IDLE

IDLE is the Python IDE built with the tkinter GUI toolkit.

IDLE has the following features:

• coded in 100% pure Python, using the tkinter GUI toolkit
• cross-platform: works on Windows and Unix
• multi-window text editor with multiple undo, Python colorizing and many other features, e.g. smart indent and call tips
• Python shell window (a.k.a. interactive interpreter)
• debugger (not complete, but you can set breakpoints, view and step)

Menus

File menu

New window

create a new editing window

Open...

open an existing file

Open module...

open an existing module (searches sys.path)

Class browser

show classes and methods in current file

Path browser

show sys.path directories, modules, classes and methods

Save

save current window to the associated file (unsaved windows have a * before and after the window title)

Save As...

save current window to new file, which becomes the associated file

Save Copy As...

save current window to different file without changing the associated file

Close

close current window (asks to save if unsaved)

Exit

close all windows and quit IDLE (asks to save if unsaved)

Edit menu

Undo

Undo last change to current window (max 1000 changes)

Redo

Redo last undone change to current window

Cut

Copy selection into system-wide clipboard; then delete selection

Copy

Copy selection into system-wide clipboard

Paste

Insert system-wide clipboard into window

Select All

Select the entire contents of the edit buffer

Find...

Open a search dialog box with many options

Find again

Repeat last search

Find selection

Search for the string in the selection

Find in Files...

Open a search dialog box for searching files

Replace...

Open a search-and-replace dialog box

Go to line

Ask for a line number and show that line

Indent region

Shift selected lines right 4 spaces

Dedent region

Shift selected lines left 4 spaces

Comment out region

Insert ## in front of selected lines

Uncomment region

Remove leading # or ## from selected lines

Tabify region

Turns leading stretches of spaces into tabs

Untabify region

Turn all tabs into the right number of spaces

Expand word

Expand the word you have typed to match another word in the same buffer; repeat to get a different expansion

Format Paragraph

Reformat the current blank-line-separated paragraph

Import module

Import or reload the current module

Run script

Execute the current file in the __main__ namespace

Windows menu

Zoom Height

toggles the window between normal size (24x80) and maximum height.

The rest of this menu lists the names of all open windows; select one to bring it to the foreground (deiconifying it if necessary).

Debug menu (in the Python Shell window only)

Go to file/line

look around the insert point for a filename and linenumber, open the file, and show the line.

Open stack viewer

show the stack traceback of the last exception

Debugger toggle

Run commands in the shell under the debugger

JIT Stack viewer toggle

Open stack viewer on traceback

Basic editing and navigation

• Backspace deletes to the left; Del deletes to the right
• Arrow keys and Page Up/Page Down to move around
• Home/End go to begin/end of line
• C-Home/C-End go to begin/end of file
• Some Emacs bindings may also work, including C-B, C-P, C-A, C-E, C-D, C-L

Automatic indentation

After a block-opening statement, the next line is indented by 4 spaces (in the Python Shell window by one tab). After certain keywords (break, return etc.) the next line is dedented. In leading indentation, Backspace deletes up to 4 spaces if they are there. Tab inserts 1-4 spaces (in the Python Shell window one tab). See also the indent/dedent region commands in the edit menu.

Python Shell window

• C-C interrupts executing command
• C-D sends end-of-file; closes window if typed at a >>> prompt
• Alt-p retrieves previous command matching what you have typed
• Alt-n retrieves next
• Return while on any previous command retrieves that command
• Alt-/ (Expand word) is also useful here

Syntax colors

The coloring is applied in a background “thread,” so you may occasionally see uncolorized text. To change the color scheme, edit the [Colors] section in config.txt.

Python syntax colors:

Keywords

orange

Strings

green

Comments

red

Definitions

blue

Shell colors:

Console output

brown

stdout

blue

stderr

dark green

stdin

black

Command line usage

idle.py [-c command] [-d] [-e] [-s] [-t title] [arg] ...

-c command  run this command
-d          enable debugger
-e          edit mode; arguments are files to be edited
-s          run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP first
-t title    set title of shell window

If there are arguments:

1. If -e is used, arguments are files opened for editing and sys.argv reflects the arguments passed to IDLE itself.
2. Otherwise, if -c is used, all arguments are placed in sys.argv[1:...], with sys.argv[0] set to '-c'.
3. Otherwise, if neither -e nor -c is used, the first argument is a script which is executed with the remaining arguments in sys.argv[1:...] and sys.argv[0] set to the script name. If the script name is ‘-‘, no script is executed but an interactive Python session is started; the arguments are still available in sys.argv.