926 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
927
928 hello - now I made some changes
929
930 Out[2]: "print 'hello - now I made some changes'\n"
931
932 In [3]: edit _1
933
934 IPython will make a temporary file named: /tmp/ipython_edit_gy6-zD.py
935
936 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
937
938 hello - this is a temporary file
939
940 IPython version control at work :)
941
942 Out[3]: "print 'hello - this is a temporary file'\nprint 'IPython version control at work :)'\n"
943
944
945 This section was written after a contribution by Alexander Belchenko on
946 the IPython user list.
947
948
949 Effective logging
950 -----------------
951
952 A very useful suggestion sent in by Robert Kern follows:
953
954 I recently happened on a nifty way to keep tidy per-project log files. I
955 made a profile for my project (which is called "parkfield").
956
957 include ipythonrc
958
959 # cancel earlier logfile invocation:
960
961 logfile ''
962
963 execute import time
964
965 execute __cmd = '/Users/kern/research/logfiles/parkfield-%s.log rotate'
966
967 execute __IP.magic_logstart(__cmd % time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d'))
968
969 I also added a shell alias for convenience:
970
971 alias parkfield="ipython -pylab -profile parkfield"
972
973 Now I have a nice little directory with everything I ever type in,
974 organized by project and date.
975
976 Contribute your own: If you have your own favorite tip on using IPython
977 efficiently for a certain task (especially things which can't be done in
978 the normal Python interpreter), don't hesitate to send it!
979
980 .. _Command line options:
981
982 Command-line use
983 ================
984
985 You start IPython with the command::
986
987 $ ipython [options] files
988
989 If invoked with no options, it executes all the files listed in sequence
990 and drops you into the interpreter while still acknowledging any options
991 you may have set in your ipythonrc file. This behavior is different from
992 standard Python, which when called as python -i will only execute one
993 file and ignore your configuration setup.
994
995 Please note that some of the configuration options are not available at
996 the command line, simply because they are not practical here. Look into
997 your ipythonrc configuration file for details on those. This file
998 typically installed in the $HOME/.ipython directory. For Windows users,
999 $HOME resolves to C:\\Documents and Settings\\YourUserName in most
1000 instances. In the rest of this text, we will refer to this directory as
1001 IPYTHONDIR.
1002
1003 .. _Threading options:
1004
1005
1006 Special Threading Options
1007 -------------------------
1008
1009 The following special options are ONLY valid at the beginning of the
1010 command line, and not later. This is because they control the initial-
1011 ization of ipython itself, before the normal option-handling mechanism
1012 is active.
1013
1014 -gthread, -qthread, -q4thread, -wthread, -pylab:
1015 Only one of these can be given, and it can only be given as
1016 the first option passed to IPython (it will have no effect in
1017 any other position). They provide threading support for the
1018 GTK, Qt (versions 3 and 4) and WXPython toolkits, and for the
1019 matplotlib library.
1020
1021 With any of the first four options, IPython starts running a
1022 separate thread for the graphical toolkit's operation, so that
1023 you can open and control graphical elements from within an
1024 IPython command line, without blocking. All four provide
1025 essentially the same functionality, respectively for GTK, Qt3,
1026 Qt4 and WXWidgets (via their Python interfaces).
1027
1028 Note that with -wthread, you can additionally use the
1029 -wxversion option to request a specific version of wx to be
1030 used. This requires that you have the wxversion Python module
1031 installed, which is part of recent wxPython distributions.
1032
1033 If -pylab is given, IPython loads special support for the mat
1034 plotlib library (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net), allowing
1035 interactive usage of any of its backends as defined in the
1036 user's ~/.matplotlib/matplotlibrc file. It automatically
1037 activates GTK, Qt or WX threading for IPyhton if the choice of
1038 matplotlib backend requires it. It also modifies the %run
1039 command to correctly execute (without blocking) any
1040 matplotlib-based script which calls show() at the end.
1041
1042 -tk
1043 The -g/q/q4/wthread options, and -pylab (if matplotlib is
1044 configured to use GTK, Qt3, Qt4 or WX), will normally block Tk
1045 graphical interfaces. This means that when either GTK, Qt or WX
1046 threading is active, any attempt to open a Tk GUI will result in a
1047 dead window, and possibly cause the Python interpreter to crash.
1048 An extra option, -tk, is available to address this issue. It can
1049 only be given as a second option after any of the above (-gthread,
1050 -wthread or -pylab).
1051
1052 If -tk is given, IPython will try to coordinate Tk threading
1053 with GTK, Qt or WX. This is however potentially unreliable, and
1054 you will have to test on your platform and Python configuration to
1055 determine whether it works for you. Debian users have reported
1056 success, apparently due to the fact that Debian builds all of Tcl,
1057 Tk, Tkinter and Python with pthreads support. Under other Linux
1058 environments (such as Fedora Core 2/3), this option has caused
1059 random crashes and lockups of the Python interpreter. Under other
1060 operating systems (Mac OSX and Windows), you'll need to try it to
1061 find out, since currently no user reports are available.
1062
1063 There is unfortunately no way for IPython to determine at run time
1064 whether -tk will work reliably or not, so you will need to do some
1065 experiments before relying on it for regular work.
1066
1067
1068
1069 Regular Options
1070 ---------------
1071
1072 After the above threading options have been given, regular options can
1073 follow in any order. All options can be abbreviated to their shortest
1074 non-ambiguous form and are case-sensitive. One or two dashes can be
1075 used. Some options have an alternate short form, indicated after a ``|``.
1076
1077 Most options can also be set from your ipythonrc configuration file. See
1078 the provided example for more details on what the options do. Options
1079 given at the command line override the values set in the ipythonrc file.
1080
1081 All options with a [no] prepended can be specified in negated form
1082 (-nooption instead of -option) to turn the feature off.
1083
1084 -help print a help message and exit.
1085
1086 -pylab
1087 this can only be given as the first option passed to IPython
1088 (it will have no effect in any other position). It adds
1089 special support for the matplotlib library
1090 (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.ne), allowing interactive usage
1091 of any of its backends as defined in the user's .matplotlibrc
1092 file. It automatically activates GTK or WX threading for
1093 IPyhton if the choice of matplotlib backend requires it. It
1094 also modifies the %run command to correctly execute (without
1095 blocking) any matplotlib-based script which calls show() at
1096 the end. See `Matplotlib support`_ for more details.
1097
1098 -autocall <val>
1099 Make IPython automatically call any callable object even if you
1100 didn't type explicit parentheses. For example, 'str 43' becomes
1101 'str(43)' automatically. The value can be '0' to disable the feature,
1102 '1' for smart autocall, where it is not applied if there are no more
1103 arguments on the line, and '2' for full autocall, where all callable
1104 objects are automatically called (even if no arguments are
1105 present). The default is '1'.
1106
1107 -[no]autoindent
1108 Turn automatic indentation on/off.
1109
1110 -[no]automagic
1111 make magic commands automatic (without needing their first character
1112 to be %). Type %magic at the IPython prompt for more information.
1113
1114 -[no]autoedit_syntax
1115 When a syntax error occurs after editing a file, automatically
1116 open the file to the trouble causing line for convenient
1117 fixing.
1118
1119 -[no]banner Print the initial information banner (default on).
1120
1121 -c <command>
1122 execute the given command string. This is similar to the -c
1123 option in the normal Python interpreter.
1124
1125 -cache_size, cs <n>
1126 size of the output cache (maximum number of entries to hold in
1127 memory). The default is 1000, you can change it permanently in your
1128 config file. Setting it to 0 completely disables the caching system,
1129 and the minimum value accepted is 20 (if you provide a value less than
1130 20, it is reset to 0 and a warning is issued) This limit is defined
1131 because otherwise you'll spend more time re-flushing a too small cache
1132 than working.
1133
1134 -classic, cl
1135 Gives IPython a similar feel to the classic Python
1136 prompt.
1137
1138 -colors <scheme>
1139 Color scheme for prompts and exception reporting. Currently
1140 implemented: NoColor, Linux and LightBG.
1141
1142 -[no]color_info
1143 IPython can display information about objects via a set of functions,
1144 and optionally can use colors for this, syntax highlighting source
1145 code and various other elements. However, because this information is
1146 passed through a pager (like 'less') and many pagers get confused with
1147 color codes, this option is off by default. You can test it and turn
1148 it on permanently in your ipythonrc file if it works for you. As a
1149 reference, the 'less' pager supplied with Mandrake 8.2 works ok, but
1150 that in RedHat 7.2 doesn't.
1151
1152 Test it and turn it on permanently if it works with your
1153 system. The magic function %color_info allows you to toggle this
1154 interactively for testing.
1155
1156 -[no]debug
1157 Show information about the loading process. Very useful to pin down
1158 problems with your configuration files or to get details about
1159 session restores.
1160
1161 -[no]deep_reload:
1162 IPython can use the deep_reload module which reloads changes in
1163 modules recursively (it replaces the reload() function, so you don't
1164 need to change anything to use it). deep_reload() forces a full
1165 reload of modules whose code may have changed, which the default
1166 reload() function does not.
1167
1168 When deep_reload is off, IPython will use the normal reload(),
1169 but deep_reload will still be available as dreload(). This
1170 feature is off by default [which means that you have both
1171 normal reload() and dreload()].
1172
1173 -editor <name>
1174 Which editor to use with the %edit command. By default,
1175 IPython will honor your EDITOR environment variable (if not
1176 set, vi is the Unix default and notepad the Windows one).
1177 Since this editor is invoked on the fly by IPython and is
1178 meant for editing small code snippets, you may want to use a
1179 small, lightweight editor here (in case your default EDITOR is
1180 something like Emacs).
1181
1182 -ipythondir <name>
1183 name of your IPython configuration directory IPYTHONDIR. This
1184 can also be specified through the environment variable
1185 IPYTHONDIR.
1186
1187 -log, l
1188 generate a log file of all input. The file is named
1189 ipython_log.py in your current directory (which prevents logs
1190 from multiple IPython sessions from trampling each other). You
1191 can use this to later restore a session by loading your
1192 logfile as a file to be executed with option -logplay (see
1193 below).
1194
1195 -logfile, lf <name> specify the name of your logfile.
1196
1197 -logplay, lp <name>
1198
1199 you can replay a previous log. For restoring a session as close as
1200 possible to the state you left it in, use this option (don't just run
1201 the logfile). With -logplay, IPython will try to reconstruct the
1202 previous working environment in full, not just execute the commands in
1203 the logfile.
1204
1205 When a session is restored, logging is automatically turned on
1206 again with the name of the logfile it was invoked with (it is
1207 read from the log header). So once you've turned logging on for
1208 a session, you can quit IPython and reload it as many times as
1209 you want and it will continue to log its history and restore
1210 from the beginning every time.
1211
1212 Caveats: there are limitations in this option. The history
1213 variables _i*,_* and _dh don't get restored properly. In the
1214 future we will try to implement full session saving by writing
1215 and retrieving a 'snapshot' of the memory state of IPython. But
1216 our first attempts failed because of inherent limitations of
1217 Python's Pickle module, so this may have to wait.
1218
1219 -[no]messages
1220 Print messages which IPython collects about its startup
1221 process (default on).
1222
1223 -[no]pdb
1224 Automatically call the pdb debugger after every uncaught
1225 exception. If you are used to debugging using pdb, this puts
1226 you automatically inside of it after any call (either in
1227 IPython or in code called by it) which triggers an exception
1228 which goes uncaught.
1229
1230 -pydb
1231 Makes IPython use the third party "pydb" package as debugger,
1232 instead of pdb. Requires that pydb is installed.
1233
1234 -[no]pprint
1235 ipython can optionally use the pprint (pretty printer) module
1236 for displaying results. pprint tends to give a nicer display
1237 of nested data structures. If you like it, you can turn it on
1238 permanently in your config file (default off).
1239
1240 -profile, p <name>
1241
1242 assume that your config file is ipythonrc-<name> or
1243 ipy_profile_<name>.py (looks in current dir first, then in
1244 IPYTHONDIR). This is a quick way to keep and load multiple
1245 config files for different tasks, especially if you use the
1246 include option of config files. You can keep a basic
1247 IPYTHONDIR/ipythonrc file and then have other 'profiles' which
1248 include this one and load extra things for particular
1249 tasks. For example:
1250
1251 1. $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc : load basic things you always want.
1252 2. $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc-math : load (1) and basic math-related modules.
1253 3. $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc-numeric : load (1) and Numeric and plotting modules.
1254
1255 Since it is possible to create an endless loop by having
1256 circular file inclusions, IPython will stop if it reaches 15
1257 recursive inclusions.
1258
1259 -prompt_in1, pi1 <string>
1260 Specify the string used for input prompts. Note that if you
1261 are using numbered prompts, the number is represented with a
1262 '\#' in the string. Don't forget to quote strings with spaces
1263 embedded in them. Default: 'In [\#]:'. Sec. Prompts_
1264 discusses in detail all the available escapes to customize
1265 your prompts.
1266
1267 -prompt_in2, pi2 <string>
1268 Similar to the previous option, but used for the continuation
1269 prompts. The special sequence '\D' is similar to '\#', but
1270 with all digits replaced dots (so you can have your
1271 continuation prompt aligned with your input prompt). Default:
1272 ' .\D.:' (note three spaces at the start for alignment with
1273 'In [\#]').
1274
1275 -prompt_out,po <string>
1276 String used for output prompts, also uses numbers like
1277 prompt_in1. Default: 'Out[\#]:'
1278
1279 -quick start in bare bones mode (no config file loaded).
1280
1281 -rcfile <name>
1282 name of your IPython resource configuration file. Normally
1283 IPython loads ipythonrc (from current directory) or
1284 IPYTHONDIR/ipythonrc.
1285
1286 If the loading of your config file fails, IPython starts with
1287 a bare bones configuration (no modules loaded at all).
1288
1289 -[no]readline
1290 use the readline library, which is needed to support name
1291 completion and command history, among other things. It is
1292 enabled by default, but may cause problems for users of
1293 X/Emacs in Python comint or shell buffers.
1294
1295 Note that X/Emacs 'eterm' buffers (opened with M-x term) support
1296 IPython's readline and syntax coloring fine, only 'emacs' (M-x
1297 shell and C-c !) buffers do not.
1298
1299 -screen_length, sl <n>
1300 number of lines of your screen. This is used to control
1301 printing of very long strings. Strings longer than this number
1302 of lines will be sent through a pager instead of directly
1303 printed.
1304
1305 The default value for this is 0, which means IPython will
1306 auto-detect your screen size every time it needs to print certain
1307 potentially long strings (this doesn't change the behavior of the
1308 'print' keyword, it's only triggered internally). If for some
1309 reason this isn't working well (it needs curses support), specify
1310 it yourself. Otherwise don't change the default.
1311
1312 -separate_in, si <string>
1313
1314 separator before input prompts.
1315 Default: '\n'
1316
1317 -separate_out, so <string>
1318 separator before output prompts.
1319 Default: nothing.
1320
1321 -separate_out2, so2
1322 separator after output prompts.
1323 Default: nothing.
1324 For these three options, use the value 0 to specify no separator.
1325
1326 -nosep
1327 shorthand for '-SeparateIn 0 -SeparateOut 0 -SeparateOut2
1328 0'. Simply removes all input/output separators.
1329
1330 -upgrade
1331 allows you to upgrade your IPYTHONDIR configuration when you
1332 install a new version of IPython. Since new versions may
1333 include new command line options or example files, this copies
1334 updated ipythonrc-type files. However, it backs up (with a
1335 .old extension) all files which it overwrites so that you can
1336 merge back any customizations you might have in your personal
1337 files. Note that you should probably use %upgrade instead,
1338 it's a safer alternative.
1339
1340
1341 -Version print version information and exit.
1342
1343 -wxversion <string>
1344 Select a specific version of wxPython (used in conjunction
1345 with -wthread). Requires the wxversion module, part of recent
1346 wxPython distributions
1347
1348 -xmode <modename>
1349
1350 Mode for exception reporting.
1351
1352 Valid modes: Plain, Context and Verbose.
1353
1354 * Plain: similar to python's normal traceback printing.
1355 * Context: prints 5 lines of context source code around each
1356 line in the traceback.
1357 * Verbose: similar to Context, but additionally prints the
1358 variables currently visible where the exception happened
1359 (shortening their strings if too long). This can potentially be
1360 very slow, if you happen to have a huge data structure whose
1361 string representation is complex to compute. Your computer may
1362 appear to freeze for a while with cpu usage at 100%. If this
1363 occurs, you can cancel the traceback with Ctrl-C (maybe hitting it
1364 more than once).
1365
1366 Interactive use
1367 ===============
1368
1369 Warning: IPython relies on the existence of a global variable called
1370 _ip which controls the shell itself. If you redefine _ip to anything,
1371 bizarre behavior will quickly occur.
1372
1373 Other than the above warning, IPython is meant to work as a drop-in
1374 replacement for the standard interactive interpreter. As such, any code
1375 which is valid python should execute normally under IPython (cases where
1376 this is not true should be reported as bugs). It does, however, offer
1377 many features which are not available at a standard python prompt. What
1378 follows is a list of these.
1379
1380
1381 Caution for Windows users
1382 -------------------------
1383
1384 Windows, unfortunately, uses the '\' character as a path
1385 separator. This is a terrible choice, because '\' also represents the
1386 escape character in most modern programming languages, including
1387 Python. For this reason, using '/' character is recommended if you
1388 have problems with ``\``. However, in Windows commands '/' flags
1389 options, so you can not use it for the root directory. This means that
1390 paths beginning at the root must be typed in a contrived manner like:
1391 ``%copy \opt/foo/bar.txt \tmp``
1392
1393 .. _magic:
1394
1395 Magic command system
1396 --------------------
1397
1398 IPython will treat any line whose first character is a % as a special
1399 call to a 'magic' function. These allow you to control the behavior of
1400 IPython itself, plus a lot of system-type features. They are all
1401 prefixed with a % character, but parameters are given without
1402 parentheses or quotes.
1403
1404 Example: typing '%cd mydir' (without the quotes) changes you working
1405 directory to 'mydir', if it exists.
1406
1407 If you have 'automagic' enabled (in your ipythonrc file, via the command
1408 line option -automagic or with the %automagic function), you don't need
1409 to type in the % explicitly. IPython will scan its internal list of
1410 magic functions and call one if it exists. With automagic on you can
1411 then just type 'cd mydir' to go to directory 'mydir'. The automagic
1412 system has the lowest possible precedence in name searches, so defining
1413 an identifier with the same name as an existing magic function will
1414 shadow it for automagic use. You can still access the shadowed magic
1415 function by explicitly using the % character at the beginning of the line.
1416
1417 An example (with automagic on) should clarify all this::
1418
1419 In [1]: cd ipython # %cd is called by automagic
1420
1421 /home/fperez/ipython
1422
1423 In [2]: cd=1 # now cd is just a variable
1424
1425 In [3]: cd .. # and doesn't work as a function anymore
1426
1427 ------------------------------
1428
1429 File "<console>", line 1
1430
1431 cd ..
1432
1433 ^
1434
1435 SyntaxError: invalid syntax
1436
1437 In [4]: %cd .. # but %cd always works
1438
1439 /home/fperez
1440
1441 In [5]: del cd # if you remove the cd variable
1442
1443 In [6]: cd ipython # automagic can work again
1444
1445 /home/fperez/ipython
1446
1447 You can define your own magic functions to extend the system. The
1448 following example defines a new magic command, %impall::
1449
1450 import IPython.ipapi
1451
1452 ip = IPython.ipapi.get()
1453
1454 def doimp(self, arg):
1455
1456 ip = self.api
1457
1458 ip.ex("import %s; reload(%s); from %s import *" % (
1459
1460 arg,arg,arg)
1461
1462 )
1463
1464 ip.expose_magic('impall', doimp)
1465
1466 You can also define your own aliased names for magic functions. In your
1467 ipythonrc file, placing a line like:
1468
1469 execute __IP.magic_cl = __IP.magic_clear
1470
1471 will define %cl as a new name for %clear.
1472
1473 Type %magic for more information, including a list of all available
1474 magic functions at any time and their docstrings. You can also type
1475 %magic_function_name? (see sec. 6.4 <#sec:dyn-object-info> for
1476 information on the '?' system) to get information about any particular
1477 magic function you are interested in.
1478
1479
1480 Magic commands
1481 --------------
1482
1483 The rest of this section is automatically generated for each release
1484 from the docstrings in the IPython code. Therefore the formatting is
1485 somewhat minimal, but this method has the advantage of having
1486 information always in sync with the code.
1487
1488 A list of all the magic commands available in IPython's default
1489 installation follows. This is similar to what you'll see by simply
1490 typing %magic at the prompt, but that will also give you information
1491 about magic commands you may have added as part of your personal
1492 customizations.
1493
1494 .. magic_start
1495
1496 **%Exit**::
1497
1498 Exit IPython without confirmation.
1499
1500 **%Pprint**::
1501
1502 Toggle pretty printing on/off.
1503
1504 **%alias**::
1505
1506 Define an alias for a system command.
1507
1508 '%alias alias_name cmd' defines 'alias_name' as an alias for 'cmd'
1509
1510 Then, typing 'alias_name params' will execute the system command 'cmd
1511 params' (from your underlying operating system).
1512
1513 Aliases have lower precedence than magic functions and Python normal
1514 variables, so if 'foo' is both a Python variable and an alias, the
1515 alias can not be executed until 'del foo' removes the Python variable.
1516
1517 You can use the %l specifier in an alias definition to represent the
1518 whole line when the alias is called. For example:
1519
1520 In [2]: alias all echo "Input in brackets: <%l>"\
1521 In [3]: all hello world\
1522 Input in brackets: <hello world>
1523
1524 You can also define aliases with parameters using %s specifiers (one
1525 per parameter):
1526
1527 In [1]: alias parts echo first %s second %s\
1528 In [2]: %parts A B\
1529 first A second B\
1530 In [3]: %parts A\
1531 Incorrect number of arguments: 2 expected.\
1532 parts is an alias to: 'echo first %s second %s'
1533
1534 Note that %l and %s are mutually exclusive. You can only use one or
1535 the other in your aliases.
1536
1537 Aliases expand Python variables just like system calls using ! or !!
1538 do: all expressions prefixed with '$' get expanded. For details of
1539 the semantic rules, see PEP-215:
1540 http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0215.html. This is the library used by
1541 IPython for variable expansion. If you want to access a true shell
1542 variable, an extra $ is necessary to prevent its expansion by IPython:
1543
1544 In [6]: alias show echo\
1545 In [7]: PATH='A Python string'\
1546 In [8]: show $PATH\
1547 A Python string\
1548 In [9]: show $$PATH\
1549 /usr/local/lf9560/bin:/usr/local/intel/compiler70/ia32/bin:...
1550
1551 You can use the alias facility to acess all of $PATH. See the %rehash
1552 and %rehashx functions, which automatically create aliases for the
1553 contents of your $PATH.
