[IPython-dev] [Pythonmac-SIG] readline support for OS X Leopard
Boyd Waters
bwaters at nrao.edu
Fri Oct 26 21:20:56 EDT 2007
Oops, I spoke too soon when I said that readline support with
Leopard's Python works for me with IPython.
Many things DO work, but tab-completion does NOT.
I am trying to get tab completion working.
Forget IPython, just try this "unit test" of rlcompleter with the
Python that ships with Leopard:
See http://docs.python.org/lib/module-rlcompleter.html
Launch python from a Terminal shell prompt.
at the prompt, type the following commands:
import rlcompleter
import readline
readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
Now, try it out: start some input, then hit the Tab key to get some
possible completions:
readline. <TAB PRESSED>
The tab is passed as raw input, and the completer does not give any
completions.
Tried with both Terminal and xterm.
Reported as Apple Bug # 5563035
I've also asked the IPython devs for help - and volunteered to get
this resolved somehow for them -- but I don't think it's an IPython
problem (since you can do this from "raw" interactive python).
Here's hoping...
- boyd
Boyd Waters
Mac Programmer
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~bwaters
On Oct 22, 2007, at 12:35 PM, Noah Gift wrote:
> Edward,
>
> Thanks for the information. Do you know of a way to get IPython to
> use edline instead? IPython is growing in popularity for Python
> programmers, and it seems like getting a way forward that works with
> edline makes sense, or maybe I am wrong and people will need to just
> manually install readline themselves.
>
> Noah
>
> On 10/22/07, Edward Moy <emoy at apple.com> wrote:
> On Oct 21, 2007, at 10:51 PM, Noah Gift wrote:
>
>> I have been getting ready for the official leopard release in a few
>> days, and have been a bit worried about readline support. I forgot
>> what I did to get it to work for IPython, which I absolutely cannot
>> live without anymore. Is there a plan for a Leopard binary that
>> fixes readline, or can I help someone prepare some documentation on
>> getting readline working properly. I don't have a lot of time
>> during the next couple of weeks to get into compile hell, but if
>> someone has any easy fix to get readline to work, I would greatly
>> appreciate it.
>
>
> The installed version of python on Leopard will actually have
> readline support turned on by default, but it uses the EditLine
> (libedit) library, not the GNU Readline (due to licensing reasons).
> While functionally equivalent, the command syntax is different.
> From the python(1) man page:
>
>
> INTERACTIVE INPUT EDITING AND HISTORY SUBSTITUTION
> The Python inteterpreter supports editing of the current
> input line and
> history substitution, similar to facilities found in the Korn
> shell and
> the GNU Bash shell. However, rather than being implemented
> using the
> GNU Readline library, this Python interpreter uses the
> BSD EditLine
> library editline(3) with a GNU Readline emulation layer.
>
>
> The readline module provides the access to the EditLine
> library, but
> there are a few major differences compared to a traditional
> implementa-
> tion using the Readline library. The command language
> used in the
> preference files is that of EditLine, as described in
> editrc(5) and not
> that used by the Readline library. This also means
> that the
> parse_and_bind() routines uses EditLine commands. And the
> preference
> file itself is ~/.editrc instead of ~/.inputrc.
>
>
> For example, the rlcompleter module, which defines a
> completion func-
> tion for the readline modules, works correctly with
> the EditLine
> libraries, but needs to be initialized somewhat differently:
>
>
> import rlcompleter
> import readline
> readline.parse_and_bind ("bind ^I rl_complete")
>
>
> For vi mode, one needs:
>
>
> readline.parse_and_bind("bind -v")
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Edward Moy
> Apple Computer, Inc.
> emoy at apple.com
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig
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