[Python-Dev] a quit that actually quits

[Fredrik Lundh]

Aahz wrote:

> Does that also include my suggestion about improving the startup message?

when newbies get to the point that they want to quit, chances are
that the message have scrolled out of sight.  and if they only skim
the instructions, they'll probably get confused anyway...  e.g.

Python version gobbledidok gobbledidok gobbledidok gobbledidok
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> help
Type help() for interactive help, or help(object) for help about object.
>>> help()

Welcome to Python 2.4!  This is the online help utility.

If this is your first time using Python, you should definitely check out
the tutorial on the Internet at http://www.python.org/doc/tut/.

Enter the name of any module, keyword, or topic to get help on writing
Python programs and using Python modules.  To quit this help utility and
return to the interpreter, just type "quit".

To get a list of available modules, keywords, or topics, type "modules",
"keywords", or "topics".  Each module also comes with a one-line summary
of what it does; to list the modules whose summaries contain a given word
such as "spam", type "modules spam".

help> quit()
no Python documentation found for 'quit()'

help> quit

You are now leaving help and returning to the Python interpreter.
If you want to ask for help on a particular object directly from the
interpreter, you can type "help(object)".  Executing "help('string')"
has the same effect as typing a particular string at the help> prompt.

>>> quit
'Use Ctrl-Z plus Return to exit.'
>>> quit()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
TypeError: 'str' object is not callable
>>> help(quit)
no Python documentation found for 'Use Ctrl-Z plus Return to exit.'
>>> help("quit")
Help on str object:

quit = class str(basestring)
 |  str(object) -> string
 |
 |  Return a nice string representation of the object.
 |  If the argument is a string, the return value is the same object.
 |
 |  Method resolution order:
 |      str
 |      basestring
 |      object
 |
 |  Methods defined here:
 |
 |  __add__(...)
 |      x.__add__(y) <==> x+y
 |
 |  __contains__(...)
 |      x.__contains__(y) <==> y in x
 |
 |  __eq__(...)
 |      x.__eq__(y) <==> x==y
 |
 |  __ge__(...)
 |      x.__ge__(y) <==> x>=y
 |
 |  __getattribute__(...)
 |      x.__getattribute__('name') <==> x.name
 |
 |  __getitem__(...)
 |      x.__getitem__(y) <==> x[y]
 |
 |  __getnewargs__(...)
 |
 |  __getslice__(...)
 |      x.__getslice__(i, j) <==> x[i:j]
 |
 |      Use of negative indices is not supported.
 |
 |  __gt__(...)
 |      x.__gt__(y) <==> x>y
 |
 |  __hash__(...)
 |      x.__hash__() <==> hash(x)
 |
 |  __le__(...)
 |      x.__le__(y) <==> x<=y
 |
 |  __len__(...)
 |      x.__len__() <==> len(x)
 |
 |  __lt__(...)
 |      x.__lt__(y) <==> x<y
 |
 |  __mod__(...)
 |      x.__mod__(y) <==> x%y
 |
 |  __mul__(...)
 |      x.__mul__(n) <==> x*n
 |
 |  __ne__(...)
 |      x.__ne__(y) <==> x!=y
 |
 |  __repr__(...)
 |      x.__repr__() <==> repr(x)
 |
 |  __rmod__(...)
 |      x.__rmod__(y) <==> y%x
 |
 |  __rmul__(...)
 |      x.__rmul__(n) <==> n*x
 |
 |  __str__(...)
-- More  --

(and so on)