1554
1555 If called with no parameters, %alias prints the current alias table.
1556
1557 **%autocall**::
1558
1559 Make functions callable without having to type parentheses.
1560
1561 Usage:
1562
1563 %autocall [mode]
1564
1565 The mode can be one of: 0->Off, 1->Smart, 2->Full. If not given, the
1566 value is toggled on and off (remembering the previous state).
1567
1568 In more detail, these values mean:
1569
1570 0 -> fully disabled
1571
1572 1 -> active, but do not apply if there are no arguments on the line.
1573
1574 In this mode, you get:
1575
1576 In [1]: callable
1577 Out[1]: <built-in function callable>
1578
1579 In [2]: callable 'hello'
1580 ------> callable('hello')
1581 Out[2]: False
1582
1583 2 -> Active always. Even if no arguments are present, the callable
1584 object is called:
1585
1586 In [4]: callable
1587 ------> callable()
1588
1589 Note that even with autocall off, you can still use '/' at the start of
1590 a line to treat the first argument on the command line as a function
1591 and add parentheses to it:
1592
1593 In [8]: /str 43
1594 ------> str(43)
1595 Out[8]: '43'
1596
1597 **%autoindent**::
1598
1599 Toggle autoindent on/off (if available).
1600
1601 **%automagic**::
1602
1603 Make magic functions callable without having to type the initial %.
1604
1605 Without argumentsl toggles on/off (when off, you must call it as
1606 %automagic, of course). With arguments it sets the value, and you can
1607 use any of (case insensitive):
1608
1609 - on,1,True: to activate
1610
1611 - off,0,False: to deactivate.
1612
1613 Note that magic functions have lowest priority, so if there's a
1614 variable whose name collides with that of a magic fn, automagic won't
1615 work for that function (you get the variable instead). However, if you
1616 delete the variable (del var), the previously shadowed magic function
1617 becomes visible to automagic again.
1618
1619 **%bg**::
1620
1621 Run a job in the background, in a separate thread.
1622
1623 For example,
1624
1625 %bg myfunc(x,y,z=1)
1626
1627 will execute 'myfunc(x,y,z=1)' in a background thread. As soon as the
1628 execution starts, a message will be printed indicating the job
1629 number. If your job number is 5, you can use
1630
1631 myvar = jobs.result(5) or myvar = jobs[5].result
1632
1633 to assign this result to variable 'myvar'.
1634
1635 IPython has a job manager, accessible via the 'jobs' object. You can
1636 type jobs? to get more information about it, and use jobs.<TAB> to see
1637 its attributes. All attributes not starting with an underscore are
1638 meant for public use.
1639
1640 In particular, look at the jobs.new() method, which is used to create
1641 new jobs. This magic %bg function is just a convenience wrapper
1642 around jobs.new(), for expression-based jobs. If you want to create a
1643 new job with an explicit function object and arguments, you must call
1644 jobs.new() directly.
1645
1646 The jobs.new docstring also describes in detail several important
1647 caveats associated with a thread-based model for background job
1648 execution. Type jobs.new? for details.
1649
1650 You can check the status of all jobs with jobs.status().
1651
1652 The jobs variable is set by IPython into the Python builtin namespace.
1653 If you ever declare a variable named 'jobs', you will shadow this
1654 name. You can either delete your global jobs variable to regain
1655 access to the job manager, or make a new name and assign it manually
1656 to the manager (stored in IPython's namespace). For example, to
1657 assign the job manager to the Jobs name, use:
1658
1659 Jobs = __builtins__.jobs
1660
1661 **%bookmark**::
1662
1663 Manage IPython's bookmark system.
1664
1665 %bookmark <name> - set bookmark to current dir
1666 %bookmark <name> <dir> - set bookmark to <dir>
1667 %bookmark -l - list all bookmarks
1668 %bookmark -d <name> - remove bookmark
1669 %bookmark -r - remove all bookmarks
1670
1671 You can later on access a bookmarked folder with:
1672 %cd -b <name>
1673 or simply '%cd <name>' if there is no directory called <name> AND
1674 there is such a bookmark defined.
1675
1676 Your bookmarks persist through IPython sessions, but they are
1677 associated with each profile.
1678
1679 **%cd**::
1680
1681 Change the current working directory.
1682
1683 This command automatically maintains an internal list of directories
1684 you visit during your IPython session, in the variable _dh. The
1685 command %dhist shows this history nicely formatted. You can also
1686 do 'cd -<tab>' to see directory history conveniently.
1687
1688 Usage:
1689
1690 cd 'dir': changes to directory 'dir'.
1691
1692 cd -: changes to the last visited directory.
1693
1694 cd -<n>: changes to the n-th directory in the directory history.
1695
1696 cd -b <bookmark_name>: jump to a bookmark set by %bookmark
1697 (note: cd <bookmark_name> is enough if there is no
1698 directory <bookmark_name>, but a bookmark with the name exists.)
1699 'cd -b <tab>' allows you to tab-complete bookmark names.
1700
1701 Options:
1702
1703 -q: quiet. Do not print the working directory after the cd command is
1704 executed. By default IPython's cd command does print this directory,
1705 since the default prompts do not display path information.
1706
1707 Note that !cd doesn't work for this purpose because the shell where
1708 !command runs is immediately discarded after executing 'command'.
1709
1710 **%clear**::
1711
1712 Clear various data (e.g. stored history data)
1713
1714 %clear out - clear output history
1715 %clear in - clear input history
1716 %clear shadow_compress - Compresses shadow history (to speed up ipython)
1717 %clear shadow_nuke - permanently erase all entries in shadow history
1718 %clear dhist - clear dir history
1719
1720 **%color_info**::
1721
1722 Toggle color_info.
1723
1724 The color_info configuration parameter controls whether colors are
1725 used for displaying object details (by things like %psource, %pfile or
1726 the '?' system). This function toggles this value with each call.
1727
1728 Note that unless you have a fairly recent pager (less works better
1729 than more) in your system, using colored object information displays
1730 will not work properly. Test it and see.
1731
1732 **%colors**::
1733
1734 Switch color scheme for prompts, info system and exception handlers.
1735
1736 Currently implemented schemes: NoColor, Linux, LightBG.
1737
1738 Color scheme names are not case-sensitive.
1739
1740 **%cpaste**::
1741
1742 Allows you to paste & execute a pre-formatted code block from clipboard
1743
1744 You must terminate the block with '--' (two minus-signs) alone on the
1745 line. You can also provide your own sentinel with '%paste -s %%' ('%%'
1746 is the new sentinel for this operation)
1747
1748 The block is dedented prior to execution to enable execution of method
1749 definitions. '>' and '+' characters at the beginning of a line are
1750 ignored, to allow pasting directly from e-mails or diff files. The
1751 executed block is also assigned to variable named 'pasted_block' for
1752 later editing with '%edit pasted_block'.
1753
1754 You can also pass a variable name as an argument, e.g. '%cpaste foo'.
1755 This assigns the pasted block to variable 'foo' as string, without
1756 dedenting or executing it.
1757
1758 Do not be alarmed by garbled output on Windows (it's a readline bug).
1759 Just press enter and type -- (and press enter again) and the block
1760 will be what was just pasted.
1761
1762 IPython statements (magics, shell escapes) are not supported (yet).
1763
1764 **%debug**::
1765
1766 Activate the interactive debugger in post-mortem mode.
1767
1768 If an exception has just occurred, this lets you inspect its stack
1769 frames interactively. Note that this will always work only on the last
1770 traceback that occurred, so you must call this quickly after an
1771 exception that you wish to inspect has fired, because if another one
1772 occurs, it clobbers the previous one.
1773
1774 If you want IPython to automatically do this on every exception, see
1775 the %pdb magic for more details.
1776
1777 **%dhist**::
1778
1779 Print your history of visited directories.
1780
1781 %dhist -> print full history\
1782 %dhist n -> print last n entries only\
1783 %dhist n1 n2 -> print entries between n1 and n2 (n1 not included)\
1784
1785 This history is automatically maintained by the %cd command, and
1786 always available as the global list variable _dh. You can use %cd -<n>
1787 to go to directory number <n>.
1788
1789 Note that most of time, you should view directory history by entering
1790 cd -<TAB>.
1791
1792 **%dirs**::
1793
1794 Return the current directory stack.
1795
1796 **%doctest_mode**::
1797
1798 Toggle doctest mode on and off.
1799
1800 This mode allows you to toggle the prompt behavior between normal
1801 IPython prompts and ones that are as similar to the default IPython
1802 interpreter as possible.
1803
1804 It also supports the pasting of code snippets that have leading '>>>'
1805 and '...' prompts in them. This means that you can paste doctests from
1806 files or docstrings (even if they have leading whitespace), and the
1807 code will execute correctly. You can then use '%history -tn' to see
1808 the translated history without line numbers; this will give you the
1809 input after removal of all the leading prompts and whitespace, which
1810 can be pasted back into an editor.
1811
1812 With these features, you can switch into this mode easily whenever you
1813 need to do testing and changes to doctests, without having to leave
1814 your existing IPython session.
1815
1816 **%ed**::
1817
1818 Alias to %edit.
1819
1820 **%edit**::
1821
1822 Bring up an editor and execute the resulting code.
1823
1824 Usage:
1825 %edit [options] [args]
1826
1827 %edit runs IPython's editor hook. The default version of this hook is
1828 set to call the __IPYTHON__.rc.editor command. This is read from your
1829 environment variable $EDITOR. If this isn't found, it will default to
1830 vi under Linux/Unix and to notepad under Windows. See the end of this
1831 docstring for how to change the editor hook.
1832
1833 You can also set the value of this editor via the command line option
1834 '-editor' or in your ipythonrc file. This is useful if you wish to use
1835 specifically for IPython an editor different from your typical default
1836 (and for Windows users who typically don't set environment variables).
1837
1838 This command allows you to conveniently edit multi-line code right in
1839 your IPython session.
1840
1841 If called without arguments, %edit opens up an empty editor with a
1842 temporary file and will execute the contents of this file when you
1843 close it (don't forget to save it!).
1844
1845
1846 Options:
1847
1848 -n <number>: open the editor at a specified line number. By default,
1849 the IPython editor hook uses the unix syntax 'editor +N filename', but
1850 you can configure this by providing your own modified hook if your
1851 favorite editor supports line-number specifications with a different
1852 syntax.
1853
1854 -p: this will call the editor with the same data as the previous time
1855 it was used, regardless of how long ago (in your current session) it
1856 was.
1857
1858 -r: use 'raw' input. This option only applies to input taken from the
1859 user's history. By default, the 'processed' history is used, so that
1860 magics are loaded in their transformed version to valid Python. If
1861 this option is given, the raw input as typed as the command line is
1862 used instead. When you exit the editor, it will be executed by
1863 IPython's own processor.
1864
1865 -x: do not execute the edited code immediately upon exit. This is
1866 mainly useful if you are editing programs which need to be called with
1867 command line arguments, which you can then do using %run.
1868
1869
1870 Arguments:
1871
1872 If arguments are given, the following possibilites exist:
1873
1874 - The arguments are numbers or pairs of colon-separated numbers (like
1875 1 4:8 9). These are interpreted as lines of previous input to be
1876 loaded into the editor. The syntax is the same of the %macro command.
1877
1878 - If the argument doesn't start with a number, it is evaluated as a
1879 variable and its contents loaded into the editor. You can thus edit
1880 any string which contains python code (including the result of
1881 previous edits).
1882
1883 - If the argument is the name of an object (other than a string),
1884 IPython will try to locate the file where it was defined and open the
1885 editor at the point where it is defined. You can use `%edit function`
1886 to load an editor exactly at the point where 'function' is defined,
1887 edit it and have the file be executed automatically.
1888
1889 If the object is a macro (see %macro for details), this opens up your
1890 specified editor with a temporary file containing the macro's data.
1891 Upon exit, the macro is reloaded with the contents of the file.
1892
1893 Note: opening at an exact line is only supported under Unix, and some
1894 editors (like kedit and gedit up to Gnome 2.8) do not understand the
1895 '+NUMBER' parameter necessary for this feature. Good editors like
1896 (X)Emacs, vi, jed, pico and joe all do.
1897
1898 - If the argument is not found as a variable, IPython will look for a
1899 file with that name (adding .py if necessary) and load it into the
1900 editor. It will execute its contents with execfile() when you exit,
1901 loading any code in the file into your interactive namespace.
1902
1903 After executing your code, %edit will return as output the code you
1904 typed in the editor (except when it was an existing file). This way
1905 you can reload the code in further invocations of %edit as a variable,
1906 via _<NUMBER> or Out[<NUMBER>], where <NUMBER> is the prompt number of
1907 the output.
1908
1909 Note that %edit is also available through the alias %ed.
1910
1911 This is an example of creating a simple function inside the editor and
1912 then modifying it. First, start up the editor:
1913
1914 In [1]: ed\
1915 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
1916 Out[1]: 'def foo():\n print "foo() was defined in an editing session"\n'
1917
1918 We can then call the function foo():
1919
1920 In [2]: foo()\
1921 foo() was defined in an editing session
1922
1923 Now we edit foo. IPython automatically loads the editor with the
1924 (temporary) file where foo() was previously defined:
1925
1926 In [3]: ed foo\
1927 Editing... done. Executing edited code...
1928
1929 And if we call foo() again we get the modified version:
1930
1931 In [4]: foo()\
1932 foo() has now been changed!
1933
1934 Here is an example of how to edit a code snippet successive
1935 times. First we call the editor:
1936
1937 In [8]: ed\
1938 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
1939 hello\
1940 Out[8]: "print 'hello'\n"
1941
1942 Now we call it again with the previous output (stored in _):
1943
1944 In [9]: ed _\
1945 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
1946 hello world\
1947 Out[9]: "print 'hello world'\n"
1948
1949 Now we call it with the output #8 (stored in _8, also as Out[8]):
1950
1951 In [10]: ed _8\
1952 Editing... done. Executing edited code...\
1953 hello again\
1954 Out[10]: "print 'hello again'\n"
1955
1956
1957 Changing the default editor hook:
1958
1959 If you wish to write your own editor hook, you can put it in a
1960 configuration file which you load at startup time. The default hook
1961 is defined in the IPython.hooks module, and you can use that as a
1962 starting example for further modifications. That file also has
1963 general instructions on how to set a new hook for use once you've
1964 defined it.
1965
1966 **%env**::
1967
1968 List environment variables.
1969
1970 **%exit**::
1971
1972 Exit IPython, confirming if configured to do so.
1973
1974 You can configure whether IPython asks for confirmation upon exit by
1975 setting the confirm_exit flag in the ipythonrc file.
1976
1977 **%hist**::
1978
1979 Alternate name for %history.
1980
1981 **%history**::
1982
1983 Print input history (_i<n> variables), with most recent last.
1984
1985 %history -> print at most 40 inputs (some may be multi-line)\
1986 %history n -> print at most n inputs\
1987 %history n1 n2 -> print inputs between n1 and n2 (n2 not included)\
1988
1989 Each input's number <n> is shown, and is accessible as the
1990 automatically generated variable _i<n>. Multi-line statements are
1991 printed starting at a new line for easy copy/paste.
1992
1993
1994 Options:
1995
1996 -n: do NOT print line numbers. This is useful if you want to get a
1997 printout of many lines which can be directly pasted into a text
1998 editor.
1999
2000 This feature is only available if numbered prompts are in use.
2001
2002 -t: (default) print the 'translated' history, as IPython understands it.
2003 IPython filters your input and converts it all into valid Python source
2004 before executing it (things like magics or aliases are turned into
2005 function calls, for example). With this option, you'll see the native
2006 history instead of the user-entered version: '%cd /' will be seen as
2007 '_ip.magic("%cd /")' instead of '%cd /'.
2008
2009 -r: print the 'raw' history, i.e. the actual commands you typed.
2010
2011 -g: treat the arg as a pattern to grep for in (full) history.
2012 This includes the "shadow history" (almost all commands ever written).
2013 Use '%hist -g' to show full shadow history (may be very long).
2014 In shadow history, every index nuwber starts with 0.
2015
2016 -f FILENAME: instead of printing the output to the screen, redirect it to
2017 the given file. The file is always overwritten, though IPython asks for
2018 confirmation first if it already exists.
2019
2020 **%logoff**::
2021
2022 Temporarily stop logging.
2023
2024 You must have previously started logging.
2025
2026 **%logon**::
2027
2028 Restart logging.
2029
2030 This function is for restarting logging which you've temporarily
2031 stopped with %logoff. For starting logging for the first time, you
2032 must use the %logstart function, which allows you to specify an
2033 optional log filename.
2034
2035 **%logstart**::
2036
2037 Start logging anywhere in a session.
2038
2039 %logstart [-o|-r|-t] [log_name [log_mode]]
2040
2041 If no name is given, it defaults to a file named 'ipython_log.py' in your
2042 current directory, in 'rotate' mode (see below).
2043
2044 '%logstart name' saves to file 'name' in 'backup' mode. It saves your
2045 history up to that point and then continues logging.
2046
2047 %logstart takes a second optional parameter: logging mode. This can be one
2048 of (note that the modes are given unquoted):\
2049 append: well, that says it.\
2050 backup: rename (if exists) to name~ and start name.\
2051 global: single logfile in your home dir, appended to.\
2052 over : overwrite existing log.\
2053 rotate: create rotating logs name.1~, name.2~, etc.
2054
2055 Options:
2056
2057 -o: log also IPython's output. In this mode, all commands which
2058 generate an Out[NN] prompt are recorded to the logfile, right after
2059 their corresponding input line. The output lines are always
2060 prepended with a '#[Out]# ' marker, so that the log remains valid
2061 Python code.
2062
2063 Since this marker is always the same, filtering only the output from
2064 a log is very easy, using for example a simple awk call:
2065
2066 awk -F'#\[Out\]# ' '{if($2) {print $2}}' ipython_log.py
2067
2068 -r: log 'raw' input. Normally, IPython's logs contain the processed
2069 input, so that user lines are logged in their final form, converted
2070 into valid Python. For example, %Exit is logged as
2071 '_ip.magic("Exit"). If the -r flag is given, all input is logged
2072 exactly as typed, with no transformations applied.
2073
2074 -t: put timestamps before each input line logged (these are put in
2075 comments).
2076
2077 **%logstate**::
2078
2079 Print the status of the logging system.
2080
2081 **%logstop**::
2082
2083 Fully stop logging and close log file.
2084
2085 In order to start logging again, a new %logstart call needs to be made,
2086 possibly (though not necessarily) with a new filename, mode and other
2087 options.
2088
2089 **%lsmagic**::
2090
2091 List currently available magic functions.
2092
2093 **%macro**::
2094
2095 Define a set of input lines as a macro for future re-execution.
2096
2097 Usage:\
2098 %macro [options] name n1-n2 n3-n4 ... n5 .. n6 ...
2099
2100 Options:
2101
2102 -r: use 'raw' input. By default, the 'processed' history is used,
2103 so that magics are loaded in their transformed version to valid
2104 Python. If this option is given, the raw input as typed as the
2105 command line is used instead.
2106
2107 This will define a global variable called `name` which is a string
2108 made of joining the slices and lines you specify (n1,n2,... numbers
2109 above) from your input history into a single string. This variable
2110 acts like an automatic function which re-executes those lines as if
2111 you had typed them. You just type 'name' at the prompt and the code
2112 executes.
2113
2114 The notation for indicating number ranges is: n1-n2 means 'use line
2115 numbers n1,...n2' (the endpoint is included). That is, '5-7' means
2116 using the lines numbered 5,6 and 7.
2117
2118 Note: as a 'hidden' feature, you can also use traditional python slice
2119 notation, where N:M means numbers N through M-1.
2120
2121 For example, if your history contains (%hist prints it):
2122
2123 44: x=1\
2124 45: y=3\
2125 46: z=x+y\
2126 47: print x\
2127 48: a=5\
2128 49: print 'x',x,'y',y\
2129
2130 you can create a macro with lines 44 through 47 (included) and line 49
2131 called my_macro with:
2132
2133 In [51]: %macro my_macro 44-47 49
2134
2135 Now, typing `my_macro` (without quotes) will re-execute all this code
2136 in one pass.
2137
2138 You don't need to give the line-numbers in order, and any given line
2139 number can appear multiple times. You can assemble macros with any
2140 lines from your input history in any order.
2141
2142 The macro is a simple object which holds its value in an attribute,
2143 but IPython's display system checks for macros and executes them as
2144 code instead of printing them when you type their name.
2145
2146 You can view a macro's contents by explicitly printing it with:
2147
2148 'print macro_name'.
2149
2150 For one-off cases which DON'T contain magic function calls in them you
2151 can obtain similar results by explicitly executing slices from your
2152 input history with:
2153
2154 In [60]: exec In[44:48]+In[49]
2155
2156 **%magic**::
2157
2158 Print information about the magic function system.
2159
2160 **%mglob**::
2161
2162 This program allows specifying filenames with "mglob" mechanism.
2163 Supported syntax in globs (wilcard matching patterns)::
2164
2165 *.cpp ?ellowo*
2166 - obvious. Differs from normal glob in that dirs are not included.
2167 Unix users might want to write this as: "*.cpp" "?ellowo*"
2168 rec:/usr/share=*.txt,*.doc
2169 - get all *.txt and *.doc under /usr/share,
2170 recursively
2171 rec:/usr/share
2172 - All files under /usr/share, recursively
2173 rec:*.py
2174 - All .py files under current working dir, recursively
2175 foo
2176 - File or dir foo
2177 !*.bak readme*
2178 - readme*, exclude files ending with .bak
2179 !.svn/ !.hg/ !*_Data/ rec:.
2180 - Skip .svn, .hg, foo_Data dirs (and their subdirs) in recurse.
2181 Trailing / is the key, \ does not work!
2182 dir:foo
2183 - the directory foo if it exists (not files in foo)
2184 dir:*
2185 - all directories in current folder
2186 foo.py bar.* !h* rec:*.py
2187 - Obvious. !h* exclusion only applies for rec:*.py.
2188 foo.py is *not* included twice.
2189 @filelist.txt
2190 - All files listed in 'filelist.txt' file, on separate lines.
2191
2192 **%page**::
2193
2194 Pretty print the object and display it through a pager.
2195
2196 %page [options] OBJECT
2197
2198 If no object is given, use _ (last output).
2199
2200 Options:
2201
2202 -r: page str(object), don't pretty-print it.
2203
2204 **%pdb**::
2205
2206 Control the automatic calling of the pdb interactive debugger.
2207
2208 Call as '%pdb on', '%pdb 1', '%pdb off' or '%pdb 0'. If called without
2209 argument it works as a toggle.
2210
2211 When an exception is triggered, IPython can optionally call the
2212 interactive pdb debugger after the traceback printout. %pdb toggles
2213 this feature on and off.
2214
2215 The initial state of this feature is set in your ipythonrc
2216 configuration file (the variable is called 'pdb').
2217
2218 If you want to just activate the debugger AFTER an exception has fired,
2219 without having to type '%pdb on' and rerunning your code, you can use
2220 the %debug magic.
