summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Tools/idle/help.txt
blob: 001da01fca7c38df6f2677ddb69f9cee5f70b784 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
[See end for tips.]

Click on the dotted line at the top of a menu to "tear it off": a
separate window containing the menu is created.

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/Down to move around
	Home/End go to begin/end of line
	Control-Home/End go to begin/end of file
	Some Emacs bindings may also work, e.g. ^B/^P/^A/^E/^D/^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 interrupts executing command
	^D sends end-of-file; closes window if typed at >>> prompt

    Command history:

	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 ColorPrefs class in IdlePrefs.py.

    Python syntax colors:

	Keywords	orange
	Strings		green
	Comments	red
	Definitions	blue

    Shell colors:

	Console output	brown
	stdout		blue
	stderr		dark green
	stdin		black

Other preferences:

	To change the font on Windows, open EditorWindow.py and change
	    text['font'] = ("lucida console", 8)
	to, e.g.,
	    text['font'] = ("courier new", 10)

	To change keyboard bindings, edit Bindings.py

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:

	    If -e is used, arguments are files opened for editing and
	    sys.argv reflects the arguments passed to IDLE itself.

	    Otherwise, if -c is used, all arguments are placed in
	    sys.argv[1:...], with sys.argv[0] set to '-c'.

	    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.