bpython: A fancy curses interface to the Python interactive interpreter

`bpython`_ is a lightweight Python interpreter that adds several features common

to IDEs. These features include **syntax highlighting**, **expected parameter

list**, **auto-indentation**, and **autocompletion**. (See below for example

usage).

.. image:: http://i.imgur.com/jf8mCtP.gif

:alt: bpython

:width: 646

:height: 300

:align: center

bpython does **not** aim to be a complete IDE - the focus is on implementing a

few ideas in a practical, useful, and lightweight manner.

bpython is a great replacement to any occassion where you would normally use the

vanilla Python interpreter - testing out solutions to people's problems on IRC,

quickly testing a method of doing something without creating a temporary file,

etc..

You can find more about bpython - including `full documentation`_ - at our

`homepage`_.

.. contents::

:local:

:depth: 1

:backlinks: none

Installation & Basic Usage

If you have `pip`_ installed, you can simply run:

.. code-block:: bash

Start bpython by typing ``bpython`` in your terminal. You can exit bpython by

using the ``exit()`` command.

Features & Examples

* In-line syntax highlighting. This uses Pygments for lexing the code as you

type, and colours appropriately.

* Readline-like autocomplete. Suggestions displayed as you type.

* Expected parameter list. As in a lot of modern IDEs, bpython will attempt to

display a list of parameters for any function you call. The inspect module is

tried first, which works with any Python function, and then pydoc if that

fails.

* Rewind. This isn't called "Undo" because it would be misleading, but "Rewind"

is probably as bad. The idea is that the code entered is kept in memory and

when the Rewind function is called, the last line is popped and the entire

code is re-evaluated.

* Pastebin code/write to file. Use the <F8> key to upload the screen's contents

to pastebin, with a URL returned.

* Flush curses screen to stdout. When you quit bpython, the screen data will be

flushed to stdout, so it basically looks the same as if you had quit the

vanilla interpreter.

Configuration

See the sample-config file for a list of available options. You should save

your config file as **~/.config/bpython/config** (i.e

``$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bpython/config``) or specify at the command line::

Python 2 before 2.7.7

If you are using Python 2 before 2.7.7, the followign dependency is also

cffi

If you have problems installing cffi, which is needed by OpenSSL, please take a

look at `cffi docs`_.

Known Bugs

For known bugs please see bpython's `known issues and FAQ`_ page.

Contact & Contributing

I hope you find it useful and please feel free to submit any bugs/patches

suggestions to `Robert`_ or place them on the github

`issues tracker`_.

For any other ways of communicating with bpython users and devs you can find us

at the community page on the `project homepage`_, or in the `community`_.

`Curses`_ Use the appropriate version compiled by Christoph Gohlke.

`pyreadline`_ Use the version in the cheeseshop.

* Curses 2.2

* pyreadline 1.7

* red is swapped with blue

* cyan is swapped with yellow

To correct this I have provided a windows.theme file.

.. _homepage: http://www.bpython-interpreter.org

.. _full documentation: http://docs.bpython-interpreter.org/

.. _cffi docs: https://cffi.readthedocs.org/en/release-0.8/#macos-x

.. _issues tracker: http://github.com/bpython/bpython/issues/

.. _pip: https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/index.html

.. _project homepage: http://bpython-interpreter.org/community

.. _community: http://docs.bpython-interpreter.org/community.html

.. _Robert: robertanthonyfarrell@gmail.com

.. _bpython: http://www.bpython-interpreter.org/

.. _Curses: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

.. _pyreadline: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyreadline/

.. _known issues and FAQ: http://bpython-interpreter.org/known-issues-and-faq.html