2221
2222 **%pdef**::
2223
2224 Print the definition header for any callable object.
2225
2226 If the object is a class, print the constructor information.
2227
2228 **%pdoc**::
2229
2230 Print the docstring for an object.
2231
2232 If the given object is a class, it will print both the class and the
2233 constructor docstrings.
2234
2235 **%pfile**::
2236
2237 Print (or run through pager) the file where an object is defined.
2238
2239 The file opens at the line where the object definition begins. IPython
2240 will honor the environment variable PAGER if set, and otherwise will
2241 do its best to print the file in a convenient form.
2242
2243 If the given argument is not an object currently defined, IPython will
2244 try to interpret it as a filename (automatically adding a .py extension
2245 if needed). You can thus use %pfile as a syntax highlighting code
2246 viewer.
2247
2248 **%pinfo**::
2249
2250 Provide detailed information about an object.
2251
2252 '%pinfo object' is just a synonym for object? or ?object.
2253
2254 **%popd**::
2255
2256 Change to directory popped off the top of the stack.
2257
2258 **%profile**::
2259
2260 Print your currently active IPyhton profile.
2261
2262 **%prun**::
2263
2264 Run a statement through the python code profiler.
2265
2266 Usage:\
2267 %prun [options] statement
2268
2269 The given statement (which doesn't require quote marks) is run via the
2270 python profiler in a manner similar to the profile.run() function.
2271 Namespaces are internally managed to work correctly; profile.run
2272 cannot be used in IPython because it makes certain assumptions about
2273 namespaces which do not hold under IPython.
2274
2275 Options:
2276
2277 -l <limit>: you can place restrictions on what or how much of the
2278 profile gets printed. The limit value can be:
2279
2280 * A string: only information for function names containing this string
2281 is printed.
2282
2283 * An integer: only these many lines are printed.
2284
2285 * A float (between 0 and 1): this fraction of the report is printed
2286 (for example, use a limit of 0.4 to see the topmost 40% only).
2287
2288 You can combine several limits with repeated use of the option. For
2289 example, '-l __init__ -l 5' will print only the topmost 5 lines of
2290 information about class constructors.
2291
2292 -r: return the pstats.Stats object generated by the profiling. This
2293 object has all the information about the profile in it, and you can
2294 later use it for further analysis or in other functions.
2295
2296 -s <key>: sort profile by given key. You can provide more than one key
2297 by using the option several times: '-s key1 -s key2 -s key3...'. The
2298 default sorting key is 'time'.
2299
2300 The following is copied verbatim from the profile documentation
2301 referenced below:
2302
2303 When more than one key is provided, additional keys are used as
2304 secondary criteria when the there is equality in all keys selected
2305 before them.
2306
2307 Abbreviations can be used for any key names, as long as the
2308 abbreviation is unambiguous. The following are the keys currently
2309 defined:
2310
2311 Valid Arg Meaning\
2312 "calls" call count\
2313 "cumulative" cumulative time\
2314 "file" file name\
2315 "module" file name\
2316 "pcalls" primitive call count\
2317 "line" line number\
2318 "name" function name\
2319 "nfl" name/file/line\
2320 "stdname" standard name\
2321 "time" internal time
2322
2323 Note that all sorts on statistics are in descending order (placing
2324 most time consuming items first), where as name, file, and line number
2325 searches are in ascending order (i.e., alphabetical). The subtle
2326 distinction between "nfl" and "stdname" is that the standard name is a
2327 sort of the name as printed, which means that the embedded line
2328 numbers get compared in an odd way. For example, lines 3, 20, and 40
2329 would (if the file names were the same) appear in the string order
2330 "20" "3" and "40". In contrast, "nfl" does a numeric compare of the
2331 line numbers. In fact, sort_stats("nfl") is the same as
2332 sort_stats("name", "file", "line").
2333
2334 -T <filename>: save profile results as shown on screen to a text
2335 file. The profile is still shown on screen.
2336
2337 -D <filename>: save (via dump_stats) profile statistics to given
2338 filename. This data is in a format understod by the pstats module, and
2339 is generated by a call to the dump_stats() method of profile
2340 objects. The profile is still shown on screen.
2341
2342 If you want to run complete programs under the profiler's control, use
2343 '%run -p [prof_opts] filename.py [args to program]' where prof_opts
2344 contains profiler specific options as described here.
2345
2346 You can read the complete documentation for the profile module with:\
2347 In [1]: import profile; profile.help()
2348
2349 **%psearch**::
2350
2351 Search for object in namespaces by wildcard.
2352
2353 %psearch [options] PATTERN [OBJECT TYPE]
2354
2355 Note: ? can be used as a synonym for %psearch, at the beginning or at
2356 the end: both a*? and ?a* are equivalent to '%psearch a*'. Still, the
2357 rest of the command line must be unchanged (options come first), so
2358 for example the following forms are equivalent
2359
2360 %psearch -i a* function
2361 -i a* function?
2362 ?-i a* function
2363
2364 Arguments:
2365
2366 PATTERN
2367
2368 where PATTERN is a string containing * as a wildcard similar to its
2369 use in a shell. The pattern is matched in all namespaces on the
2370 search path. By default objects starting with a single _ are not
2371 matched, many IPython generated objects have a single
2372 underscore. The default is case insensitive matching. Matching is
2373 also done on the attributes of objects and not only on the objects
2374 in a module.
2375
2376 [OBJECT TYPE]
2377
2378 Is the name of a python type from the types module. The name is
2379 given in lowercase without the ending type, ex. StringType is
2380 written string. By adding a type here only objects matching the
2381 given type are matched. Using all here makes the pattern match all
2382 types (this is the default).
2383
2384 Options:
2385
2386 -a: makes the pattern match even objects whose names start with a
2387 single underscore. These names are normally ommitted from the
2388 search.
2389
2390 -i/-c: make the pattern case insensitive/sensitive. If neither of
2391 these options is given, the default is read from your ipythonrc
2392 file. The option name which sets this value is
2393 'wildcards_case_sensitive'. If this option is not specified in your
2394 ipythonrc file, IPython's internal default is to do a case sensitive
2395 search.
2396
2397 -e/-s NAMESPACE: exclude/search a given namespace. The pattern you
2398 specifiy can be searched in any of the following namespaces:
2399 'builtin', 'user', 'user_global','internal', 'alias', where
2400 'builtin' and 'user' are the search defaults. Note that you should
2401 not use quotes when specifying namespaces.
2402
2403 'Builtin' contains the python module builtin, 'user' contains all
2404 user data, 'alias' only contain the shell aliases and no python
2405 objects, 'internal' contains objects used by IPython. The
2406 'user_global' namespace is only used by embedded IPython instances,
2407 and it contains module-level globals. You can add namespaces to the
2408 search with -s or exclude them with -e (these options can be given
2409 more than once).
2410
2411 Examples:
2412
2413 %psearch a* -> objects beginning with an a
2414 %psearch -e builtin a* -> objects NOT in the builtin space starting in a
2415 %psearch a* function -> all functions beginning with an a
2416 %psearch re.e* -> objects beginning with an e in module re
2417 %psearch r*.e* -> objects that start with e in modules starting in r
2418 %psearch r*.* string -> all strings in modules beginning with r
2419
2420 Case sensitve search:
2421
2422 %psearch -c a* list all object beginning with lower case a
2423
2424 Show objects beginning with a single _:
2425
2426 %psearch -a _* list objects beginning with a single underscore
2427
2428 **%psource**::
2429
2430 Print (or run through pager) the source code for an object.
2431
2432 **%pushd**::
2433
2434 Place the current dir on stack and change directory.
2435
2436 Usage:\
2437 %pushd ['dirname']
2438
2439 **%pwd**::
2440
2441 Return the current working directory path.
2442
2443 **%pycat**::
2444
2445 Show a syntax-highlighted file through a pager.
2446
2447 This magic is similar to the cat utility, but it will assume the file
2448 to be Python source and will show it with syntax highlighting.
2449
2450 **%quickref**::
2451
2452 Show a quick reference sheet
2453
2454 **%quit**::
2455
2456 Exit IPython, confirming if configured to do so (like %exit)
2457
2458 **%r**::
2459
2460 Repeat previous input.
2461
2462 Note: Consider using the more powerfull %rep instead!
2463
2464 If given an argument, repeats the previous command which starts with
2465 the same string, otherwise it just repeats the previous input.
2466
2467 Shell escaped commands (with ! as first character) are not recognized
2468 by this system, only pure python code and magic commands.
2469
2470 **%rehashdir**::
2471
2472 Add executables in all specified dirs to alias table
2473
2474 Usage:
2475
2476 %rehashdir c:/bin;c:/tools
2477 - Add all executables under c:/bin and c:/tools to alias table, in
2478 order to make them directly executable from any directory.
2479
2480 Without arguments, add all executables in current directory.
2481
2482 **%rehashx**::
2483
2484 Update the alias table with all executable files in $PATH.
2485
2486 This version explicitly checks that every entry in $PATH is a file
2487 with execute access (os.X_OK), so it is much slower than %rehash.
2488
2489 Under Windows, it checks executability as a match agains a
2490 '|'-separated string of extensions, stored in the IPython config
2491 variable win_exec_ext. This defaults to 'exe|com|bat'.
2492
2493 This function also resets the root module cache of module completer,
2494 used on slow filesystems.
2495
2496 **%rep**::
2497
2498 Repeat a command, or get command to input line for editing
2499
2500 - %rep (no arguments):
2501
2502 Place a string version of last computation result (stored in the special '_'
2503 variable) to the next input prompt. Allows you to create elaborate command
2504 lines without using copy-paste::
2505
2506 $ l = ["hei", "vaan"]
2507 $ "".join(l)
2508 ==> heivaan
2509 $ %rep
2510 $ heivaan_ <== cursor blinking
2511
2512 %rep 45
2513
2514 Place history line 45 to next input prompt. Use %hist to find out the
2515 number.
2516
2517 %rep 1-4 6-7 3
2518
2519 Repeat the specified lines immediately. Input slice syntax is the same as
2520 in %macro and %save.
2521
2522 %rep foo
2523
2524 Place the most recent line that has the substring "foo" to next input.
2525 (e.g. 'svn ci -m foobar').
2526
2527 **%reset**::
2528
2529 Resets the namespace by removing all names defined by the user.
2530
2531 Input/Output history are left around in case you need them.
2532
2533 **%run**::
2534
2535 Run the named file inside IPython as a program.
2536
2537 Usage:\
2538 %run [-n -i -t [-N<N>] -d [-b<N>] -p [profile options]] file [args]
2539
2540 Parameters after the filename are passed as command-line arguments to
2541 the program (put in sys.argv). Then, control returns to IPython's
2542 prompt.
2543
2544 This is similar to running at a system prompt:\
2545 $ python file args\
2546 but with the advantage of giving you IPython's tracebacks, and of
2547 loading all variables into your interactive namespace for further use
2548 (unless -p is used, see below).
2549
2550 The file is executed in a namespace initially consisting only of
2551 __name__=='__main__' and sys.argv constructed as indicated. It thus
2552 sees its environment as if it were being run as a stand-alone program
2553 (except for sharing global objects such as previously imported
2554 modules). But after execution, the IPython interactive namespace gets
2555 updated with all variables defined in the program (except for __name__
2556 and sys.argv). This allows for very convenient loading of code for
2557 interactive work, while giving each program a 'clean sheet' to run in.
2558
2559 Options:
2560
2561 -n: __name__ is NOT set to '__main__', but to the running file's name
2562 without extension (as python does under import). This allows running
2563 scripts and reloading the definitions in them without calling code
2564 protected by an ' if __name__ == "__main__" ' clause.
2565
2566 -i: run the file in IPython's namespace instead of an empty one. This
2567 is useful if you are experimenting with code written in a text editor
2568 which depends on variables defined interactively.
2569
2570 -e: ignore sys.exit() calls or SystemExit exceptions in the script
2571 being run. This is particularly useful if IPython is being used to
2572 run unittests, which always exit with a sys.exit() call. In such
2573 cases you are interested in the output of the test results, not in
2574 seeing a traceback of the unittest module.
2575
2576 -t: print timing information at the end of the run. IPython will give
2577 you an estimated CPU time consumption for your script, which under
2578 Unix uses the resource module to avoid the wraparound problems of
2579 time.clock(). Under Unix, an estimate of time spent on system tasks
2580 is also given (for Windows platforms this is reported as 0.0).
2581
2582 If -t is given, an additional -N<N> option can be given, where <N>
2583 must be an integer indicating how many times you want the script to
2584 run. The final timing report will include total and per run results.
2585
2586 For example (testing the script uniq_stable.py):
2587
2588 In [1]: run -t uniq_stable
2589
2590 IPython CPU timings (estimated):\
2591 User : 0.19597 s.\
2592 System: 0.0 s.\
2593
2594 In [2]: run -t -N5 uniq_stable
2595
2596 IPython CPU timings (estimated):\
2597 Total runs performed: 5\
2598 Times : Total Per run\
2599 User : 0.910862 s, 0.1821724 s.\
2600 System: 0.0 s, 0.0 s.
2601
2602 -d: run your program under the control of pdb, the Python debugger.
2603 This allows you to execute your program step by step, watch variables,
2604 etc. Internally, what IPython does is similar to calling:
2605
2606 pdb.run('execfile("YOURFILENAME")')
2607
2608 with a breakpoint set on line 1 of your file. You can change the line
2609 number for this automatic breakpoint to be <N> by using the -bN option
2610 (where N must be an integer). For example:
2611
2612 %run -d -b40 myscript
2613
2614 will set the first breakpoint at line 40 in myscript.py. Note that
2615 the first breakpoint must be set on a line which actually does
2616 something (not a comment or docstring) for it to stop execution.
2617
2618 When the pdb debugger starts, you will see a (Pdb) prompt. You must
2619 first enter 'c' (without qoutes) to start execution up to the first
2620 breakpoint.
2621
2622 Entering 'help' gives information about the use of the debugger. You
2623 can easily see pdb's full documentation with "import pdb;pdb.help()"
2624 at a prompt.
2625
2626 -p: run program under the control of the Python profiler module (which
2627 prints a detailed report of execution times, function calls, etc).
2628
2629 You can pass other options after -p which affect the behavior of the
2630 profiler itself. See the docs for %prun for details.
2631
2632 In this mode, the program's variables do NOT propagate back to the
2633 IPython interactive namespace (because they remain in the namespace
2634 where the profiler executes them).
2635
2636 Internally this triggers a call to %prun, see its documentation for
2637 details on the options available specifically for profiling.
2638
2639 There is one special usage for which the text above doesn't apply:
2640 if the filename ends with .ipy, the file is run as ipython script,
2641 just as if the commands were written on IPython prompt.
2642
2643 **%runlog**::
2644
2645 Run files as logs.
2646
2647 Usage:\
2648 %runlog file1 file2 ...
2649
2650 Run the named files (treating them as log files) in sequence inside
2651 the interpreter, and return to the prompt. This is much slower than
2652 %run because each line is executed in a try/except block, but it
2653 allows running files with syntax errors in them.
2654
2655 Normally IPython will guess when a file is one of its own logfiles, so
2656 you can typically use %run even for logs. This shorthand allows you to
2657 force any file to be treated as a log file.
2658
2659 **%save**::
2660
2661 Save a set of lines to a given filename.
2662
2663 Usage:\
2664 %save [options] filename n1-n2 n3-n4 ... n5 .. n6 ...
2665
2666 Options:
2667
2668 -r: use 'raw' input. By default, the 'processed' history is used,
2669 so that magics are loaded in their transformed version to valid
2670 Python. If this option is given, the raw input as typed as the
2671 command line is used instead.
2672
2673 This function uses the same syntax as %macro for line extraction, but
2674 instead of creating a macro it saves the resulting string to the
2675 filename you specify.
2676
2677 It adds a '.py' extension to the file if you don't do so yourself, and
2678 it asks for confirmation before overwriting existing files.
2679
2680 **%sc**::
2681
2682 Shell capture - execute a shell command and capture its output.
2683
2684 DEPRECATED. Suboptimal, retained for backwards compatibility.
2685
2686 You should use the form 'var = !command' instead. Example:
2687
2688 "%sc -l myfiles = ls ~" should now be written as
2689
2690 "myfiles = !ls ~"
2691
2692 myfiles.s, myfiles.l and myfiles.n still apply as documented
2693 below.
2694
2695 --
2696 %sc [options] varname=command
2697
2698 IPython will run the given command using commands.getoutput(), and
2699 will then update the user's interactive namespace with a variable
2700 called varname, containing the value of the call. Your command can
2701 contain shell wildcards, pipes, etc.
2702
2703 The '=' sign in the syntax is mandatory, and the variable name you
2704 supply must follow Python's standard conventions for valid names.
2705
2706 (A special format without variable name exists for internal use)
2707
2708 Options:
2709
2710 -l: list output. Split the output on newlines into a list before
2711 assigning it to the given variable. By default the output is stored
2712 as a single string.
2713
2714 -v: verbose. Print the contents of the variable.
2715
2716 In most cases you should not need to split as a list, because the
2717 returned value is a special type of string which can automatically
2718 provide its contents either as a list (split on newlines) or as a
2719 space-separated string. These are convenient, respectively, either
2720 for sequential processing or to be passed to a shell command.
2721
2722 For example:
2723
2724 # Capture into variable a
2725 In [9]: sc a=ls *py
2726
2727 # a is a string with embedded newlines
2728 In [10]: a
2729 Out[10]: 'setup.py win32_manual_post_install.py'
2730
2731 # which can be seen as a list:
2732 In [11]: a.l
2733 Out[11]: ['setup.py', 'win32_manual_post_install.py']
2734
2735 # or as a whitespace-separated string:
2736 In [12]: a.s
2737 Out[12]: 'setup.py win32_manual_post_install.py'
2738
2739 # a.s is useful to pass as a single command line:
2740 In [13]: !wc -l $a.s
2741 146 setup.py
2742 130 win32_manual_post_install.py
2743 276 total
2744
2745 # while the list form is useful to loop over:
2746 In [14]: for f in a.l:
2747 ....: !wc -l $f
2748 ....:
2749 146 setup.py
2750 130 win32_manual_post_install.py
2751
2752 Similiarly, the lists returned by the -l option are also special, in
2753 the sense that you can equally invoke the .s attribute on them to
2754 automatically get a whitespace-separated string from their contents:
2755
2756 In [1]: sc -l b=ls *py
2757
2758 In [2]: b
2759 Out[2]: ['setup.py', 'win32_manual_post_install.py']
2760
2761 In [3]: b.s
2762 Out[3]: 'setup.py win32_manual_post_install.py'
2763
2764 In summary, both the lists and strings used for ouptut capture have
2765 the following special attributes:
2766
2767 .l (or .list) : value as list.
2768 .n (or .nlstr): value as newline-separated string.
2769 .s (or .spstr): value as space-separated string.
2770
2771 **%store**::
2772
2773 Lightweight persistence for python variables.
2774
2775 Example:
2776
2777 ville@badger[~]|1> A = ['hello',10,'world']\
2778 ville@badger[~]|2> %store A\
2779 ville@badger[~]|3> Exit
2780
2781 (IPython session is closed and started again...)
2782
2783 ville@badger:~$ ipython -p pysh\
2784 ville@badger[~]|1> print A
2785
2786 ['hello', 10, 'world']
2787
2788 Usage:
2789
2790 %store - Show list of all variables and their current values\
2791 %store <var> - Store the *current* value of the variable to disk\
2792 %store -d <var> - Remove the variable and its value from storage\
2793 %store -z - Remove all variables from storage\
2794 %store -r - Refresh all variables from store (delete current vals)\
2795 %store foo >a.txt - Store value of foo to new file a.txt\
2796 %store foo >>a.txt - Append value of foo to file a.txt\
2797
2798 It should be noted that if you change the value of a variable, you
2799 need to %store it again if you want to persist the new value.
2800
2801 Note also that the variables will need to be pickleable; most basic
2802 python types can be safely %stored.
2803
2804 Also aliases can be %store'd across sessions.
2805
2806 **%sx**::
2807
2808 Shell execute - run a shell command and capture its output.
2809
2810 %sx command
2811
2812 IPython will run the given command using commands.getoutput(), and
2813 return the result formatted as a list (split on '\n'). Since the
2814 output is _returned_, it will be stored in ipython's regular output
2815 cache Out[N] and in the '_N' automatic variables.
2816
2817 Notes:
2818
2819 1) If an input line begins with '!!', then %sx is automatically
2820 invoked. That is, while:
2821 !ls
2822 causes ipython to simply issue system('ls'), typing
2823 !!ls
2824 is a shorthand equivalent to:
2825 %sx ls
2826
2827 2) %sx differs from %sc in that %sx automatically splits into a list,
2828 like '%sc -l'. The reason for this is to make it as easy as possible
2829 to process line-oriented shell output via further python commands.
2830 %sc is meant to provide much finer control, but requires more
2831 typing.
2832
2833 3) Just like %sc -l, this is a list with special attributes:
2834
2835 .l (or .list) : value as list.
2836 .n (or .nlstr): value as newline-separated string.
2837 .s (or .spstr): value as whitespace-separated string.
2838
2839 This is very useful when trying to use such lists as arguments to
2840 system commands.
2841
2842 **%system_verbose**::
2843
2844 Set verbose printing of system calls.
2845
2846 If called without an argument, act as a toggle
2847
2848 **%time**::
2849
2850 Time execution of a Python statement or expression.
2851
2852 The CPU and wall clock times are printed, and the value of the
2853 expression (if any) is returned. Note that under Win32, system time
2854 is always reported as 0, since it can not be measured.
2855
2856 This function provides very basic timing functionality. In Python
2857 2.3, the timeit module offers more control and sophistication, so this
2858 could be rewritten to use it (patches welcome).
2859
2860 Some examples:
2861
2862 In [1]: time 2**128
2863 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
2864 Wall time: 0.00
2865 Out[1]: 340282366920938463463374607431768211456L
2866
2867 In [2]: n = 1000000
2868
2869 In [3]: time sum(range(n))
2870 CPU times: user 1.20 s, sys: 0.05 s, total: 1.25 s
2871 Wall time: 1.37
2872 Out[3]: 499999500000L
2873
2874 In [4]: time print 'hello world'
2875 hello world
2876 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
2877 Wall time: 0.00
2878
2879 Note that the time needed by Python to compile the given expression
2880 will be reported if it is more than 0.1s. In this example, the
2881 actual exponentiation is done by Python at compilation time, so while
2882 the expression can take a noticeable amount of time to compute, that
2883 time is purely due to the compilation:
2884
2885 In [5]: time 3**9999;
2886 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
2887 Wall time: 0.00 s
2888
2889 In [6]: time 3**999999;
2890 CPU times: user 0.00 s, sys: 0.00 s, total: 0.00 s
2891 Wall time: 0.00 s
2892 Compiler : 0.78 s
2893
2894 **%timeit**::
2895
2896 Time execution of a Python statement or expression
2897
2898 Usage:\
2899 %timeit [-n<N> -r<R> [-t|-c]] statement
2900
2901 Time execution of a Python statement or expression using the timeit
2902 module.
