Gecko [ fernandoquevedodop.com ]

Name	Size	Permission
appendix.html	21.49 KB	-rw-r--r--
appetite.html	14.47 KB	-rw-r--r--
classes.html	96.95 KB	-rw-r--r--
controlflow.html	126.89 KB	-rw-r--r--
datastructures.html	91.88 KB	-rw-r--r--
errors.html	58.08 KB	-rw-r--r--
floatingpoint.html	35.34 KB	-rw-r--r--
index.html	30.91 KB	-rw-r--r--
inputoutput.html	69.35 KB	-rw-r--r--
interactive.html	14.33 KB	-rw-r--r--
interpreter.html	24.58 KB	-rw-r--r--
introduction.html	63.58 KB	-rw-r--r--
modules.html	64.69 KB	-rw-r--r--
stdlib.html	53.38 KB	-rw-r--r--
stdlib2.html	60.96 KB	-rw-r--r--
venv.html	25 KB	-rw-r--r--
whatnow.html	14.68 KB	-rw-r--r--

Code Editor : interactive.html

<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>14. Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution &#8212; Python 3.10.12 documentation</title><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../_static/pygments.css" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css?2022.1" />
    
    <script data-url_root="../" id="documentation_options" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script>
    <script src="../_static/jquery.js"></script>
    <script src="../_static/underscore.js"></script>
    <script src="../_static/doctools.js"></script>
    
    <script src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script>
    
    <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml"
          title="Search within Python 3.10.12 documentation"
          href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/>
    <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" />
    <link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" />
    <link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" />
    <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" />
    <link rel="next" title="15. Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations" href="floatingpoint.html" />
    <link rel="prev" title="13. What Now?" href="whatnow.html" />
    <link rel="canonical" href="file:///usr/share/doc/python3.10/html/tutorial/interactive.html" />

</head>
<body>
<div class="mobile-nav">
    <input type="checkbox" id="menuToggler" class="toggler__input" aria-controls="navigation"
           aria-pressed="false" aria-expanded="false" role="button" aria-label="Menu" />
    <label for="menuToggler" class="toggler__label">
        <span></span>
    </label>
    <nav class="nav-content" role="navigation">
         <a href="https://www.python.org/" class="nav-logo">
             <img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="Logo"/>
         </a>
        <div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
        <form role="search" class="search" action="../search.html" method="get">
            <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" class="search-icon">
                <path fill-rule="nonzero"
                        d="M15.5 14h-.79l-.28-.27a6.5 6.5 0 001.48-5.34c-.47-2.78-2.79-5-5.59-5.34a6.505 6.505 0 00-7.27 7.27c.34 2.8 2.56 5.12 5.34 5.59a6.5 6.5 0 005.34-1.48l.27.28v.79l4.25 4.25c.41.41 1.08.41 1.49 0 .41-.41.41-1.08 0-1.49L15.5 14zm-6 0C7.01 14 5 11.99 5 9.5S7.01 5 9.5 5 14 7.01 14 9.5 11.99 14 9.5 14z" fill="#444"></path>
            </svg>
            <input type="text" name="q" aria-label="Quick search"/>
            <input type="submit" value="Go"/>
        </form>
    </nav>
    <div class="menu-wrapper">
        <nav class="menu" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
            <div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
  <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
  <ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">14. Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#tab-completion-and-history-editing">14.1. Tab Completion and History Editing</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#alternatives-to-the-interactive-interpreter">14.2. Alternatives to the Interactive Interpreter</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
      <h3>Navigation</h3>
      <ul>
        <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
          <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
             accesskey="I">index</a></li>
        <li class="right" >
          <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index"
             >modules</a> |</li>
        <li class="right" >
          <a href="floatingpoint.html" title="15. Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations"
             accesskey="N">next</a> |</li>
        <li class="right" >
          <a href="whatnow.html" title="13. What Now?"
             accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li>

<li><img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="python logo" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
          <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> &#187;</li>
          <li class="switchers">
            <div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
            <div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
          </li>
          <li>
              
          </li>
    <li id="cpython-language-and-version">
      <a href="../index.html">3.10.12 Documentation</a> &#187;
    </li>

<li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" accesskey="U">The Python Tutorial</a> &#187;</li>
        <li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href=""><span class="section-number">14. </span>Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution</a></li>
                <li class="right">

<div class="document">
      <div class="documentwrapper">
        <div class="bodywrapper">
          <div class="body" role="main">
            
