Me: If I ask for type(__builtins__) I get a list of all the things dicts can do, not the contents of the module. Of course I should have said dir(__builtins__) above (not type). Anyway, I was glad to clear this up. I’m guessing the use of both __builtin__ and __builtins__ is not Spyder’s original idea, but characteristic of the I-Python console more generally. Indeed, my conda environment lets me ask for ipython directly at the bash shell and sure enough, it’s the same story. What about IDLE? Right, only __builtins__, no __builtin__. Kirby