2903
2904 Options:
2905 -n<N>: execute the given statement <N> times in a loop. If this value
2906 is not given, a fitting value is chosen.
2907
2908 -r<R>: repeat the loop iteration <R> times and take the best result.
2909 Default: 3
2910
2911 -t: use time.time to measure the time, which is the default on Unix.
2912 This function measures wall time.
2913
2914 -c: use time.clock to measure the time, which is the default on
2915 Windows and measures wall time. On Unix, resource.getrusage is used
2916 instead and returns the CPU user time.
2917
2918 -p<P>: use a precision of <P> digits to display the timing result.
2919 Default: 3
2920
2921
2922 Examples:\
2923 In [1]: %timeit pass
2924 10000000 loops, best of 3: 53.3 ns per loop
2925
2926 In [2]: u = None
2927
2928 In [3]: %timeit u is None
2929 10000000 loops, best of 3: 184 ns per loop
2930
2931 In [4]: %timeit -r 4 u == None
2932 1000000 loops, best of 4: 242 ns per loop
2933
2934 In [5]: import time
2935
2936 In [6]: %timeit -n1 time.sleep(2)
2937 1 loops, best of 3: 2 s per loop
2938
2939
2940 The times reported by %timeit will be slightly higher than those
2941 reported by the timeit.py script when variables are accessed. This is
2942 due to the fact that %timeit executes the statement in the namespace
2943 of the shell, compared with timeit.py, which uses a single setup
2944 statement to import function or create variables. Generally, the bias
2945 does not matter as long as results from timeit.py are not mixed with
2946 those from %timeit.
2947
2948 **%unalias**::
2949
2950 Remove an alias
2951
2952 **%upgrade**::
2953
2954 Upgrade your IPython installation
2955
2956 This will copy the config files that don't yet exist in your
2957 ipython dir from the system config dir. Use this after upgrading
2958 IPython if you don't wish to delete your .ipython dir.
2959
2960 Call with -nolegacy to get rid of ipythonrc* files (recommended for
2961 new users)
2962
2963 **%which**::
2964
2965 %which <cmd> => search PATH for files matching cmd. Also scans aliases.
2966
2967 Traverses PATH and prints all files (not just executables!) that match the
2968 pattern on command line. Probably more useful in finding stuff
2969 interactively than 'which', which only prints the first matching item.
2970
2971 Also discovers and expands aliases, so you'll see what will be executed
2972 when you call an alias.
2973
2974 Example:
2975
2976 [~]|62> %which d
2977 d -> ls -F --color=auto
2978 == c:\cygwin\bin\ls.exe
2979 c:\cygwin\bin\d.exe
2980
2981 [~]|64> %which diff*
2982 diff3 -> diff3
2983 == c:\cygwin\bin\diff3.exe
2984 diff -> diff
2985 == c:\cygwin\bin\diff.exe
2986 c:\cygwin\bin\diff.exe
2987 c:\cygwin\bin\diff3.exe
2988
2989 **%who**::
2990
2991 Print all interactive variables, with some minimal formatting.
2992
2993 If any arguments are given, only variables whose type matches one of
2994 these are printed. For example:
2995
2996 %who function str
2997
2998 will only list functions and strings, excluding all other types of
2999 variables. To find the proper type names, simply use type(var) at a
3000 command line to see how python prints type names. For example:
3001
3002 In [1]: type('hello')\
3003 Out[1]: <type 'str'>
3004
3005 indicates that the type name for strings is 'str'.
3006
3007 %who always excludes executed names loaded through your configuration
3008 file and things which are internal to IPython.
3009
3010 This is deliberate, as typically you may load many modules and the
3011 purpose of %who is to show you only what you've manually defined.
3012
3013 **%who_ls**::
3014
3015 Return a sorted list of all interactive variables.
3016
3017 If arguments are given, only variables of types matching these
3018 arguments are returned.
3019
3020 **%whos**::
3021
3022 Like %who, but gives some extra information about each variable.
3023
3024 The same type filtering of %who can be applied here.
3025
3026 For all variables, the type is printed. Additionally it prints:
3027
3028 - For {},[],(): their length.
3029
3030 - For numpy and Numeric arrays, a summary with shape, number of
3031 elements, typecode and size in memory.
3032
3033 - Everything else: a string representation, snipping their middle if
3034 too long.
3035
3036 **%xmode**::
3037
3038 Switch modes for the exception handlers.
3039
3040 Valid modes: Plain, Context and Verbose.
3041
3042 If called without arguments, acts as a toggle.
3043
3044 .. magic_end
3045
3046 Access to the standard Python help
3047 ----------------------------------
3048
3049 As of Python 2.1, a help system is available with access to object
3050 docstrings and the Python manuals. Simply type 'help' (no quotes) to
3051 access it. You can also type help(object) to obtain information about a
3052 given object, and help('keyword') for information on a keyword. As noted
3053 in sec. `accessing help`_, you need to properly configure
3054 your environment variable PYTHONDOCS for this feature to work correctly.
3055
3056
3057 Dynamic object information
3058 --------------------------
3059
3060 Typing ?word or word? prints detailed information about an object. If
3061 certain strings in the object are too long (docstrings, code, etc.) they
3062 get snipped in the center for brevity. This system gives access variable
3063 types and values, full source code for any object (if available),
3064 function prototypes and other useful information.
3065
3066 Typing ??word or word?? gives access to the full information without
3067 snipping long strings. Long strings are sent to the screen through the
3068 less pager if longer than the screen and printed otherwise. On systems
3069 lacking the less command, IPython uses a very basic internal pager.
3070
3071 The following magic functions are particularly useful for gathering
3072 information about your working environment. You can get more details by
3073 typing %magic or querying them individually (use %function_name? with or
3074 without the %), this is just a summary:
3075
3076 * **%pdoc <object>**: Print (or run through a pager if too long) the
3077 docstring for an object. If the given object is a class, it will
3078 print both the class and the constructor docstrings.
3079 * **%pdef <object>**: Print the definition header for any callable
3080 object. If the object is a class, print the constructor information.
3081 * **%psource <object>**: Print (or run through a pager if too long)
3082 the source code for an object.
3083 * **%pfile <object>**: Show the entire source file where an object was
3084 defined via a pager, opening it at the line where the object
3085 definition begins.
3086 * **%who/%whos**: These functions give information about identifiers
3087 you have defined interactively (not things you loaded or defined
3088 in your configuration files). %who just prints a list of
3089 identifiers and %whos prints a table with some basic details about
3090 each identifier.
3091
3092 Note that the dynamic object information functions (?/??, %pdoc, %pfile,
3093 %pdef, %psource) give you access to documentation even on things which
3094 are not really defined as separate identifiers. Try for example typing
3095 {}.get? or after doing import os, type os.path.abspath??.
3096
3097
3098 .. _Readline:
3099
3100 Readline-based features
3101 -----------------------
3102
3103 These features require the GNU readline library, so they won't work if
3104 your Python installation lacks readline support. We will first describe
3105 the default behavior IPython uses, and then how to change it to suit
3106 your preferences.
3107
3108
3109 Command line completion
3110 +++++++++++++++++++++++
3111
3112 At any time, hitting TAB will complete any available python commands or
3113 variable names, and show you a list of the possible completions if
3114 there's no unambiguous one. It will also complete filenames in the
3115 current directory if no python names match what you've typed so far.
3116
3117
3118 Search command history
3119 ++++++++++++++++++++++
3120
3121 IPython provides two ways for searching through previous input and thus
3122 reduce the need for repetitive typing:
3123
3124 1. Start typing, and then use Ctrl-p (previous,up) and Ctrl-n
3125 (next,down) to search through only the history items that match
3126 what you've typed so far. If you use Ctrl-p/Ctrl-n at a blank
3127 prompt, they just behave like normal arrow keys.
3128 2. Hit Ctrl-r: opens a search prompt. Begin typing and the system
3129 searches your history for lines that contain what you've typed so
3130 far, completing as much as it can.
3131
3132
3133 Persistent command history across sessions
3134 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3135
3136 IPython will save your input history when it leaves and reload it next
3137 time you restart it. By default, the history file is named
3138 $IPYTHONDIR/history, but if you've loaded a named profile,
3139 '-PROFILE_NAME' is appended to the name. This allows you to keep
3140 separate histories related to various tasks: commands related to
3141 numerical work will not be clobbered by a system shell history, for
3142 example.
3143
3144
3145 Autoindent
3146 ++++++++++
3147
3148 IPython can recognize lines ending in ':' and indent the next line,
3149 while also un-indenting automatically after 'raise' or 'return'.
3150
3151 This feature uses the readline library, so it will honor your ~/.inputrc
3152 configuration (or whatever file your INPUTRC variable points to). Adding
3153 the following lines to your .inputrc file can make indenting/unindenting
3154 more convenient (M-i indents, M-u unindents)::
3155
3156 $if Python
3157 "\M-i": " "
3158 "\M-u": "\d\d\d\d"
3159 $endif
3160
3161 Note that there are 4 spaces between the quote marks after "M-i" above.
3162
3163 Warning: this feature is ON by default, but it can cause problems with
3164 the pasting of multi-line indented code (the pasted code gets
3165 re-indented on each line). A magic function %autoindent allows you to
3166 toggle it on/off at runtime. You can also disable it permanently on in
3167 your ipythonrc file (set autoindent 0).
3168
3169
3170 Customizing readline behavior
3171 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3172
3173 All these features are based on the GNU readline library, which has an
3174 extremely customizable interface. Normally, readline is configured via a
3175 file which defines the behavior of the library; the details of the
3176 syntax for this can be found in the readline documentation available
3177 with your system or on the Internet. IPython doesn't read this file (if
3178 it exists) directly, but it does support passing to readline valid
3179 options via a simple interface. In brief, you can customize readline by
3180 setting the following options in your ipythonrc configuration file (note
3181 that these options can not be specified at the command line):
3182
3183 * **readline_parse_and_bind**: this option can appear as many times as
3184 you want, each time defining a string to be executed via a
3185 readline.parse_and_bind() command. The syntax for valid commands
3186 of this kind can be found by reading the documentation for the GNU
3187 readline library, as these commands are of the kind which readline
3188 accepts in its configuration file.
3189 * **readline_remove_delims**: a string of characters to be removed
3190 from the default word-delimiters list used by readline, so that
3191 completions may be performed on strings which contain them. Do not
3192 change the default value unless you know what you're doing.
3193 * **readline_omit__names**: when tab-completion is enabled, hitting
3194 <tab> after a '.' in a name will complete all attributes of an
3195 object, including all the special methods whose names include
3196 double underscores (like __getitem__ or __class__). If you'd
3197 rather not see these names by default, you can set this option to
3198 1. Note that even when this option is set, you can still see those
3199 names by explicitly typing a _ after the period and hitting <tab>:
3200 'name._<tab>' will always complete attribute names starting with '_'.
3201
3202 This option is off by default so that new users see all
3203 attributes of any objects they are dealing with.
3204
3205 You will find the default values along with a corresponding detailed
3206 explanation in your ipythonrc file.
3207
3208
3209 Session logging and restoring
3210 -----------------------------
3211
3212 You can log all input from a session either by starting IPython with
3213 the command line switches -log or -logfile (see sec. `command line
3214 options`_) or by activating the logging at any moment with the magic
3215 function %logstart.
3216
3217 Log files can later be reloaded with the -logplay option and IPython
3218 will attempt to 'replay' the log by executing all the lines in it, thus
3219 restoring the state of a previous session. This feature is not quite
3220 perfect, but can still be useful in many cases.
3221
3222 The log files can also be used as a way to have a permanent record of
3223 any code you wrote while experimenting. Log files are regular text files
3224 which you can later open in your favorite text editor to extract code or
3225 to 'clean them up' before using them to replay a session.
3226
3227 The %logstart function for activating logging in mid-session is used as
3228 follows:
3229
3230 %logstart [log_name [log_mode]]
3231
3232 If no name is given, it defaults to a file named 'log' in your
3233 IPYTHONDIR directory, in 'rotate' mode (see below).
3234
3235 '%logstart name' saves to file 'name' in 'backup' mode. It saves your
3236 history up to that point and then continues logging.
3237
3238 %logstart takes a second optional parameter: logging mode. This can be
3239 one of (note that the modes are given unquoted):
3240
3241 * [over:] overwrite existing log_name.
3242 * [backup:] rename (if exists) to log_name~ and start log_name.
3243 * [append:] well, that says it.
3244 * [rotate:] create rotating logs log_name.1~, log_name.2~, etc.
3245
3246 The %logoff and %logon functions allow you to temporarily stop and
3247 resume logging to a file which had previously been started with
3248 %logstart. They will fail (with an explanation) if you try to use them
3249 before logging has been started.
3250
3251 System shell access
3252 -------------------
3253
3254 Any input line beginning with a ! character is passed verbatim (minus
3255 the !, of course) to the underlying operating system. For example,
3256 typing !ls will run 'ls' in the current directory.
3257
3258 Manual capture of command output
3259 --------------------------------
3260
3261 If the input line begins with two exclamation marks, !!, the command is
3262 executed but its output is captured and returned as a python list, split
3263 on newlines. Any output sent by the subprocess to standard error is
3264 printed separately, so that the resulting list only captures standard
3265 output. The !! syntax is a shorthand for the %sx magic command.
3266
3267 Finally, the %sc magic (short for 'shell capture') is similar to %sx,
3268 but allowing more fine-grained control of the capture details, and
3269 storing the result directly into a named variable. The direct use of
3270 %sc is now deprecated, and you should ise the ``var = !cmd`` syntax
3271 instead.
3272
3273 IPython also allows you to expand the value of python variables when
3274 making system calls. Any python variable or expression which you prepend
3275 with $ will get expanded before the system call is made::
3276
3277 In [1]: pyvar='Hello world'
3278 In [2]: !echo "A python variable: $pyvar"
3279 A python variable: Hello world
3280
3281 If you want the shell to actually see a literal $, you need to type it
3282 twice::
3283
3284 In [3]: !echo "A system variable: $$HOME"
3285 A system variable: /home/fperez
3286
3287 You can pass arbitrary expressions, though you'll need to delimit them
3288 with {} if there is ambiguity as to the extent of the expression::
3289
3290 In [5]: x=10
3291 In [6]: y=20
3292 In [13]: !echo $x+y
3293 10+y
3294 In [7]: !echo ${x+y}
3295 30
3296
3297 Even object attributes can be expanded::
3298
3299 In [12]: !echo $sys.argv
3300 [/home/fperez/usr/bin/ipython]
3301
3302
3303 System command aliases
3304 ----------------------
3305
3306 The %alias magic function and the alias option in the ipythonrc
3307 configuration file allow you to define magic functions which are in fact
3308 system shell commands. These aliases can have parameters.
3309
3310 '%alias alias_name cmd' defines 'alias_name' as an alias for 'cmd'
3311
3312 Then, typing '%alias_name params' will execute the system command 'cmd
3313 params' (from your underlying operating system).
3314
3315 You can also define aliases with parameters using %s specifiers (one per
3316 parameter). The following example defines the %parts function as an
3317 alias to the command 'echo first %s second %s' where each %s will be
3318 replaced by a positional parameter to the call to %parts::
3319
3320 In [1]: alias parts echo first %s second %s
3321 In [2]: %parts A B
3322 first A second B
3323 In [3]: %parts A
3324 Incorrect number of arguments: 2 expected.
3325 parts is an alias to: 'echo first %s second %s'
3326
3327 If called with no parameters, %alias prints the table of currently
3328 defined aliases.
3329
3330 The %rehash/rehashx magics allow you to load your entire $PATH as
3331 ipython aliases. See their respective docstrings (or sec. 6.2
3332 <#sec:magic> for further details).
3333
3334
3335 .. _dreload:
3336
3337 Recursive reload
3338 ----------------
3339
3340 The dreload function does a recursive reload of a module: changes made
3341 to the module since you imported will actually be available without
3342 having to exit.
3343
3344
3345 Verbose and colored exception traceback printouts
3346 -------------------------------------------------
3347
3348 IPython provides the option to see very detailed exception tracebacks,
3349 which can be especially useful when debugging large programs. You can
3350 run any Python file with the %run function to benefit from these
3351 detailed tracebacks. Furthermore, both normal and verbose tracebacks can
3352 be colored (if your terminal supports it) which makes them much easier
3353 to parse visually.
3354
3355 See the magic xmode and colors functions for details (just type %magic).
3356
3357 These features are basically a terminal version of Ka-Ping Yee's cgitb
3358 module, now part of the standard Python library.
3359
3360
3361 .. _Input caching:
3362
3363 Input caching system
3364 --------------------
3365
3366 IPython offers numbered prompts (In/Out) with input and output caching.
3367 All input is saved and can be retrieved as variables (besides the usual
3368 arrow key recall).
3369
3370 The following GLOBAL variables always exist (so don't overwrite them!):
3371 _i: stores previous input. _ii: next previous. _iii: next-next previous.
3372 _ih : a list of all input _ih[n] is the input from line n and this list
3373 is aliased to the global variable In. If you overwrite In with a
3374 variable of your own, you can remake the assignment to the internal list
3375 with a simple 'In=_ih'.
3376
3377 Additionally, global variables named _i<n> are dynamically created (<n>
3378 being the prompt counter), such that
3379 _i<n> == _ih[<n>] == In[<n>].
3380
3381 For example, what you typed at prompt 14 is available as _i14, _ih[14]
3382 and In[14].
3383
3384 This allows you to easily cut and paste multi line interactive prompts
3385 by printing them out: they print like a clean string, without prompt
3386 characters. You can also manipulate them like regular variables (they
3387 are strings), modify or exec them (typing 'exec _i9' will re-execute the
3388 contents of input prompt 9, 'exec In[9:14]+In[18]' will re-execute lines
3389 9 through 13 and line 18).
3390
3391 You can also re-execute multiple lines of input easily by using the
3392 magic %macro function (which automates the process and allows
3393 re-execution without having to type 'exec' every time). The macro system
3394 also allows you to re-execute previous lines which include magic
3395 function calls (which require special processing). Type %macro? or see
3396 sec. 6.2 <#sec:magic> for more details on the macro system.
3397
3398 A history function %hist allows you to see any part of your input
3399 history by printing a range of the _i variables.
3400
3401 .. _Output caching:
3402
3403 Output caching system
3404 ---------------------
3405
3406 For output that is returned from actions, a system similar to the input
3407 cache exists but using _ instead of _i. Only actions that produce a
3408 result (NOT assignments, for example) are cached. If you are familiar
3409 with Mathematica, IPython's _ variables behave exactly like
3410 Mathematica's % variables.
3411
3412 The following GLOBAL variables always exist (so don't overwrite them!):
3413
3414 * [_] (a single underscore) : stores previous output, like Python's
3415 default interpreter.
3416 * [__] (two underscores): next previous.
3417 * [___] (three underscores): next-next previous.
3418
3419 Additionally, global variables named _<n> are dynamically created (<n>
3420 being the prompt counter), such that the result of output <n> is always
3421 available as _<n> (don't use the angle brackets, just the number, e.g.
3422 _21).
3423
3424 These global variables are all stored in a global dictionary (not a
3425 list, since it only has entries for lines which returned a result)
3426 available under the names _oh and Out (similar to _ih and In). So the
3427 output from line 12 can be obtained as _12, Out[12] or _oh[12]. If you
3428 accidentally overwrite the Out variable you can recover it by typing
3429 'Out=_oh' at the prompt.
3430
3431 This system obviously can potentially put heavy memory demands on your
3432 system, since it prevents Python's garbage collector from removing any
3433 previously computed results. You can control how many results are kept
3434 in memory with the option (at the command line or in your ipythonrc
3435 file) cache_size. If you set it to 0, the whole system is completely
3436 disabled and the prompts revert to the classic '>>>' of normal Python.
3437
3438
3439 Directory history
3440 -----------------
3441
3442 Your history of visited directories is kept in the global list _dh, and
3443 the magic %cd command can be used to go to any entry in that list. The
3444 %dhist command allows you to view this history. do ``cd -<TAB`` to
3445 conventiently view the directory history.
3446
3447
3448 Automatic parentheses and quotes
3449 --------------------------------
3450
3451 These features were adapted from Nathan Gray's LazyPython. They are
3452 meant to allow less typing for common situations.
3453
3454
3455 Automatic parentheses
3456 ---------------------
3457
3458 Callable objects (i.e. functions, methods, etc) can be invoked like this
3459 (notice the commas between the arguments)::
3460
3461 >>> callable_ob arg1, arg2, arg3
3462
3463 and the input will be translated to this::
3464
3465 -> callable_ob(arg1, arg2, arg3)
3466
3467 You can force automatic parentheses by using '/' as the first character
3468 of a line. For example::
3469
3470 >>> /globals # becomes 'globals()'
3471
3472 Note that the '/' MUST be the first character on the line! This won't work::
3473
3474 >>> print /globals # syntax error
3475
3476 In most cases the automatic algorithm should work, so you should rarely
3477 need to explicitly invoke /. One notable exception is if you are trying
3478 to call a function with a list of tuples as arguments (the parenthesis
3479 will confuse IPython)::
3480
3481 In [1]: zip (1,2,3),(4,5,6) # won't work
3482
3483 but this will work::
3484
3485 In [2]: /zip (1,2,3),(4,5,6)
3486 ---> zip ((1,2,3),(4,5,6))
3487 Out[2]= [(1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6)]
3488
3489 IPython tells you that it has altered your command line by displaying
3490 the new command line preceded by ->. e.g.::
3491
3492 In [18]: callable list
3493 ----> callable (list)
3494
3495
3496 Automatic quoting
3497 -----------------
3498
3499 You can force automatic quoting of a function's arguments by using ','
3500 or ';' as the first character of a line. For example::
3501
3502 >>> ,my_function /home/me # becomes my_function("/home/me")
3503
3504 If you use ';' instead, the whole argument is quoted as a single string
3505 (while ',' splits on whitespace)::
3506
3507 >>> ,my_function a b c # becomes my_function("a","b","c")
3508
3509 >>> ;my_function a b c # becomes my_function("a b c")
3510
3511 Note that the ',' or ';' MUST be the first character on the line! This
3512 won't work::
3513
3514 >>> x = ,my_function /home/me # syntax error
3515
3516 .. customization:
3517
3518 Customization
3519 =============
3520
3521 There are 2 ways to configure IPython - the old way of using ipythonrc
3522 files (an INI-file like format), and the new way that involves editing
3523 your ipy_user_conf.py. Both configuration systems work at the same
3524 time, so you can set your options in both, but if you are hesitating
3525 about which alternative to choose, we recommend the ipy_user_conf.py
3526 approach, as it will give you more power and control in the long
3527 run. However, there are few options such as pylab_import_all that can
3528 only be specified in ipythonrc file or command line - the reason for
3529 this is that they are needed before IPython has been started up, and
3530 the IPApi object used in ipy_user_conf.py is not yet available at that
3531 time. A hybrid approach of specifying a few options in ipythonrc and
3532 doing the more advanced configuration in ipy_user_conf.py is also
3533 possible.