  <section id="interactive-input-editing-and-history-substitution">
<span id="tut-interacting"></span><h1><span class="section-number">14. </span>Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution<a class="headerlink" href="#interactive-input-editing-and-history-substitution" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>Some versions of the Python interpreter support editing of the current input
line and history substitution, similar to facilities found in the Korn shell and
the GNU Bash shell.  This is implemented using the <a class="reference external" href="https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html">GNU Readline</a> library,
which supports various styles of editing.  This library has its own
documentation which we won’t duplicate here.</p>
<section id="tab-completion-and-history-editing">
<span id="tut-keybindings"></span><h2><span class="section-number">14.1. </span>Tab Completion and History Editing<a class="headerlink" href="#tab-completion-and-history-editing" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Completion of variable and module names is
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/site.html#rlcompleter-config"><span class="std std-ref">automatically enabled</span></a> at interpreter startup so
that the <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Tab</kbd> key invokes the completion function; it looks at
Python statement names, the current local variables, and the available
module names.  For dotted expressions such as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">string.a</span></code>, it will evaluate
the expression up to the final <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'.'</span></code> and then suggest completions from
the attributes of the resulting object.  Note that this may execute
application-defined code if an object with a <code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__getattr__()</span></code> method
is part of the expression.  The default configuration also saves your
history into a file named <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.python_history</span></code> in your user directory.
The history will be available again during the next interactive interpreter
session.</p>
</section>
<section id="alternatives-to-the-interactive-interpreter">
<span id="tut-commentary"></span><h2><span class="section-number">14.2. </span>Alternatives to the Interactive Interpreter<a class="headerlink" href="#alternatives-to-the-interactive-interpreter" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This facility is an enormous step forward compared to earlier versions of the
interpreter; however, some wishes are left: It would be nice if the proper
indentation were suggested on continuation lines (the parser knows if an indent
token is required next).  The completion mechanism might use the interpreter’s
symbol table.  A command to check (or even suggest) matching parentheses,
quotes, etc., would also be useful.</p>
<p>One alternative enhanced interactive interpreter that has been around for quite
some time is <a class="reference external" href="https://ipython.org/">IPython</a>, which features tab completion, object exploration and
advanced history management.  It can also be thoroughly customized and embedded
into other applications.  Another similar enhanced interactive environment is
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.bpython-interpreter.org/">bpython</a>.</p>
</section>
</section>

<div class="clearer"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
        <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
  <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
  <ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">14. Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#tab-completion-and-history-editing">14.1. Tab Completion and History Editing</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#alternatives-to-the-interactive-interpreter">14.2. Alternatives to the Interactive Interpreter</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<h4>Previous topic</h4>
  <p class="topless"><a href="whatnow.html"
                        title="previous chapter"><span class="section-number">13. </span>What Now?</a></p>
  <h4>Next topic</h4>
  <p class="topless"><a href="floatingpoint.html"
                        title="next chapter"><span class="section-number">15. </span>Floating Point Arithmetic:  Issues and Limitations</a></p>
  <div role="note" aria-label="source link">
    <h3>This Page</h3>
    <ul class="this-page-menu">
      <li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li>
      <li>
        <a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.10/Doc/tutorial/interactive.rst"
            rel="nofollow">Show Source
        </a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="clearer"></div>
    </div>  
    <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
      <h3>Navigation</h3>
      <ul>
        <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
          <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
             >index</a></li>
        <li class="right" >
          <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index"
             >modules</a> |</li>
        <li class="right" >
          <a href="floatingpoint.html" title="15. Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations"
             >next</a> |</li>
        <li class="right" >
          <a href="whatnow.html" title="13. What Now?"
             >previous</a> |</li>

<li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Tutorial</a> &#187;</li>
        <li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href=""><span class="section-number">14. </span>Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution</a></li>
                <li class="right">

<div class="inline-search" role="search">
        <form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get">
          <input placeholder="Quick search" aria-label="Quick search" type="text" name="q" />
          <input type="submit" value="Go" />
          <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
          <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
        </form>
    </div>
                     |
                </li>
            
      </ul>
    </div>  
    <div class="footer">
    &copy; <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 2001-2026, Python Software Foundation.
    <br />
    This page is licensed under the Python Software Foundation License Version 2.
    <br />
    Examples, recipes, and other code in the documentation are additionally licensed under the Zero Clause BSD License.
    <br />
    See <a href="/license.html">History and License</a> for more information.<br />
    <br />

The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation.
<a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a>
<br />
    <br />

Last updated on January 26, 2026.
    <a href="/bugs.html">Found a bug</a>?
    <br />

Created using <a href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a> 4.3.2.
    </div>

</body>
</html>

${this.title}

Code Editor : interactive.html