3534
3535 The ipythonrc approach
3536 ----------------------
3537
3538 As we've already mentioned, IPython reads a configuration file which can
3539 be specified at the command line (-rcfile) or which by default is
3540 assumed to be called ipythonrc. Such a file is looked for in the current
3541 directory where IPython is started and then in your IPYTHONDIR, which
3542 allows you to have local configuration files for specific projects. In
3543 this section we will call these types of configuration files simply
3544 rcfiles (short for resource configuration file).
3545
3546 The syntax of an rcfile is one of key-value pairs separated by
3547 whitespace, one per line. Lines beginning with a # are ignored as
3548 comments, but comments can not be put on lines with data (the parser is
3549 fairly primitive). Note that these are not python files, and this is
3550 deliberate, because it allows us to do some things which would be quite
3551 tricky to implement if they were normal python files.
3552
3553 First, an rcfile can contain permanent default values for almost all
3554 command line options (except things like -help or -Version). Sec
3555 `command line options`_ contains a description of all command-line
3556 options. However, values you explicitly specify at the command line
3557 override the values defined in the rcfile.
3558
3559 Besides command line option values, the rcfile can specify values for
3560 certain extra special options which are not available at the command
3561 line. These options are briefly described below.
3562
3563 Each of these options may appear as many times as you need it in the file.
3564
3565 * include <file1> <file2> ...: you can name other rcfiles you want
3566 to recursively load up to 15 levels (don't use the <> brackets in
3567 your names!). This feature allows you to define a 'base' rcfile
3568 with general options and special-purpose files which can be loaded
3569 only when needed with particular configuration options. To make
3570 this more convenient, IPython accepts the -profile <name> option
3571 (abbreviates to -p <name>) which tells it to look for an rcfile
3572 named ipythonrc-<name>.
3573 * import_mod <mod1> <mod2> ...: import modules with 'import
3574 <mod1>,<mod2>,...'
3575 * import_some <mod> <f1> <f2> ...: import functions with 'from
3576 <mod> import <f1>,<f2>,...'
3577 * import_all <mod1> <mod2> ...: for each module listed import
3578 functions with ``from <mod> import *``.
3579 * execute <python code>: give any single-line python code to be
3580 executed.
3581 * execfile <filename>: execute the python file given with an
3582 'execfile(filename)' command. Username expansion is performed on
3583 the given names. So if you need any amount of extra fancy
3584 customization that won't fit in any of the above 'canned' options,
3585 you can just put it in a separate python file and execute it.
3586 * alias <alias_def>: this is equivalent to calling
3587 '%alias <alias_def>' at the IPython command line. This way, from
3588 within IPython you can do common system tasks without having to
3589 exit it or use the ! escape. IPython isn't meant to be a shell
3590 replacement, but it is often very useful to be able to do things
3591 with files while testing code. This gives you the flexibility to
3592 have within IPython any aliases you may be used to under your
3593 normal system shell.
3594
3595
3596 .. _ipythonrc:
3597
3598 Sample ipythonrc file
3599 ---------------------
3600
3601 The default rcfile, called ipythonrc and supplied in your IPYTHONDIR
3602 directory contains lots of comments on all of these options. We
3603 reproduce it here for reference::
3604
3605
3606 # -*- Mode: Shell-Script -*- Not really, but shows comments correctly
3607 # $Id: ipythonrc 2156 2007-03-19 02:32:19Z fperez $
3608
3609 #***************************************************************************
3610 #
3611 # Configuration file for IPython -- ipythonrc format
3612 #
3613 # ===========================================================
3614 # Deprecation note: you should look into modifying ipy_user_conf.py (located
3615 # in ~/.ipython or ~/_ipython, depending on your platform) instead, it's a
3616 # more flexible and robust (and better supported!) configuration
3617 # method.
3618 # ===========================================================
3619 #
3620 # The format of this file is simply one of 'key value' lines.
3621 # Lines containing only whitespace at the beginning and then a # are ignored
3622 # as comments. But comments can NOT be put on lines with data.
3623
3624 # The meaning and use of each key are explained below.
3625
3626 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3627 # Section: included files
3628
3629 # Put one or more *config* files (with the syntax of this file) you want to
3630 # include. For keys with a unique value the outermost file has precedence. For
3631 # keys with multiple values, they all get assembled into a list which then
3632 # gets loaded by IPython.
3633
3634 # In this file, all lists of things should simply be space-separated.
3635
3636 # This allows you to build hierarchies of files which recursively load
3637 # lower-level services. If this is your main ~/.ipython/ipythonrc file, you
3638 # should only keep here basic things you always want available. Then you can
3639 # include it in every other special-purpose config file you create.
3640 include
3641
3642 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3643 # Section: startup setup
3644
3645 # These are mostly things which parallel a command line option of the same
3646 # name.
3647
3648 # Keys in this section should only appear once. If any key from this section
3649 # is encountered more than once, the last value remains, all earlier ones get
3650 # discarded.
3651
3652
3653 # Automatic calling of callable objects. If set to 1 or 2, callable objects
3654 # are automatically called when invoked at the command line, even if you don't
3655 # type parentheses. IPython adds the parentheses for you. For example:
3656
3657 #In [1]: str 45
3658 #------> str(45)
3659 #Out[1]: '45'
3660
3661 # IPython reprints your line with '---->' indicating that it added
3662 # parentheses. While this option is very convenient for interactive use, it
3663 # may occasionally cause problems with objects which have side-effects if
3664 # called unexpectedly.
3665
3666 # The valid values for autocall are:
3667
3668 # autocall 0 -> disabled (you can toggle it at runtime with the %autocall magic)
3669
3670 # autocall 1 -> active, but do not apply if there are no arguments on the line.
3671
3672 # In this mode, you get:
3673
3674 #In [1]: callable
3675 #Out[1]: <built-in function callable>
3676
3677 #In [2]: callable 'hello'
3678 #------> callable('hello')
3679 #Out[2]: False
3680
3681 # 2 -> Active always. Even if no arguments are present, the callable object
3682 # is called:
3683
3684 #In [4]: callable
3685 #------> callable()
3686
3687 # Note that even with autocall off, you can still use '/' at the start of a
3688 # line to treat the first argument on the command line as a function and add
3689 # parentheses to it:
3690
3691 #In [8]: /str 43
3692 #------> str(43)
3693 #Out[8]: '43'
3694
3695 autocall 1
3696
3697 # Auto-edit syntax errors. When you use the %edit magic in ipython to edit
3698 # source code (see the 'editor' variable below), it is possible that you save
3699 # a file with syntax errors in it. If this variable is true, IPython will ask
3700 # you whether to re-open the editor immediately to correct such an error.
3701
3702 autoedit_syntax 0
3703
3704 # Auto-indent. IPython can recognize lines ending in ':' and indent the next
3705 # line, while also un-indenting automatically after 'raise' or 'return'.
3706
3707 # This feature uses the readline library, so it will honor your ~/.inputrc
3708 # configuration (or whatever file your INPUTRC variable points to). Adding
3709 # the following lines to your .inputrc file can make indent/unindenting more
3710 # convenient (M-i indents, M-u unindents):
3711
3712 # $if Python
3713 # "\M-i": " "
3714 # "\M-u": "\d\d\d\d"
3715 # $endif
3716
3717 # The feature is potentially a bit dangerous, because it can cause problems
3718 # with pasting of indented code (the pasted code gets re-indented on each
3719 # line). But it's a huge time-saver when working interactively. The magic
3720 # function %autoindent allows you to toggle it on/off at runtime.
3721
3722 autoindent 1
3723
3724 # Auto-magic. This gives you access to all the magic functions without having
3725 # to prepend them with an % sign. If you define a variable with the same name
3726 # as a magic function (say who=1), you will need to access the magic function
3727 # with % (%who in this example). However, if later you delete your variable
3728 # (del who), you'll recover the automagic calling form.
3729
3730 # Considering that many magic functions provide a lot of shell-like
3731 # functionality, automagic gives you something close to a full Python+system
3732 # shell environment (and you can extend it further if you want).
3733
3734 automagic 1
3735
3736 # Size of the output cache. After this many entries are stored, the cache will
3737 # get flushed. Depending on the size of your intermediate calculations, you
3738 # may have memory problems if you make it too big, since keeping things in the
3739 # cache prevents Python from reclaiming the memory for old results. Experiment
3740 # with a value that works well for you.
3741
3742 # If you choose cache_size 0 IPython will revert to python's regular >>>
3743 # unnumbered prompt. You will still have _, __ and ___ for your last three
3744 # results, but that will be it. No dynamic _1, _2, etc. will be created. If
3745 # you are running on a slow machine or with very limited memory, this may
3746 # help.
3747
3748 cache_size 1000
3749
3750 # Classic mode: Setting 'classic 1' you lose many of IPython niceties,
3751 # but that's your choice! Classic 1 -> same as IPython -classic.
3752 # Note that this is _not_ the normal python interpreter, it's simply
3753 # IPython emulating most of the classic interpreter's behavior.
3754 classic 0
3755
3756 # colors - Coloring option for prompts and traceback printouts.
3757
3758 # Currently available schemes: NoColor, Linux, LightBG.
3759
3760 # This option allows coloring the prompts and traceback printouts. This
3761 # requires a terminal which can properly handle color escape sequences. If you
3762 # are having problems with this, use the NoColor scheme (uses no color escapes
3763 # at all).
3764
3765 # The Linux option works well in linux console type environments: dark
3766 # background with light fonts.
3767
3768 # LightBG is similar to Linux but swaps dark/light colors to be more readable
3769 # in light background terminals.
3770
3771 # keep uncommented only the one you want:
3772 colors Linux
3773 #colors LightBG
3774 #colors NoColor
3775
3776 ########################
3777 # Note to Windows users
3778 #
3779 # Color and readline support is avaialble to Windows users via Gary Bishop's
3780 # readline library. You can find Gary's tools at
3781 # http://sourceforge.net/projects/uncpythontools.
3782 # Note that his readline module requires in turn the ctypes library, available
3783 # at http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes.
3784 ########################
3785
3786 # color_info: IPython can display information about objects via a set of
3787 # functions, and optionally can use colors for this, syntax highlighting
3788 # source code and various other elements. This information is passed through a
3789 # pager (it defaults to 'less' if $PAGER is not set).
3790
3791 # If your pager has problems, try to setting it to properly handle escapes
3792 # (see the less manpage for detail), or disable this option. The magic
3793 # function %color_info allows you to toggle this interactively for testing.
3794
3795 color_info 1
3796
3797 # confirm_exit: set to 1 if you want IPython to confirm when you try to exit
3798 # with an EOF (Control-d in Unix, Control-Z/Enter in Windows). Note that using
3799 # the magic functions %Exit or %Quit you can force a direct exit, bypassing
3800 # any confirmation.
3801
3802 confirm_exit 1
3803
3804 # Use deep_reload() as a substitute for reload() by default. deep_reload() is
3805 # still available as dreload() and appears as a builtin.
3806
3807 deep_reload 0
3808
3809 # Which editor to use with the %edit command. If you leave this at 0, IPython
3810 # will honor your EDITOR environment variable. Since this editor is invoked on
3811 # the fly by ipython and is meant for editing small code snippets, you may
3812 # want to use a small, lightweight editor here.
3813
3814 # For Emacs users, setting up your Emacs server properly as described in the
3815 # manual is a good idea. An alternative is to use jed, a very light editor
3816 # with much of the feel of Emacs (though not as powerful for heavy-duty work).
3817
3818 editor 0
3819
3820 # log 1 -> same as ipython -log. This automatically logs to ./ipython.log
3821 log 0
3822
3823 # Same as ipython -Logfile YourLogfileName.
3824 # Don't use with log 1 (use one or the other)
3825 logfile ''
3826
3827 # banner 0 -> same as ipython -nobanner
3828 banner 1
3829
3830 # messages 0 -> same as ipython -nomessages
3831 messages 1
3832
3833 # Automatically call the pdb debugger after every uncaught exception. If you
3834 # are used to debugging using pdb, this puts you automatically inside of it
3835 # after any call (either in IPython or in code called by it) which triggers an
3836 # exception which goes uncaught.
3837 pdb 0
3838
3839 # Enable the pprint module for printing. pprint tends to give a more readable
3840 # display (than print) for complex nested data structures.
3841 pprint 1
3842
3843 # Prompt strings
3844
3845 # Most bash-like escapes can be used to customize IPython's prompts, as well as
3846 # a few additional ones which are IPython-specific. All valid prompt escapes
3847 # are described in detail in the Customization section of the IPython HTML/PDF
3848 # manual.
3849
3850 # Use \# to represent the current prompt number, and quote them to protect
3851 # spaces.
3852 prompt_in1 'In [\#]: '
3853
3854 # \D is replaced by as many dots as there are digits in the
3855 # current value of \#.
3856 prompt_in2 ' .\D.: '
3857
3858 prompt_out 'Out[\#]: '
3859
3860 # Select whether to left-pad the output prompts to match the length of the
3861 # input ones. This allows you for example to use a simple '>' as an output
3862 # prompt, and yet have the output line up with the input. If set to false,
3863 # the output prompts will be unpadded (flush left).
3864 prompts_pad_left 1
3865
3866 # Pylab support: when ipython is started with the -pylab switch, by default it
3867 # executes 'from matplotlib.pylab import *'. Set this variable to false if you
3868 # want to disable this behavior.
3869
3870 # For details on pylab, see the matplotlib website:
3871 # http://matplotlib.sf.net
3872 pylab_import_all 1
3873
3874
3875 # quick 1 -> same as ipython -quick
3876 quick 0
3877
3878 # Use the readline library (1) or not (0). Most users will want this on, but
3879 # if you experience strange problems with line management (mainly when using
3880 # IPython inside Emacs buffers) you may try disabling it. Not having it on
3881 # prevents you from getting command history with the arrow keys, searching and
3882 # name completion using TAB.
3883
3884 readline 1
3885
3886 # Screen Length: number of lines of your screen. This is used to control
3887 # printing of very long strings. Strings longer than this number of lines will
3888 # be paged with the less command instead of directly printed.
3889
3890 # The default value for this is 0, which means IPython will auto-detect your
3891 # screen size every time it needs to print. If for some reason this isn't
3892 # working well (it needs curses support), specify it yourself. Otherwise don't
3893 # change the default.
3894
3895 screen_length 0
3896
3897 # Prompt separators for input and output.
3898 # Use \n for newline explicitly, without quotes.
3899 # Use 0 (like at the cmd line) to turn off a given separator.
3900
3901 # The structure of prompt printing is:
3902 # (SeparateIn)Input....
3903 # (SeparateOut)Output...
3904 # (SeparateOut2), # that is, no newline is printed after Out2
3905 # By choosing these you can organize your output any way you want.
3906
3907 separate_in \n
3908 separate_out 0
3909 separate_out2 0
3910
3911 # 'nosep 1' is a shorthand for '-SeparateIn 0 -SeparateOut 0 -SeparateOut2 0'.
3912 # Simply removes all input/output separators, overriding the choices above.
3913 nosep 0
3914
3915 # Wildcard searches - IPython has a system for searching names using
3916 # shell-like wildcards; type %psearch? for details. This variables sets
3917 # whether by default such searches should be case sensitive or not. You can
3918 # always override the default at the system command line or the IPython
3919 # prompt.
3920
3921 wildcards_case_sensitive 1
3922
3923 # Object information: at what level of detail to display the string form of an
3924 # object. If set to 0, ipython will compute the string form of any object X,
3925 # by calling str(X), when X? is typed. If set to 1, str(X) will only be
3926 # computed when X?? is given, and if set to 2 or higher, it will never be
3927 # computed (there is no X??? level of detail). This is mostly of use to
3928 # people who frequently manipulate objects whose string representation is
3929 # extremely expensive to compute.
3930
3931 object_info_string_level 0
3932
3933 # xmode - Exception reporting mode.
3934
3935 # Valid modes: Plain, Context and Verbose.
3936
3937 # Plain: similar to python's normal traceback printing.
3938
3939 # Context: prints 5 lines of context source code around each line in the
3940 # traceback.
3941
3942 # Verbose: similar to Context, but additionally prints the variables currently
3943 # visible where the exception happened (shortening their strings if too
3944 # long). This can potentially be very slow, if you happen to have a huge data
3945 # structure whose string representation is complex to compute. Your computer
3946 # may appear to freeze for a while with cpu usage at 100%. If this occurs, you
3947 # can cancel the traceback with Ctrl-C (maybe hitting it more than once).
3948
3949 #xmode Plain
3950 xmode Context
3951 #xmode Verbose
3952
3953 # multi_line_specials: if true, allow magics, aliases and shell escapes (via
3954 # !cmd) to be used in multi-line input (like for loops). For example, if you
3955 # have this active, the following is valid in IPython:
3956 #
3957 #In [17]: for i in range(3):
3958 # ....: mkdir $i
3959 # ....: !touch $i/hello
3960 # ....: ls -l $i
3961
3962 multi_line_specials 1
3963
3964
3965 # System calls: When IPython makes system calls (e.g. via special syntax like
3966 # !cmd or !!cmd, or magics like %sc or %sx), it can print the command it is
3967 # executing to standard output, prefixed by a header string.
3968
3969 system_header "IPython system call: "
3970
3971 system_verbose 1
3972
3973 # wxversion: request a specific wxPython version (used for -wthread)
3974
3975 # Set this to the value of wxPython you want to use, but note that this
3976 # feature requires you to have the wxversion Python module to work. If you
3977 # don't have the wxversion module (try 'import wxversion' at the prompt to
3978 # check) or simply want to leave the system to pick up the default, leave this
3979 # variable at 0.
3980
3981 wxversion 0
3982
3983 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3984 # Section: Readline configuration (readline is not available for MS-Windows)
3985
3986 # This is done via the following options:
3987
3988 # (i) readline_parse_and_bind: this option can appear as many times as you
3989 # want, each time defining a string to be executed via a
3990 # readline.parse_and_bind() command. The syntax for valid commands of this
3991 # kind can be found by reading the documentation for the GNU readline library,
3992 # as these commands are of the kind which readline accepts in its
3993 # configuration file.
3994
3995 # The TAB key can be used to complete names at the command line in one of two
3996 # ways: 'complete' and 'menu-complete'. The difference is that 'complete' only
3997 # completes as much as possible while 'menu-complete' cycles through all
3998 # possible completions. Leave the one you prefer uncommented.
3999
4000 readline_parse_and_bind tab: complete
4001 #readline_parse_and_bind tab: menu-complete
4002
4003 # This binds Control-l to printing the list of all possible completions when
4004 # there is more than one (what 'complete' does when hitting TAB twice, or at
4005 # the first TAB if show-all-if-ambiguous is on)
4006 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-l": possible-completions
4007
4008 # This forces readline to automatically print the above list when tab
4009 # completion is set to 'complete'. You can still get this list manually by
4010 # using the key bound to 'possible-completions' (Control-l by default) or by
4011 # hitting TAB twice. Turning this on makes the printing happen at the first
4012 # TAB.
4013 readline_parse_and_bind set show-all-if-ambiguous on
4014
4015 # If you have TAB set to complete names, you can rebind any key (Control-o by
4016 # default) to insert a true TAB character.
4017 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-o": tab-insert
4018
4019 # These commands allow you to indent/unindent easily, with the 4-space
4020 # convention of the Python coding standards. Since IPython's internal
4021 # auto-indent system also uses 4 spaces, you should not change the number of
4022 # spaces in the code below.
4023 readline_parse_and_bind "\M-i": " "
4024 readline_parse_and_bind "\M-o": "\d\d\d\d"
4025 readline_parse_and_bind "\M-I": "\d\d\d\d"
4026
4027 # Bindings for incremental searches in the history. These searches use the
4028 # string typed so far on the command line and search anything in the previous
4029 # input history containing them.
4030 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-r": reverse-search-history
4031 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-s": forward-search-history
4032
4033 # Bindings for completing the current line in the history of previous
4034 # commands. This allows you to recall any previous command by typing its first
4035 # few letters and hitting Control-p, bypassing all intermediate commands which
4036 # may be in the history (much faster than hitting up-arrow 50 times!)
4037 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-p": history-search-backward
4038 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-n": history-search-forward
4039
4040 # I also like to have the same functionality on the plain arrow keys. If you'd
4041 # rather have the arrows use all the history (and not just match what you've
4042 # typed so far), comment out or delete the next two lines.
4043 readline_parse_and_bind "\e[A": history-search-backward
4044 readline_parse_and_bind "\e[B": history-search-forward
4045
4046 # These are typically on by default under *nix, but not win32.
4047 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-k": kill-line
4048 readline_parse_and_bind "\C-u": unix-line-discard
4049
4050 # (ii) readline_remove_delims: a string of characters to be removed from the
4051 # default word-delimiters list used by readline, so that completions may be
4052 # performed on strings which contain them.
4053
4054 readline_remove_delims -/~
4055
4056 # (iii) readline_merge_completions: whether to merge the result of all
4057 # possible completions or not. If true, IPython will complete filenames,
4058 # python names and aliases and return all possible completions. If you set it
4059 # to false, each completer is used at a time, and only if it doesn't return
4060 # any completions is the next one used.
4061
4062 # The default order is: [python_matches, file_matches, alias_matches]
4063
4064 readline_merge_completions 1
4065
4066 # (iv) readline_omit__names: normally hitting <tab> after a '.' in a name
4067 # will complete all attributes of an object, including all the special methods
4068 # whose names start with single or double underscores (like __getitem__ or
4069 # __class__).
4070
4071 # This variable allows you to control this completion behavior:
4072
4073 # readline_omit__names 1 -> completion will omit showing any names starting
4074 # with two __, but it will still show names starting with one _.
4075
4076 # readline_omit__names 2 -> completion will omit all names beginning with one
4077 # _ (which obviously means filtering out the double __ ones).
4078
4079 # Even when this option is set, you can still see those names by explicitly
4080 # typing a _ after the period and hitting <tab>: 'name._<tab>' will always
4081 # complete attribute names starting with '_'.
4082
4083 # This option is off by default so that new users see all attributes of any
4084 # objects they are dealing with.
4085
4086 readline_omit__names 0
4087
4088 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4089 # Section: modules to be loaded with 'import ...'
4090
4091 # List, separated by spaces, the names of the modules you want to import
4092
4093 # Example:
4094 # import_mod sys os
4095 # will produce internally the statements
4096 # import sys
4097 # import os
4098
4099 # Each import is executed in its own try/except block, so if one module
4100 # fails to load the others will still be ok.
4101
4102 import_mod
4103
4104 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4105 # Section: modules to import some functions from: 'from ... import ...'
4106
4107 # List, one per line, the modules for which you want only to import some
4108 # functions. Give the module name first and then the name of functions to be
4109 # imported from that module.
4110
4111 # Example:
4112
4113 # import_some IPython.genutils timing timings
4114 # will produce internally the statement
4115 # from IPython.genutils import timing, timings
4116
4117 # timing() and timings() are two IPython utilities for timing the execution of
4118 # your own functions, which you may find useful. Just commment out the above
4119 # line if you want to test them.
4120
4121 # If you have more than one modules_some line, each gets its own try/except
4122 # block (like modules, see above).
4123
4124 import_some
4125
4126 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4127 # Section: modules to import all from : 'from ... import *'
4128
4129 # List (same syntax as import_mod above) those modules for which you want to
4130 # import all functions. Remember, this is a potentially dangerous thing to do,
4131 # since it is very easy to overwrite names of things you need. Use with
4132 # caution.
4133
4134 # Example:
4135 # import_all sys os
4136 # will produce internally the statements
4137 # from sys import *
4138 # from os import *
4139
4140 # As before, each will be called in a separate try/except block.
4141
4142 import_all
4143
4144 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4145 # Section: Python code to execute.
4146
4147 # Put here code to be explicitly executed (keep it simple!)
4148 # Put one line of python code per line. All whitespace is removed (this is a
4149 # feature, not a bug), so don't get fancy building loops here.
4150 # This is just for quick convenient creation of things you want available.
4151
4152 # Example:
4153 # execute x = 1
4154 # execute print 'hello world'; y = z = 'a'
4155 # will produce internally
4156 # x = 1
4157 # print 'hello world'; y = z = 'a'
4158 # and each *line* (not each statement, we don't do python syntax parsing) is
4159 # executed in its own try/except block.
4160
4161 execute
4162
4163 # Note for the adventurous: you can use this to define your own names for the
4164 # magic functions, by playing some namespace tricks:
4165
4166 # execute __IPYTHON__.magic_pf = __IPYTHON__.magic_profile
4167
4168 # defines %pf as a new name for %profile.
4169
4170 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4171 # Section: Pyhton files to load and execute.
4172
4173 # Put here the full names of files you want executed with execfile(file). If
4174 # you want complicated initialization, just write whatever you want in a
4175 # regular python file and load it from here.
4176
4177 # Filenames defined here (which *must* include the extension) are searched for
4178 # through all of sys.path. Since IPython adds your .ipython directory to
4179 # sys.path, they can also be placed in your .ipython dir and will be
4180 # found. Otherwise (if you want to execute things not in .ipyton nor in
4181 # sys.path) give a full path (you can use ~, it gets expanded)
4182
4183 # Example:
4184 # execfile file1.py ~/file2.py
4185 # will generate
4186 # execfile('file1.py')
4187 # execfile('_path_to_your_home/file2.py')
4188
4189 # As before, each file gets its own try/except block.
4190
4191 execfile
4192
4193 # If you are feeling adventurous, you can even add functionality to IPython
4194 # through here. IPython works through a global variable called __ip which
4195 # exists at the time when these files are read. If you know what you are doing
4196 # (read the source) you can add functions to __ip in files loaded here.
4197
4198 # The file example-magic.py contains a simple but correct example. Try it:
4199
4200 # execfile example-magic.py
4201
4202 # Look at the examples in IPython/iplib.py for more details on how these magic
4203 # functions need to process their arguments.
4204
4205 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4206 # Section: aliases for system shell commands
4207
4208 # Here you can define your own names for system commands. The syntax is
4209 # similar to that of the builtin %alias function:
4210
4211 # alias alias_name command_string
4212
4213 # The resulting aliases are auto-generated magic functions (hence usable as
4214 # %alias_name)
4215
4216 # For example:
4217
4218 # alias myls ls -la
4219
4220 # will define 'myls' as an alias for executing the system command 'ls -la'.
4221 # This allows you to customize IPython's environment to have the same aliases
4222 # you are accustomed to from your own shell.
4223
4224 # You can also define aliases with parameters using %s specifiers (one per
4225 # parameter):
4226
4227 # alias parts echo first %s second %s
4228
4229 # will give you in IPython:
4230 # >>> %parts A B
4231 # first A second B
4232
4233 # Use one 'alias' statement per alias you wish to define.
4234
4235 # alias
4236
4237 #************************* end of file <ipythonrc> ************************
4238
4239
4240 ipy_user_conf.py
4241 ----------------
4242
4243 There should be a simple template ipy_user_conf.py file in your
4244 ~/.ipython directory. It is a plain python module that is imported
4245 during IPython startup, so you can do pretty much what you want there
4246 - import modules, configure extensions, change options, define magic
4247 commands, put variables and functions in the IPython namespace,
4248 etc. You use the IPython extension api object, acquired by
4249 IPython.ipapi.get() and documented in the "IPython extension API"
4250 chapter, to interact with IPython. A sample ipy_user_conf.py is listed
4251 below for reference::
4252
4253 # Most of your config files and extensions will probably start
4254 # with this import
4255
4256 import IPython.ipapi
4257 ip = IPython.ipapi.get()
4258
4259 # You probably want to uncomment this if you did %upgrade -nolegacy
4260 # import ipy_defaults
4261
4262 import os
4263
4264 def main():
4265
4266 #ip.dbg.debugmode = True
4267 ip.dbg.debug_stack()
4268
4269 # uncomment if you want to get ipython -p sh behaviour
4270 # without having to use command line switches
4271 import ipy_profile_sh
4272 import jobctrl
4273
4274 # Configure your favourite editor?
4275 # Good idea e.g. for %edit os.path.isfile
4276
4277 #import ipy_editors
4278
4279 # Choose one of these:
4280
4281 #ipy_editors.scite()
4282 #ipy_editors.scite('c:/opt/scite/scite.exe')
4283 #ipy_editors.komodo()
4284 #ipy_editors.idle()
4285 # ... or many others, try 'ipy_editors??' after import to see them
4286
4287 # Or roll your own:
4288 #ipy_editors.install_editor("c:/opt/jed +$line $file")
4289
4290
4291 o = ip.options
4292 # An example on how to set options
4293 #o.autocall = 1
4294 o.system_verbose = 0
4295
4296 #import_all("os sys")
4297 #execf('~/_ipython/ns.py')
4298
4299
4300 # -- prompt
4301 # A different, more compact set of prompts from the default ones, that
4302 # always show your current location in the filesystem:
4303
4304 #o.prompt_in1 = r'\C_LightBlue[\C_LightCyan\Y2\C_LightBlue]\C_Normal\n\C_Green|\#>'
4305 #o.prompt_in2 = r'.\D: '
4306 #o.prompt_out = r'[\#] '
4307
4308 # Try one of these color settings if you can't read the text easily
4309 # autoexec is a list of IPython commands to execute on startup
4310 #o.autoexec.append('%colors LightBG')
4311 #o.autoexec.append('%colors NoColor')
4312 o.autoexec.append('%colors Linux')
4313
4314
4315 # some config helper functions you can use
4316 def import_all(modules):
4317 """ Usage: import_all("os sys") """
4318 for m in modules.split():
4319 ip.ex("from %s import *" % m)
4320
4321 def execf(fname):
4322 """ Execute a file in user namespace """
4323 ip.ex('execfile("%s")' % os.path.expanduser(fname))
4324
4325 main()
4326
4327 .. _Prompts:
4328
4329 Fine-tuning your prompt
4330 -----------------------
4331
4332 IPython's prompts can be customized using a syntax similar to that of
4333 the bash shell. Many of bash's escapes are supported, as well as a few
4334 additional ones. We list them below::
4335
4336 \#
4337 the prompt/history count number. This escape is automatically
4338 wrapped in the coloring codes for the currently active color scheme.
4339 \N
4340 the 'naked' prompt/history count number: this is just the number
4341 itself, without any coloring applied to it. This lets you produce
4342 numbered prompts with your own colors.
4343 \D
4344 the prompt/history count, with the actual digits replaced by dots.
4345 Used mainly in continuation prompts (prompt_in2)
4346 \w
4347 the current working directory
4348 \W
4349 the basename of current working directory
4350 \Xn
4351 where $n=0\ldots5.$ The current working directory, with $HOME
4352 replaced by ~, and filtered out to contain only $n$ path elements
4353 \Yn
4354 Similar to \Xn, but with the $n+1$ element included if it is ~ (this
4355 is similar to the behavior of the %cn escapes in tcsh)
4356 \u
4357 the username of the current user
4358 \$
4359 if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
4360 \h
4361 the hostname up to the first '.'
4362 \H
4363 the hostname
4364 \n
4365 a newline
4366 \r
4367 a carriage return
4368 \v
4369 IPython version string
4370
4371 In addition to these, ANSI color escapes can be insterted into the
4372 prompts, as \C_ColorName. The list of valid color names is: Black, Blue,
4373 Brown, Cyan, DarkGray, Green, LightBlue, LightCyan, LightGray,
4374 LightGreen, LightPurple, LightRed, NoColor, Normal, Purple, Red, White,
4375 Yellow.
4376
4377 Finally, IPython supports the evaluation of arbitrary expressions in
4378 your prompt string. The prompt strings are evaluated through the syntax
4379 of PEP 215, but basically you can use $x.y to expand the value of x.y,
4380 and for more complicated expressions you can use braces: ${foo()+x} will
4381 call function foo and add to it the value of x, before putting the
4382 result into your prompt. For example, using
4383 prompt_in1 '${commands.getoutput("uptime")}\nIn [\#]: '
4384 will print the result of the uptime command on each prompt (assuming the
4385 commands module has been imported in your ipythonrc file).
4386
4387
4388 Prompt examples
4389
4390 The following options in an ipythonrc file will give you IPython's
4391 default prompts::
4392
4393 prompt_in1 'In [\#]:'
4394 prompt_in2 ' .\D.:'
4395 prompt_out 'Out[\#]:'
4396
4397 which look like this::
4398
4399 In [1]: 1+2
4400 Out[1]: 3
4401
4402 In [2]: for i in (1,2,3):
4403 ...: print i,
4404 ...:
4405 1 2 3
4406
4407 These will give you a very colorful prompt with path information::
4408
4409 #prompt_in1 '\C_Red\u\C_Blue[\C_Cyan\Y1\C_Blue]\C_LightGreen\#>'
4410 prompt_in2 ' ..\D>'
4411 prompt_out '<\#>'
4412
4413 which look like this::
4414
4415 fperez[~/ipython]1> 1+2
4416 <1> 3
4417 fperez[~/ipython]2> for i in (1,2,3):
4418 ...> print i,
4419 ...>
4420 1 2 3
4421
4422
4423 .. _Profiles:
4424
4425 IPython profiles
4426 ----------------
4427
4428 As we already mentioned, IPython supports the -profile command-line
4429 option (see sec. `command line options`_). A profile is nothing more
4430 than a particular configuration file like your basic ipythonrc one,
4431 but with particular customizations for a specific purpose. When you
4432 start IPython with 'ipython -profile <name>', it assumes that in your
4433 IPYTHONDIR there is a file called ipythonrc-<name> or
4434 ipy_profile_<name>.py, and loads it instead of the normal ipythonrc.
4435
4436 This system allows you to maintain multiple configurations which load
4437 modules, set options, define functions, etc. suitable for different
4438 tasks and activate them in a very simple manner. In order to avoid
4439 having to repeat all of your basic options (common things that don't
4440 change such as your color preferences, for example), any profile can
4441 include another configuration file. The most common way to use profiles
4442 is then to have each one include your basic ipythonrc file as a starting
4443 point, and then add further customizations.
4444
4445 IPython as your default Python environment
4446 ==========================================
4447
4448 Python honors the environment variable PYTHONSTARTUP and will execute at
4449 startup the file referenced by this variable. If you put at the end of
4450 this file the following two lines of code::
4451
4452 import IPython
4453 IPython.Shell.IPShell().mainloop(sys_exit=1)
4454
4455 then IPython will be your working environment anytime you start Python.
4456 The sys_exit=1 is needed to have IPython issue a call to sys.exit() when
4457 it finishes, otherwise you'll be back at the normal Python '>>>'
4458 prompt.
4459
4460 This is probably useful to developers who manage multiple Python
4461 versions and don't want to have correspondingly multiple IPython
4462 versions. Note that in this mode, there is no way to pass IPython any
4463 command-line options, as those are trapped first by Python itself.
4464
4465 .. _Embedding:
4466
4467 Embedding IPython
4468 =================
4469
4470 It is possible to start an IPython instance inside your own Python
4471 programs. This allows you to evaluate dynamically the state of your
4472 code, operate with your variables, analyze them, etc. Note however that
4473 any changes you make to values while in the shell do not propagate back
4474 to the running code, so it is safe to modify your values because you
4475 won't break your code in bizarre ways by doing so.
4476
4477 This feature allows you to easily have a fully functional python
4478 environment for doing object introspection anywhere in your code with a
4479 simple function call. In some cases a simple print statement is enough,
4480 but if you need to do more detailed analysis of a code fragment this
4481 feature can be very valuable.
4482
4483 It can also be useful in scientific computing situations where it is
4484 common to need to do some automatic, computationally intensive part and
4485 then stop to look at data, plots, etc.
4486 Opening an IPython instance will give you full access to your data and
4487 functions, and you can resume program execution once you are done with
4488 the interactive part (perhaps to stop again later, as many times as
4489 needed).
4490
4491 The following code snippet is the bare minimum you need to include in
4492 your Python programs for this to work (detailed examples follow later)::
4493
4494 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
4495
4496 ipshell = IPShellEmbed()
4497
4498 ipshell() # this call anywhere in your program will start IPython
4499
4500 You can run embedded instances even in code which is itself being run at
4501 the IPython interactive prompt with '%run <filename>'. Since it's easy
4502 to get lost as to where you are (in your top-level IPython or in your
4503 embedded one), it's a good idea in such cases to set the in/out prompts
4504 to something different for the embedded instances. The code examples
4505 below illustrate this.
4506
4507 You can also have multiple IPython instances in your program and open
4508 them separately, for example with different options for data
4509 presentation. If you close and open the same instance multiple times,
4510 its prompt counters simply continue from each execution to the next.
4511
4512 Please look at the docstrings in the Shell.py module for more details on
4513 the use of this system.
4514
4515 The following sample file illustrating how to use the embedding
4516 functionality is provided in the examples directory as example-embed.py.
4517 It should be fairly self-explanatory::
4518
4519
4520 #!/usr/bin/env python
4521
4522 """An example of how to embed an IPython shell into a running program.
4523
4524 Please see the documentation in the IPython.Shell module for more details.
4525
4526 The accompanying file example-embed-short.py has quick code fragments for
4527 embedding which you can cut and paste in your code once you understand how
4528 things work.
4529
4530 The code in this file is deliberately extra-verbose, meant for learning."""
4531
4532 # The basics to get you going:
4533
4534 # IPython sets the __IPYTHON__ variable so you can know if you have nested
4535 # copies running.
4536
4537 # Try running this code both at the command line and from inside IPython (with
4538 # %run example-embed.py)
4539 try:
4540 __IPYTHON__
4541 except NameError:
4542 nested = 0
4543 args = ['']
4544 else:
4545 print "Running nested copies of IPython."
4546 print "The prompts for the nested copy have been modified"
4547 nested = 1
4548 # what the embedded instance will see as sys.argv:
4549 args = ['-pi1','In <\\#>: ','-pi2',' .\\D.: ',
4550 '-po','Out<\\#>: ','-nosep']
4551
4552 # First import the embeddable shell class
4553 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
4554
4555 # Now create an instance of the embeddable shell. The first argument is a
4556 # string with options exactly as you would type them if you were starting
4557 # IPython at the system command line. Any parameters you want to define for
4558 # configuration can thus be specified here.
4559 ipshell = IPShellEmbed(args,
4560 banner = 'Dropping into IPython',
4561 exit_msg = 'Leaving Interpreter, back to program.')
4562
4563 # Make a second instance, you can have as many as you want.
4564 if nested:
4565 args[1] = 'In2<\\#>'
4566 else:
4567 args = ['-pi1','In2<\\#>: ','-pi2',' .\\D.: ',
4568 '-po','Out<\\#>: ','-nosep']
4569 ipshell2 = IPShellEmbed(args,banner = 'Second IPython instance.')
4570
4571 print '\nHello. This is printed from the main controller program.\n'
4572
4573 # You can then call ipshell() anywhere you need it (with an optional
4574 # message):
4575 ipshell('***Called from top level. '
4576 'Hit Ctrl-D to exit interpreter and continue program.\n'
4577 'Note that if you use %kill_embedded, you can fully deactivate\n'
4578 'This embedded instance so it will never turn on again')
4579
4580 print '\nBack in caller program, moving along...\n'
4581
4582 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4583 # More details:
4584
4585 # IPShellEmbed instances don't print the standard system banner and
4586 # messages. The IPython banner (which actually may contain initialization
4587 # messages) is available as <instance>.IP.BANNER in case you want it.
4588
4589 # IPShellEmbed instances print the following information everytime they
4590 # start:
4591
4592 # - A global startup banner.
4593
4594 # - A call-specific header string, which you can use to indicate where in the
4595 # execution flow the shell is starting.
4596
4597 # They also print an exit message every time they exit.
4598
4599 # Both the startup banner and the exit message default to None, and can be set
4600 # either at the instance constructor or at any other time with the
4601 # set_banner() and set_exit_msg() methods.
4602
4603 # The shell instance can be also put in 'dummy' mode globally or on a per-call
4604 # basis. This gives you fine control for debugging without having to change
4605 # code all over the place.
4606
4607 # The code below illustrates all this.
4608
4609
4610 # This is how the global banner and exit_msg can be reset at any point
4611 ipshell.set_banner('Entering interpreter - New Banner')
4612 ipshell.set_exit_msg('Leaving interpreter - New exit_msg')
4613
4614 def foo(m):
4615 s = 'spam'
4616 ipshell('***In foo(). Try @whos, or print s or m:')
4617 print 'foo says m = ',m
4618
4619 def bar(n):
4620 s = 'eggs'
4621 ipshell('***In bar(). Try @whos, or print s or n:')
4622 print 'bar says n = ',n
4623
4624 # Some calls to the above functions which will trigger IPython:
4625 print 'Main program calling foo("eggs")\n'
4626 foo('eggs')
4627
4628 # The shell can be put in 'dummy' mode where calls to it silently return. This
4629 # allows you, for example, to globally turn off debugging for a program with a
4630 # single call.
4631 ipshell.set_dummy_mode(1)
4632 print '\nTrying to call IPython which is now "dummy":'
4633 ipshell()
4634 print 'Nothing happened...'
4635 # The global 'dummy' mode can still be overridden for a single call
4636 print '\nOverriding dummy mode manually:'
4637 ipshell(dummy=0)
4638
4639 # Reactivate the IPython shell
4640 ipshell.set_dummy_mode(0)
4641
4642 print 'You can even have multiple embedded instances:'
4643 ipshell2()
4644
4645 print '\nMain program calling bar("spam")\n'
4646 bar('spam')
4647
4648 print 'Main program finished. Bye!'
4649
4650 #********************** End of file <example-embed.py> ***********************
4651
4652 Once you understand how the system functions, you can use the following
4653 code fragments in your programs which are ready for cut and paste::
4654
4655
4656 """Quick code snippets for embedding IPython into other programs.
4657
4658 See example-embed.py for full details, this file has the bare minimum code for
4659 cut and paste use once you understand how to use the system."""
4660
4661 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4662 # This code loads IPython but modifies a few things if it detects it's running
4663 # embedded in another IPython session (helps avoid confusion)
4664
4665 try:
4666 __IPYTHON__
4667 except NameError:
4668 argv = ['']
4669 banner = exit_msg = ''
4670 else:
4671 # Command-line options for IPython (a list like sys.argv)
4672 argv = ['-pi1','In <\\#>:','-pi2',' .\\D.:','-po','Out<\\#>:']
4673 banner = '*** Nested interpreter ***'
4674 exit_msg = '*** Back in main IPython ***'
4675
4676 # First import the embeddable shell class
4677 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
4678 # Now create the IPython shell instance. Put ipshell() anywhere in your code
4679 # where you want it to open.
4680 ipshell = IPShellEmbed(argv,banner=banner,exit_msg=exit_msg)
4681
4682 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4683 # This code will load an embeddable IPython shell always with no changes for
4684 # nested embededings.
4685
4686 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
4687 ipshell = IPShellEmbed()
4688 # Now ipshell() will open IPython anywhere in the code.
4689
4690 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4691 # This code loads an embeddable shell only if NOT running inside
4692 # IPython. Inside IPython, the embeddable shell variable ipshell is just a
4693 # dummy function.
4694
4695 try:
4696 __IPYTHON__
4697 except NameError:
4698 from IPython.Shell import IPShellEmbed
4699 ipshell = IPShellEmbed()
4700 # Now ipshell() will open IPython anywhere in the code
4701 else:
4702 # Define a dummy ipshell() so the same code doesn't crash inside an
4703 # interactive IPython
4704 def ipshell(): pass
4705
4706 #******************* End of file <example-embed-short.py> ********************
4707
4708 Using the Python debugger (pdb)
4709 ===============================
4710
4711 Running entire programs via pdb
4712 -------------------------------
4713
4714 pdb, the Python debugger, is a powerful interactive debugger which
4715 allows you to step through code, set breakpoints, watch variables,
4716 etc. IPython makes it very easy to start any script under the control
4717 of pdb, regardless of whether you have wrapped it into a 'main()'
4718 function or not. For this, simply type '%run -d myscript' at an
4719 IPython prompt. See the %run command's documentation (via '%run?' or
4720 in Sec. magic_ for more details, including how to control where pdb
4721 will stop execution first.
4722
4723 For more information on the use of the pdb debugger, read the included
4724 pdb.doc file (part of the standard Python distribution). On a stock
4725 Linux system it is located at /usr/lib/python2.3/pdb.doc, but the
4726 easiest way to read it is by using the help() function of the pdb module
4727 as follows (in an IPython prompt):
4728
4729 In [1]: import pdb
4730 In [2]: pdb.help()
4731
4732 This will load the pdb.doc document in a file viewer for you automatically.
4733
4734
4735 Automatic invocation of pdb on exceptions
4736 -----------------------------------------
4737
4738 IPython, if started with the -pdb option (or if the option is set in
4739 your rc file) can call the Python pdb debugger every time your code
4740 triggers an uncaught exception. This feature
4741 can also be toggled at any time with the %pdb magic command. This can be
4742 extremely useful in order to find the origin of subtle bugs, because pdb
4743 opens up at the point in your code which triggered the exception, and
4744 while your program is at this point 'dead', all the data is still
4745 available and you can walk up and down the stack frame and understand
4746 the origin of the problem.
4747
4748 Furthermore, you can use these debugging facilities both with the
4749 embedded IPython mode and without IPython at all. For an embedded shell
4750 (see sec. Embedding_), simply call the constructor with
4751 '-pdb' in the argument string and automatically pdb will be called if an
4752 uncaught exception is triggered by your code.
4753
4754 For stand-alone use of the feature in your programs which do not use
4755 IPython at all, put the following lines toward the top of your 'main'
4756 routine::
4757
4758 import sys,IPython.ultraTB
4759 sys.excepthook = IPython.ultraTB.FormattedTB(mode='Verbose',
4760 color_scheme='Linux', call_pdb=1)
4761
4762 The mode keyword can be either 'Verbose' or 'Plain', giving either very
4763 detailed or normal tracebacks respectively. The color_scheme keyword can
4764 be one of 'NoColor', 'Linux' (default) or 'LightBG'. These are the same
4765 options which can be set in IPython with -colors and -xmode.
4766
4767 This will give any of your programs detailed, colored tracebacks with
4768 automatic invocation of pdb.
4769
4770
4771 Extensions for syntax processing
4772 ================================
4773
4774 This isn't for the faint of heart, because the potential for breaking
4775 things is quite high. But it can be a very powerful and useful feature.
4776 In a nutshell, you can redefine the way IPython processes the user input
4777 line to accept new, special extensions to the syntax without needing to
4778 change any of IPython's own code.
4779
4780 In the IPython/Extensions directory you will find some examples
4781 supplied, which we will briefly describe now. These can be used 'as is'
4782 (and both provide very useful functionality), or you can use them as a
4783 starting point for writing your own extensions.
4784
4785
4786 Pasting of code starting with '>>> ' or '... '
4787 ----------------------------------------------
4788
4789 In the python tutorial it is common to find code examples which have
4790 been taken from real python sessions. The problem with those is that all
4791 the lines begin with either '>>> ' or '... ', which makes it impossible
4792 to paste them all at once. One must instead do a line by line manual
4793 copying, carefully removing the leading extraneous characters.
4794
4795 This extension identifies those starting characters and removes them
4796 from the input automatically, so that one can paste multi-line examples
4797 directly into IPython, saving a lot of time. Please look at the file
4798 InterpreterPasteInput.py in the IPython/Extensions directory for details
4799 on how this is done.
4800
4801 IPython comes with a special profile enabling this feature, called
4802 tutorial. Simply start IPython via 'ipython -p tutorial' and the feature
4803 will be available. In a normal IPython session you can activate the
4804 feature by importing the corresponding module with:
4805 In [1]: import IPython.Extensions.InterpreterPasteInput
4806
4807 The following is a 'screenshot' of how things work when this extension
4808 is on, copying an example from the standard tutorial::
4809
4810 IPython profile: tutorial
4811
4812 *** Pasting of code with ">>>" or "..." has been enabled.
4813
4814 In [1]: >>> def fib2(n): # return Fibonacci series up to n
4815 ...: ... """Return a list containing the Fibonacci series up to
4816 n."""
4817 ...: ... result = []
4818 ...: ... a, b = 0, 1
4819 ...: ... while b < n:
4820 ...: ... result.append(b) # see below
4821 ...: ... a, b = b, a+b
4822 ...: ... return result
4823 ...:
4824
4825 In [2]: fib2(10)
4826 Out[2]: [1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8]
4827
4828 Note that as currently written, this extension does not recognize
4829 IPython's prompts for pasting. Those are more complicated, since the
4830 user can change them very easily, they involve numbers and can vary in
4831 length. One could however extract all the relevant information from the
4832 IPython instance and build an appropriate regular expression. This is
4833 left as an exercise for the reader.
4834
4835
4836 Input of physical quantities with units
4837 ---------------------------------------
4838
4839 The module PhysicalQInput allows a simplified form of input for physical
4840 quantities with units. This file is meant to be used in conjunction with
4841 the PhysicalQInteractive module (in the same directory) and
4842 Physics.PhysicalQuantities from Konrad Hinsen's ScientificPython
4843 (http://dirac.cnrs-orleans.fr/ScientificPython/).
4844
4845 The Physics.PhysicalQuantities module defines PhysicalQuantity objects,
4846 but these must be declared as instances of a class. For example, to
4847 define v as a velocity of 3 m/s, normally you would write::
4848
4849 In [1]: v = PhysicalQuantity(3,'m/s')
4850
4851 Using the PhysicalQ_Input extension this can be input instead as:
4852 In [1]: v = 3 m/s
4853 which is much more convenient for interactive use (even though it is
4854 blatantly invalid Python syntax).
4855
4856 The physics profile supplied with IPython (enabled via 'ipython -p
4857 physics') uses these extensions, which you can also activate with:
4858
4859 from math import * # math MUST be imported BEFORE PhysicalQInteractive
4860 from IPython.Extensions.PhysicalQInteractive import *
4861 import IPython.Extensions.PhysicalQInput
4862
4863
4864 IPython as a system shell - the 'Sh' profile
4865 ============================================
4866
4867 The 'sh' profile optimizes IPython for system shell usage. Apart from
4868 certain job control functionality that is present in unix (ctrl+z does
4869 "suspend"), the sh profile should provide you with most of the
4870 functionality you use daily in system shell, and more. Invoke IPython
4871 in 'sh' profile by doing 'ipython -p sh', or (in win32) by launching
4872 the "pysh" shortcut in start menu.
4873
4874 If you want to use the features of sh profile as your defaults (which
4875 might be a good idea if you use other profiles a lot of the time but
4876 still want the convenience of sh profile), add ``import ipy_profile_sh``
4877 to your ~/.ipython/ipy_user_conf.py.
4878
4879 The 'sh' profile is different from the default profile in that:
4880
4881 * Prompt shows the current directory
4882 * Spacing between prompts and input is more compact (no padding with
4883 empty lines). The startup banner is more compact as well.
4884 * System commands are directly available (in alias table) without
4885 requesting %rehashx - however, if you install new programs along
4886 your PATH, you might want to run %rehashx to update the persistent
4887 alias table
4888 * Macros are stored in raw format by default. That is, instead of
4889 '_ip.system("cat foo"), the macro will contain text 'cat foo')
4890 * Autocall is in full mode
4891 * Calling "up" does "cd .."
4892
4893 The 'sh' profile is different from the now-obsolete (and unavailable)
4894 'pysh' profile in that:
4895
4896 * '$$var = command' and '$var = command' syntax is not supported
4897 * anymore. Use 'var = !command' instead (incidentally, this is
4898 * available in all IPython profiles). Note that !!command *will*
4899 * work.
4900
4901 Aliases
4902 -------
4903
4904 All of your $PATH has been loaded as IPython aliases, so you should be
4905 able to type any normal system command and have it executed. See
4906 %alias? and %unalias? for details on the alias facilities. See also
4907 %rehashx? for details on the mechanism used to load $PATH.
4908
4909
4910 Directory management
4911 --------------------
4912
4913 Since each command passed by ipython to the underlying system is executed
4914 in a subshell which exits immediately, you can NOT use !cd to navigate
4915 the filesystem.
4916
4917 IPython provides its own builtin '%cd' magic command to move in the
4918 filesystem (the % is not required with automagic on). It also maintains
4919 a list of visited directories (use %dhist to see it) and allows direct
4920 switching to any of them. Type 'cd?' for more details.
4921
4922 %pushd, %popd and %dirs are provided for directory stack handling.
4923
4924
4925 Enabled extensions
4926 ------------------
4927
4928 Some extensions, listed below, are enabled as default in this profile.
4929
4930 envpersist
4931 ++++++++++
4932
4933 %env can be used to "remember" environment variable manipulations. Examples::
4934
4935 %env - Show all environment variables
4936 %env VISUAL=jed - set VISUAL to jed
4937 %env PATH+=;/foo - append ;foo to PATH
4938 %env PATH+=;/bar - also append ;bar to PATH
4939 %env PATH-=/wbin; - prepend /wbin; to PATH
4940 %env -d VISUAL - forget VISUAL persistent val
4941 %env -p - print all persistent env modifications
4942
4943 ipy_which
4944 +++++++++
4945
4946 %which magic command. Like 'which' in unix, but knows about ipython aliases.
4947
4948 Example::
4949
4950 [C:/ipython]|14> %which st
4951 st -> start .
4952 [C:/ipython]|15> %which d
4953 d -> dir /w /og /on
4954 [C:/ipython]|16> %which cp
4955 cp -> cp
4956 == c:\bin\cp.exe
4957 c:\bin\cp.exe
4958
4959 ipy_app_completers
4960 ++++++++++++++++++
4961
4962 Custom tab completers for some apps like svn, hg, bzr, apt-get. Try 'apt-get install <TAB>' in debian/ubuntu.
4963
4964 ipy_rehashdir
4965 +++++++++++++
4966
4967 Allows you to add system command aliases for commands that are not along your path. Let's say that you just installed Putty and want to be able to invoke it without adding it to path, you can create the alias for it with rehashdir::
4968
4969 [~]|22> cd c:/opt/PuTTY/
4970 [c:opt/PuTTY]|23> rehashdir .
4971 <23> ['pageant', 'plink', 'pscp', 'psftp', 'putty', 'puttygen', 'unins000']
4972
4973 Now, you can execute any of those commams directly::
4974
4975 [c:opt/PuTTY]|24> cd
4976 [~]|25> putty
4977
4978 (the putty window opens).
4979
4980 If you want to store the alias so that it will always be available, do '%store putty'. If you want to %store all these aliases persistently, just do it in a for loop::
4981
4982 [~]|27> for a in _23:
4983 |..> %store $a
4984 |..>
4985 |..>
4986 Alias stored: pageant (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\pageant.exe')
4987 Alias stored: plink (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\plink.exe')
4988 Alias stored: pscp (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\pscp.exe')
4989 Alias stored: psftp (0, 'c:\\opt\\PuTTY\\psftp.exe')
4990 ...
4991
4992 mglob
4993 +++++
4994
4995 Provide the magic function %mglob, which makes it easier (than the 'find' command) to collect (possibly recursive) file lists. Examples::
4996
4997 [c:/ipython]|9> mglob *.py
4998 [c:/ipython]|10> mglob *.py rec:*.txt
4999 [c:/ipython]|19> workfiles = %mglob !.svn/ !.hg/ !*_Data/ !*.bak rec:.
5000
5001 Note that the first 2 calls will put the file list in result history (_, _9, _10), and the last one will assign it to 'workfiles'.
5002
5003
5004 Prompt customization
5005 --------------------
5006
5007 The sh profile uses the following prompt configurations::
5008
5009 o.prompt_in1= r'\C_LightBlue[\C_LightCyan\Y2\C_LightBlue]\C_Green|\#>'
5010 o.prompt_in2= r'\C_Green|\C_LightGreen\D\C_Green>'
5011
5012 You can change the prompt configuration to your liking by editing
5013 ipy_user_conf.py.
5014
5015 String lists
5016 ============
5017
5018 String lists (IPython.genutils.SList) are handy way to process output
5019 from system commands. They are produced by ``var = !cmd`` syntax.
5020
5021 First, we acquire the output of 'ls -l'::
5022
5023 [Q:doc/examples]|2> lines = !ls -l
5024 ==
5025 ['total 23',
5026 '-rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1163 Sep 30 2006 example-demo.py',
5027 '-rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1927 Sep 30 2006 example-embed-short.py',
5028 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 4606 Sep 1 17:15 example-embed.py',
5029 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 1017 Sep 30 2006 example-gnuplot.py',
5030 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 339 Jun 11 18:01 extension.py',
5031 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 113 Dec 20 2006 seteditor.py',
5032 '-rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 245 Dec 12 2006 seteditor.pyc']
5033
5034 Now, let's take a look at the contents of 'lines' (the first number is
5035 the list element number)::
5036
5037 [Q:doc/examples]|3> lines
5038 <3> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() available). Value:
5039
5040 0: total 23
5041 1: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1163 Sep 30 2006 example-demo.py
5042 2: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1927 Sep 30 2006 example-embed-short.py
5043 3: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 4606 Sep 1 17:15 example-embed.py
5044 4: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 1017 Sep 30 2006 example-gnuplot.py
5045 5: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 339 Jun 11 18:01 extension.py
5046 6: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 113 Dec 20 2006 seteditor.py
5047 7: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 245 Dec 12 2006 seteditor.pyc
5048
5049 Now, let's filter out the 'embed' lines::
5050
5051 [Q:doc/examples]|4> l2 = lines.grep('embed',prune=1)
5052 [Q:doc/examples]|5> l2
5053 <5> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() available). Value:
5054
5055 0: total 23
5056 1: -rw-rw-rw- 1 ville None 1163 Sep 30 2006 example-demo.py
5057 2: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 1017 Sep 30 2006 example-gnuplot.py
5058 3: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 339 Jun 11 18:01 extension.py
5059 4: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 113 Dec 20 2006 seteditor.py
5060 5: -rwxrwxrwx 1 ville None 245 Dec 12 2006 seteditor.pyc
5061
5062 Now, we want strings having just file names and permissions::
5063
5064 [Q:doc/examples]|6> l2.fields(8,0)
5065 <6> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() available). Value:
5066
5067 0: total
5068 1: example-demo.py -rw-rw-rw-
5069 2: example-gnuplot.py -rwxrwxrwx
5070 3: extension.py -rwxrwxrwx
5071 4: seteditor.py -rwxrwxrwx
5072 5: seteditor.pyc -rwxrwxrwx
5073
5074 Note how the line with 'total' does not raise IndexError.
5075
5076 If you want to split these (yielding lists), call fields() without
5077 arguments::
5078
5079 [Q:doc/examples]|7> _.fields()
5080 <7>
5081 [['total'],
5082 ['example-demo.py', '-rw-rw-rw-'],
5083 ['example-gnuplot.py', '-rwxrwxrwx'],
5084 ['extension.py', '-rwxrwxrwx'],
5085 ['seteditor.py', '-rwxrwxrwx'],
5086 ['seteditor.pyc', '-rwxrwxrwx']]
5087
5088 If you want to pass these separated with spaces to a command (typical
5089 for lists if files), use the .s property::
5090
5091
5092 [Q:doc/examples]|13> files = l2.fields(8).s
5093 [Q:doc/examples]|14> files
5094 <14> 'example-demo.py example-gnuplot.py extension.py seteditor.py seteditor.pyc'
5095 [Q:doc/examples]|15> ls $files
5096 example-demo.py example-gnuplot.py extension.py seteditor.py seteditor.pyc
5097
5098 SLists are inherited from normal python lists, so every list method is
5099 available::
5100
5101 [Q:doc/examples]|21> lines.append('hey')
5102
5103
5104 Real world example: remove all files outside version control
5105 ------------------------------------------------------------
5106
5107 First, capture output of "hg status"::
5108
5109 [Q:/ipython]|28> out = !hg status
5110 ==
5111 ['M IPython\\Extensions\\ipy_kitcfg.py',
5112 'M IPython\\Extensions\\ipy_rehashdir.py',
5113 ...
5114 '? build\\lib\\IPython\\Debugger.py',
5115 '? build\\lib\\IPython\\Extensions\\InterpreterExec.py',
5116 '? build\\lib\\IPython\\Extensions\\InterpreterPasteInput.py',
5117 ...
5118
5119 (lines starting with ? are not under version control).
5120
5121 ::
5122
5123 [Q:/ipython]|35> junk = out.grep(r'^\?').fields(1)
5124 [Q:/ipython]|36> junk
5125 <36> SList (.p, .n, .l, .s, .grep(), .fields() availab
5126 ...
5127 10: build\bdist.win32\winexe\temp\_ctypes.py
5128 11: build\bdist.win32\winexe\temp\_hashlib.py
5129 12: build\bdist.win32\winexe\temp\_socket.py
5130
5131 Now we can just remove these files by doing 'rm $junk.s'.
5132
5133 The .s, .n, .p properties
5134 -------------------------
5135
5136 The '.s' property returns one string where lines are separated by
5137 single space (for convenient passing to system commands). The '.n'
5138 property return one string where the lines are separated by '\n'
5139 (i.e. the original output of the function). If the items in string
5140 list are file names, '.p' can be used to get a list of "path" objects
5141 for convenient file manipulation.
5142
5143
5144 Threading support
5145 =================
5146
5147 WARNING: The threading support is still somewhat experimental, and it
5148 has only seen reasonable testing under Linux. Threaded code is
5149 particularly tricky to debug, and it tends to show extremely
5150 platform-dependent behavior. Since I only have access to Linux machines,
5151 I will have to rely on user's experiences and assistance for this area
5152 of IPython to improve under other platforms.
5153
5154 IPython, via the -gthread , -qthread, -q4thread and -wthread options
5155 (described in Sec. `Threading options`_), can run in
5156 multithreaded mode to support pyGTK, Qt3, Qt4 and WXPython applications
5157 respectively. These GUI toolkits need to control the python main loop of
5158 execution, so under a normal Python interpreter, starting a pyGTK, Qt3,
5159 Qt4 or WXPython application will immediately freeze the shell.
5160
5161 IPython, with one of these options (you can only use one at a time),
5162 separates the graphical loop and IPython's code execution run into
5163 different threads. This allows you to test interactively (with %run, for
5164 example) your GUI code without blocking.
5165
5166 A nice mini-tutorial on using IPython along with the Qt Designer
5167 application is available at the SciPy wiki:
5168 http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook/Matplotlib/Qt_with_IPython_and_Designer.
5169
5170
5171 Tk issues
5172 ---------
5173
5174 As indicated in Sec. `Threading options`_, a special -tk option is
5175 provided to try and allow Tk graphical applications to coexist
5176 interactively with WX, Qt or GTK ones. Whether this works at all,
5177 however, is very platform and configuration dependent. Please
5178 experiment with simple test cases before committing to using this
5179 combination of Tk and GTK/Qt/WX threading in a production environment.
5180
5181
5182 I/O pitfalls
5183 ------------
5184
5185 Be mindful that the Python interpreter switches between threads every
5186 $N$ bytecodes, where the default value as of Python 2.3 is $N=100.$ This
5187 value can be read by using the sys.getcheckinterval() function, and it
5188 can be reset via sys.setcheckinterval(N). This switching of threads can
5189 cause subtly confusing effects if one of your threads is doing file I/O.
5190 In text mode, most systems only flush file buffers when they encounter a
5191 '\n'. An instruction as simple as::
5192
5193 print >> filehandle, ''hello world''
5194
5195 actually consists of several bytecodes, so it is possible that the
5196 newline does not reach your file before the next thread switch.
5197 Similarly, if you are writing to a file in binary mode, the file won't
5198 be flushed until the buffer fills, and your other thread may see
5199 apparently truncated files.
5200
5201 For this reason, if you are using IPython's thread support and have (for
5202 example) a GUI application which will read data generated by files
5203 written to from the IPython thread, the safest approach is to open all
5204 of your files in unbuffered mode (the third argument to the file/open
5205 function is the buffering value)::
5206
5207 filehandle = open(filename,mode,0)
5208
5209 This is obviously a brute force way of avoiding race conditions with the
5210 file buffering. If you want to do it cleanly, and you have a resource
5211 which is being shared by the interactive IPython loop and your GUI
5212 thread, you should really handle it with thread locking and
5213 syncrhonization properties. The Python documentation discusses these.
5214
5215 .. _Interactive demos:
5216
5217 Interactive demos with IPython
5218 ==============================
5219
5220 IPython ships with a basic system for running scripts interactively in
5221 sections, useful when presenting code to audiences. A few tags embedded
5222 in comments (so that the script remains valid Python code) divide a file
5223 into separate blocks, and the demo can be run one block at a time, with
5224 IPython printing (with syntax highlighting) the block before executing
5225 it, and returning to the interactive prompt after each block. The
5226 interactive namespace is updated after each block is run with the
5227 contents of the demo's namespace.
5228
5229 This allows you to show a piece of code, run it and then execute
5230 interactively commands based on the variables just created. Once you
5231 want to continue, you simply execute the next block of the demo. The
5232 following listing shows the markup necessary for dividing a script into
5233 sections for execution as a demo::
5234
5235
5236 """A simple interactive demo to illustrate the use of IPython's Demo class.
5237
5238 Any python script can be run as a demo, but that does little more than showing
5239 it on-screen, syntax-highlighted in one shot. If you add a little simple
5240 markup, you can stop at specified intervals and return to the ipython prompt,
5241 resuming execution later.
5242 """
5243
5244 print 'Hello, welcome to an interactive IPython demo.'
5245 print 'Executing this block should require confirmation before proceeding,'
5246 print 'unless auto_all has been set to true in the demo object'
5247
5248 # The mark below defines a block boundary, which is a point where IPython will
5249 # stop execution and return to the interactive prompt.
5250 # Note that in actual interactive execution,
5251 # <demo> --- stop ---
5252
5253 x = 1
5254 y = 2
5255
5256 # <demo> --- stop ---
5257
5258 # the mark below makes this block as silent
5259 # <demo> silent
5260
5261 print 'This is a silent block, which gets executed but not printed.'
5262
5263 # <demo> --- stop ---
5264 # <demo> auto
5265 print 'This is an automatic block.'
5266 print 'It is executed without asking for confirmation, but printed.'
5267 z = x+y
5268
5269 print 'z=',x
5270
5271 # <demo> --- stop ---
5272 # This is just another normal block.
5273 print 'z is now:', z
5274
5275 print 'bye!'
5276
5277 In order to run a file as a demo, you must first make a Demo object out
5278 of it. If the file is named myscript.py, the following code will make a
5279 demo::
5280
5281 from IPython.demo import Demo
5282
5283 mydemo = Demo('myscript.py')
5284
5285 This creates the mydemo object, whose blocks you run one at a time by
5286 simply calling the object with no arguments. If you have autocall active
5287 in IPython (the default), all you need to do is type::
5288
5289 mydemo
5290
5291 and IPython will call it, executing each block. Demo objects can be
5292 restarted, you can move forward or back skipping blocks, re-execute the
5293 last block, etc. Simply use the Tab key on a demo object to see its
5294 methods, and call '?' on them to see their docstrings for more usage
5295 details. In addition, the demo module itself contains a comprehensive
5296 docstring, which you can access via::
5297
5298 from IPython import demo
5299
5300 demo?
5301
5302 Limitations: It is important to note that these demos are limited to
5303 fairly simple uses. In particular, you can not put division marks in
5304 indented code (loops, if statements, function definitions, etc.)
5305 Supporting something like this would basically require tracking the
5306 internal execution state of the Python interpreter, so only top-level
5307 divisions are allowed. If you want to be able to open an IPython
5308 instance at an arbitrary point in a program, you can use IPython's
5309 embedding facilities, described in detail in Sec. 9
5310
5311
5312 .. _Matplotlib support:
5313
5314 Plotting with matplotlib
5315 ========================
5316
5317 The matplotlib library (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net
5318 http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net) provides high quality 2D plotting for
5319 Python. Matplotlib can produce plots on screen using a variety of GUI
5320 toolkits, including Tk, GTK and WXPython. It also provides a number of
5321 commands useful for scientific computing, all with a syntax compatible
5322 with that of the popular Matlab program.
5323
5324 IPython accepts the special option -pylab (Sec. `Command line
5325 options`_). This configures it to support matplotlib, honoring the
5326 settings in the .matplotlibrc file. IPython will detect the user's
5327 choice of matplotlib GUI backend, and automatically select the proper
5328 threading model to prevent blocking. It also sets matplotlib in
5329 interactive mode and modifies %run slightly, so that any
5330 matplotlib-based script can be executed using %run and the final
5331 show() command does not block the interactive shell.
5332
5333 The -pylab option must be given first in order for IPython to
5334 configure its threading mode. However, you can still issue other
5335 options afterwards. This allows you to have a matplotlib-based
5336 environment customized with additional modules using the standard
5337 IPython profile mechanism (Sec. Profiles_): ''ipython -pylab -p
5338 myprofile'' will load the profile defined in ipythonrc-myprofile after
5339 configuring matplotlib.
5340
5341 IPython Extension Api
5342 =====================
5343
5344 IPython api (defined in IPython/ipapi.py) is the public api that
5345 should be used for
5346
5347 * Configuration of user preferences (.ipython/ipy_user_conf.py)
5348 * Creating new profiles (.ipython/ipy_profile_PROFILENAME.py)
5349 * Writing extensions
5350
5351 Note that by using the extension api for configuration (editing
5352 ipy_user_conf.py instead of ipythonrc), you get better validity checks
5353 and get richer functionality - for example, you can import an
5354 extension and call functions in it to configure it for your purposes.
5355
5356 For an example extension (the 'sh' profile), see
5357 IPython/Extensions/ipy_profile_sh.py.
5358
5359 For the last word on what's available, see the source code of
5360 IPython/ipapi.py.
5361
5362
5363 Getting started
5364 ---------------
5365
5366 If you want to define an extension, create a normal python module that
5367 can be imported. The module will access IPython functionality through
5368 the 'ip' object defined below.
5369
5370 If you are creating a new profile (e.g. foobar), name the module as
5371 'ipy_profile_foobar.py' and put it in your ~/.ipython directory. Then,
5372 when you start ipython with the '-p foobar' argument, the module is
5373 automatically imported on ipython startup.
5374
5375 If you are just doing some per-user configuration, you can either
5376
5377 * Put the commands directly into ipy_user_conf.py.
5378
5379 * Create a new module with your customization code and import *that*
5380 module in ipy_user_conf.py. This is preferable to the first approach,
5381 because now you can reuse and distribute your customization code.
5382
5383 Getting a handle to the api
5384 ---------------------------
5385
5386 Put this in the start of your module::
5387
5388 #!python
5389 import IPython.ipapi
5390 ip = IPython.ipapi.get()
5391
5392 The 'ip' object will then be used for accessing IPython
5393 functionality. 'ip' will mean this api object in all the following
5394 code snippets. The same 'ip' that we just acquired is always
5395 accessible in interactive IPython sessions by the name _ip - play with
5396 it like this::
5397
5398 [~\_ipython]|81> a = 10
5399 [~\_ipython]|82> _ip.e
5400 _ip.ev _ip.ex _ip.expose_magic
5401 [~\_ipython]|82> _ip.ev('a+13')
5402 <82> 23
5403
5404 The _ip object is also used in some examples in this document - it can
5405 be substituted by 'ip' in non-interactive use.
5406
5407 Changing options
5408 ----------------
5409
5410 The ip object has 'options' attribute that can be used te get/set
5411 configuration options (just as in the ipythonrc file)::
5412
5413 o = ip.options
5414 o.autocall = 2
5415 o.automagic = 1
5416
5417 Executing statements in IPython namespace with 'ex' and 'ev'
5418 ------------------------------------------------------------
5419
5420 Often, you want to e.g. import some module or define something that
5421 should be visible in IPython namespace. Use ``ip.ev`` to
5422 *evaluate* (calculate the value of) expression and ``ip.ex`` to
5423 '''execute''' a statement::
5424
5425 # path module will be visible to the interactive session
5426 ip.ex("from path import path" )
5427
5428 # define a handy function 'up' that changes the working directory
5429
5430 ip.ex('import os')
5431 ip.ex("def up(): os.chdir('..')")
5432
5433
5434 # _i2 has the input history entry #2, print its value in uppercase.
5435 print ip.ev('_i2.upper()')
5436
5437 Accessing the IPython namespace
5438 -------------------------------
5439
5440 ip.user_ns attribute has a dictionary containing the IPython global
5441 namespace (the namespace visible in the interactive session).
5442
5443 ::
5444
5445 [~\_ipython]|84> tauno = 555
5446 [~\_ipython]|85> _ip.user_ns['tauno']
5447 <85> 555
5448
5449 Defining new magic commands
5450 ---------------------------
5451
5452 The following example defines a new magic command, %impall. What the
5453 command does should be obvious::
5454
5455 def doimp(self, arg):
5456 ip = self.api
5457 ip.ex("import %s; reload(%s); from %s import *" % (
5458 arg,arg,arg)
5459 )
5460
5461 ip.expose_magic('impall', doimp)
5462
5463 Things to observe in this example:
5464
5465 * Define a function that implements the magic command using the
5466 ipapi methods defined in this document
5467 * The first argument of the function is 'self', i.e. the
5468 interpreter object. It shouldn't be used directly. however.
5469 The interpreter object is probably *not* going to remain stable
5470 through IPython versions.
5471 * Access the ipapi through 'self.api' instead of the global 'ip' object.
5472 * All the text following the magic command on the command line is
5473 contained in the second argument
5474 * Expose the magic by ip.expose_magic()
5475
5476
5477 Calling magic functions and system commands
5478 -------------------------------------------
5479
5480 Use ip.magic() to execute a magic function, and ip.system() to execute
5481 a system command::
5482
5483 # go to a bookmark
5484 ip.magic('%cd -b relfiles')
5485
5486 # execute 'ls -F' system command. Interchangeable with os.system('ls'), really.
5487 ip.system('ls -F')
5488
5489 Launching IPython instance from normal python code
5490 --------------------------------------------------
5491
5492 Use ipapi.launch_new_instance() with an argument that specifies the
5493 namespace to use. This can be useful for trivially embedding IPython
5494 into your program. Here's an example of normal python program test.py
5495 ('''without''' an existing IPython session) that launches an IPython
5496 interpreter and regains control when the interpreter is exited::
5497
5498 [ipython]|1> cat test.py
5499 my_ns = dict(
5500 kissa = 15,
5501 koira = 16)
5502 import IPython.ipapi
5503 print "launching IPython instance"
5504 IPython.ipapi.launch_new_instance(my_ns)
5505 print "Exited IPython instance!"
5506 print "New vals:",my_ns['kissa'], my_ns['koira']
5507
5508 And here's what it looks like when run (note how we don't start it
5509 from an ipython session)::
5510
5511 Q:\ipython>python test.py
5512 launching IPython instance
5513 Py 2.5 (r25:51908, Sep 19 2006, 09:52:17) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] IPy 0.7.3b3.r1975
5514 [ipython]|1> kissa = 444
5515 [ipython]|2> koira = 555
5516 [ipython]|3> Exit
5517 Exited IPython instance!
5518 New vals: 444 555
5519
5520 Accessing unexposed functionality
5521 ---------------------------------
5522
5523 There are still many features that are not exposed via the ipapi. If
5524 you can't avoid using them, you can use the functionality in
5525 InteractiveShell object (central IPython session class, defined in
5526 iplib.py) through ip.IP.
5527
5528 For example::
5529
5530 [~]|7> _ip.IP.expand_aliases('np','myfile.py')
5531 <7> 'c:/opt/Notepad++/notepad++.exe myfile.py'
5532 [~]|8>
5533
5534 Still, it's preferable that if you encounter such a feature, contact
5535 the IPython team and request that the functionality be exposed in a
5536 future version of IPython. Things not in ipapi are more likely to
5537 change over time.
5538
5539 Provided extensions
5540 ===================
5541
5542 You can see the list of available extensions (and profiles) by doing
5543 ``import ipy_<TAB>``. Some extensions don't have the ``ipy_`` prefix in
5544 module name, so you may need to see the contents of IPython/Extensions
5545 folder to see what's available.
5546
5547 You can see a brief documentation of an extension by looking at the
5548 module docstring::
5549
5550 [c:p/ipython_main]|190> import ipy_fsops
5551 [c:p/ipython_main]|191> ipy_fsops?
5552
5553 ...
5554
5555 Docstring:
5556 File system operations
5557
5558 Contains: Simple variants of normal unix shell commands (icp, imv, irm,
5559 imkdir, igrep).
5560
5561 You can also install your own extensions - the recommended way is to
5562 just copy the module to ~/.ipython. Extensions are typically enabled
5563 by just importing them (e.g. in ipy_user_conf.py), but some extensions
5564 require additional steps, for example::
5565
5566 [c:p]|192> import ipy_traits_completer
5567 [c:p]|193> ipy_traits_completer.activate()
5568
5569 Note that extensions, even if provided in the stock IPython
5570 installation, are not guaranteed to have the same requirements as the
5571 rest of IPython - an extension may require external libraries or a
5572 newer version of Python than what IPython officially requires. An
5573 extension may also be under a more restrictive license than IPython
5574 (e.g. ipy_bzr is under GPL).
5575
5576 Just for reference, the list of bundled extensions at the time of
5577 writing is below:
5578
5579 astyle.py clearcmd.py envpersist.py ext_rescapture.py ibrowse.py
5580 igrid.py InterpreterExec.py InterpreterPasteInput.py ipipe.py
5581 ipy_app_completers.py ipy_autoreload.py ipy_bzr.py ipy_completers.py
5582 ipy_constants.py ipy_defaults.py ipy_editors.py ipy_exportdb.py
5583 ipy_extutil.py ipy_fsops.py ipy_gnuglobal.py ipy_kitcfg.py
5584 ipy_legacy.py ipy_leo.py ipy_p4.py ipy_profile_doctest.py
5585 ipy_profile_none.py ipy_profile_scipy.py ipy_profile_sh.py
5586 ipy_profile_zope.py ipy_pydb.py ipy_rehashdir.py ipy_render.py
5587 ipy_server.py ipy_signals.py ipy_stock_completers.py
5588 ipy_system_conf.py ipy_traits_completer.py ipy_vimserver.py
5589 ipy_which.py ipy_workdir.py jobctrl.py ledit.py numeric_formats.py
5590 PhysicalQInput.py PhysicalQInteractive.py pickleshare.py
5591 pspersistence.py win32clip.py __init__.py
5592
5593 Reporting bugs
5594 ==============
5595
5596 Automatic crash reports
5597 -----------------------
5598
5599 Ideally, IPython itself shouldn't crash. It will catch exceptions
5600 produced by you, but bugs in its internals will still crash it.
5601
5602 In such a situation, IPython will leave a file named
5603 IPython_crash_report.txt in your IPYTHONDIR directory (that way if
5604 crashes happen several times it won't litter many directories, the
5605 post-mortem file is always located in the same place and new
5606 occurrences just overwrite the previous one). If you can mail this
5607 file to the developers (see sec. credits_ for names and addresses), it
5608 will help us a lot in understanding the cause of the problem and
5609 fixing it sooner.
5610
5611
5612 The bug tracker
5613 ---------------
5614
5615 IPython also has an online bug-tracker, located at
5616 http://projects.scipy.org/ipython/ipython/report/1. In addition to
5617 mailing the developers, it would be a good idea to file a bug report
5618 here. This will ensure that the issue is properly followed to
5619 conclusion. To report new bugs you will have to register first.
5620
5621 You can also use this bug tracker to file feature requests.
5622
5623 Brief history
5624 =============
5625
5626
5627 Origins
5628 -------
5629
5630 The current IPython system grew out of the following three projects:
5631
5632 * [ipython] by Fernando Pérez. I was working on adding
5633 Mathematica-type prompts and a flexible configuration system
5634 (something better than $PYTHONSTARTUP) to the standard Python
5635 interactive interpreter.
5636 * [IPP] by Janko Hauser. Very well organized, great usability. Had
5637 an old help system. IPP was used as the 'container' code into
5638 which I added the functionality from ipython and LazyPython.
5639 * [LazyPython] by Nathan Gray. Simple but very powerful. The quick
5640 syntax (auto parens, auto quotes) and verbose/colored tracebacks
5641 were all taken from here.
5642
5643 When I found out about IPP and LazyPython I tried to join all three
5644 into a unified system. I thought this could provide a very nice
5645 working environment, both for regular programming and scientific
5646 computing: shell-like features, IDL/Matlab numerics, Mathematica-type
5647 prompt history and great object introspection and help facilities. I
5648 think it worked reasonably well, though it was a lot more work than I
5649 had initially planned.
5650
5651
5652 Current status
5653 --------------
5654
5655 The above listed features work, and quite well for the most part. But
5656 until a major internal restructuring is done (see below), only bug
5657 fixing will be done, no other features will be added (unless very minor
5658 and well localized in the cleaner parts of the code).
5659
5660 IPython consists of some 18000 lines of pure python code, of which
5661 roughly two thirds is reasonably clean. The rest is, messy code which
5662 needs a massive restructuring before any further major work is done.
5663 Even the messy code is fairly well documented though, and most of the
5664 problems in the (non-existent) class design are well pointed to by a
5665 PyChecker run. So the rewriting work isn't that bad, it will just be
5666 time-consuming.
5667
5668
5669 Future
5670 ------
5671
5672 See the separate new_design document for details. Ultimately, I would
5673 like to see IPython become part of the standard Python distribution as a
5674 'big brother with batteries' to the standard Python interactive
5675 interpreter. But that will never happen with the current state of the
5676 code, so all contributions are welcome.
5677
5678 License
5679 =======
5680
5681 IPython is released under the terms of the BSD license, whose general
5682 form can be found at:
5683 http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php. The full text of the
5684 IPython license is reproduced below::
5685
5686 IPython is released under a BSD-type license.
5687
5688 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Fernando Perez
5689 <fperez@colorado.edu>.
5690
5691 Copyright (c) 2001 Janko Hauser <jhauser@zscout.de> and
5692 Nathaniel Gray <n8gray@caltech.edu>.
5693
5694 All rights reserved.
5695
5696 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5697 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
5698 are met:
5699
5700 a. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
5701 notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
5702
5703 b. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
5704 notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
5705 documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
5706
5707 c. Neither the name of the copyright holders nor the names of any
5708 contributors to this software may be used to endorse or promote
5709 products derived from this software without specific prior written
5710 permission.
5711
5712 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
5713 "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
5714 LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
5715 FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
5716 REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
5717 INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
5718 BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
5719 LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
5720 CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
5721 LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
5722 ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
5723 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
5724
5725 Individual authors are the holders of the copyright for their code and
5726 are listed in each file.
5727
5728 Some files (DPyGetOpt.py, for example) may be licensed under different
5729 conditions. Ultimately each file indicates clearly the conditions under
5730 which its author/authors have decided to publish the code.
5731
5732 Versions of IPython up to and including 0.6.3 were released under the
5733 GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), available at
5734 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html.
5735
5736 Credits
5737 =======
5738
5739 IPython is mainly developed by Fernando Pérez
5740 <Fernando.Perez@colorado.edu>, but the project was born from mixing in
5741 Fernando's code with the IPP project by Janko Hauser
5742 <jhauser-AT-zscout.de> and LazyPython by Nathan Gray
5743 <n8gray-AT-caltech.edu>. For all IPython-related requests, please
5744 contact Fernando.
5745
5746 As of early 2006, the following developers have joined the core team:
5747
5748 * [Robert Kern] <rkern-AT-enthought.com>: co-mentored the 2005
5749 Google Summer of Code project to develop python interactive
5750 notebooks (XML documents) and graphical interface. This project
5751 was awarded to the students Tzanko Matev <tsanko-AT-gmail.com> and
5752 Toni Alatalo <antont-AT-an.org>
5753 * [Brian Granger] <bgranger-AT-scu.edu>: extending IPython to allow
5754 support for interactive parallel computing.
5755 * [Ville Vainio] <vivainio-AT-gmail.com>: Ville is the new
5756 maintainer for the main trunk of IPython after version 0.7.1.
5757
5758 User or development help should be requested via the IPython mailing lists:
5759
5760 *User list:*
5761 http://scipy.net/mailman/listinfo/ipython-user
5762 *Developer's list:*
5763 http://scipy.net/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
5764
5765 The IPython project is also very grateful to:
5766
5767 Bill Bumgarner <bbum-AT-friday.com>: for providing the DPyGetOpt module
5768 which gives very powerful and convenient handling of command-line
5769 options (light years ahead of what Python 2.1.1's getopt module does).
5770
5771 Ka-Ping Yee <ping-AT-lfw.org>: for providing the Itpl module for
5772 convenient and powerful string interpolation with a much nicer syntax
5773 than formatting through the '%' operator.
5774
5775 Arnd Baecker <baecker-AT-physik.tu-dresden.de>: for his many very useful
5776 suggestions and comments, and lots of help with testing and
5777 documentation checking. Many of IPython's newer features are a result of
5778 discussions with him (bugs are still my fault, not his).
5779
5780 Obviously Guido van Rossum and the whole Python development team, that
5781 goes without saying.
5782
5783 IPython's website is generously hosted at http://ipython.scipy.orgby
5784 Enthought (http://www.enthought.com). I am very grateful to them and all
5785 of the SciPy team for their contribution.
5786
5787 Fernando would also like to thank Stephen Figgins <fig-AT-monitor.net>,
5788 an O'Reilly Python editor. His Oct/11/2001 article about IPP and
5789 LazyPython, was what got this project started. You can read it at:
5790 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2001/10/11/pythonnews.html.
5791
5792 And last but not least, all the kind IPython users who have emailed new
5793 code, bug reports, fixes, comments and ideas. A brief list follows,
5794 please let me know if I have ommitted your name by accident:
5795
5796 * [Jack Moffit] <jack-AT-xiph.org> Bug fixes, including the infamous
5797 color problem. This bug alone caused many lost hours and
5798 frustration, many thanks to him for the fix. I've always been a
5799 fan of Ogg & friends, now I have one more reason to like these folks.
5800 Jack is also contributing with Debian packaging and many other
5801 things.
5802 * [Alexander Schmolck] <a.schmolck-AT-gmx.net> Emacs work, bug
5803 reports, bug fixes, ideas, lots more. The ipython.el mode for
5804 (X)Emacs is Alex's code, providing full support for IPython under
5805 (X)Emacs.
5806 * [Andrea Riciputi] <andrea.riciputi-AT-libero.it> Mac OSX
5807 information, Fink package management.
5808 * [Gary Bishop] <gb-AT-cs.unc.edu> Bug reports, and patches to work
5809 around the exception handling idiosyncracies of WxPython. Readline
5810 and color support for Windows.
5811 * [Jeffrey Collins] <Jeff.Collins-AT-vexcel.com> Bug reports. Much
5812 improved readline support, including fixes for Python 2.3.
5813 * [Dryice Liu] <dryice-AT-liu.com.cn> FreeBSD port.
5814 * [Mike Heeter] <korora-AT-SDF.LONESTAR.ORG>
5815 * [Christopher Hart] <hart-AT-caltech.edu> PDB integration.
5816 * [Milan Zamazal] <pdm-AT-zamazal.org> Emacs info.
5817 * [Philip Hisley] <compsys-AT-starpower.net>
5818 * [Holger Krekel] <pyth-AT-devel.trillke.net> Tab completion, lots
5819 more.
5820 * [Robin Siebler] <robinsiebler-AT-starband.net>
5821 * [Ralf Ahlbrink] <ralf_ahlbrink-AT-web.de>
5822 * [Thorsten Kampe] <thorsten-AT-thorstenkampe.de>
5823 * [Fredrik Kant] <fredrik.kant-AT-front.com> Windows setup.
5824 * [Syver Enstad] <syver-en-AT-online.no> Windows setup.
5825 * [Richard] <rxe-AT-renre-europe.com> Global embedding.
5826 * [Hayden Callow] <h.callow-AT-elec.canterbury.ac.nz> Gnuplot.py 1.6
5827 compatibility.
5828 * [Leonardo Santagada] <retype-AT-terra.com.br> Fixes for Windows
5829 installation.
5830 * [Christopher Armstrong] <radix-AT-twistedmatrix.com> Bugfixes.
5831 * [Francois Pinard] <pinard-AT-iro.umontreal.ca> Code and
5832 documentation fixes.
5833 * [Cory Dodt] <cdodt-AT-fcoe.k12.ca.us> Bug reports and Windows
5834 ideas. Patches for Windows installer.
5835 * [Olivier Aubert] <oaubert-AT-bat710.univ-lyon1.fr> New magics.
5836 * [King C. Shu] <kingshu-AT-myrealbox.com> Autoindent patch.
5837 * [Chris Drexler] <chris-AT-ac-drexler.de> Readline packages for
5838 Win32/CygWin.
5839 * [Gustavo Cordova Avila] <gcordova-AT-sismex.com> EvalDict code for
5840 nice, lightweight string interpolation.
5841 * [Kasper Souren] <Kasper.Souren-AT-ircam.fr> Bug reports, ideas.
5842 * [Gever Tulley] <gever-AT-helium.com> Code contributions.
5843 * [Ralf Schmitt] <ralf-AT-brainbot.com> Bug reports & fixes.
5844 * [Oliver Sander] <osander-AT-gmx.de> Bug reports.
5845 * [Rod Holland] <rhh-AT-structurelabs.com> Bug reports and fixes to
5846 logging module.
5847 * [Daniel 'Dang' Griffith] <pythondev-dang-AT-lazytwinacres.net>
5848 Fixes, enhancement suggestions for system shell use.
5849 * [Viktor Ransmayr] <viktor.ransmayr-AT-t-online.de> Tests and
5850 reports on Windows installation issues. Contributed a true Windows
5851 binary installer.
5852 * [Mike Salib] <msalib-AT-mit.edu> Help fixing a subtle bug related
5853 to traceback printing.
5854 * [W.J. van der Laan] <gnufnork-AT-hetdigitalegat.nl> Bash-like
5855 prompt specials.
5856 * [Antoon Pardon] <Antoon.Pardon-AT-rece.vub.ac.be> Critical fix for
5857 the multithreaded IPython.
5858 * [John Hunter] <jdhunter-AT-nitace.bsd.uchicago.edu> Matplotlib
5859 author, helped with all the development of support for matplotlib
5860 in IPyhton, including making necessary changes to matplotlib itself.
5861 * [Matthew Arnison] <maffew-AT-cat.org.au> Bug reports, '%run -d' idea.
5862 * [Prabhu Ramachandran] <prabhu_r-AT-users.sourceforge.net> Help
5863 with (X)Emacs support, threading patches, ideas...
5864 * [Norbert Tretkowski] <tretkowski-AT-inittab.de> help with Debian
5865 packaging and distribution.
5866 * [George Sakkis] <gsakkis-AT-eden.rutgers.edu> New matcher for
5867 tab-completing named arguments of user-defined functions.
5868 * [Jörgen Stenarson] <jorgen.stenarson-AT-bostream.nu> Wildcard
5869 support implementation for searching namespaces.
5870 * [Vivian De Smedt] <vivian-AT-vdesmedt.com> Debugger enhancements,
5871 so that when pdb is activated from within IPython, coloring, tab
5872 completion and other features continue to work seamlessly.
5873 * [Scott Tsai] <scottt958-AT-yahoo.com.tw> Support for automatic
5874 editor invocation on syntax errors (see
5875 http://www.scipy.net/roundup/ipython/issue36).
5876 * [Alexander Belchenko] <bialix-AT-ukr.net> Improvements for win32
5877 paging system.
5878 * [Will Maier] <willmaier-AT-ml1.net> Official OpenBSD port.
5879
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