[Python-ideas] truncate sequences in pretty-print ?

[Guido van Rossum]

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 9:59 PM, Steven Samuel Cole
<steven.samuel.cole at gmail.com> wrote:
> hello,
>
> i use pprint quite a bit during development to give me quick insight
> into what is going on inside my application.
> however, when there's any sequences involved, the output becomes less
> useful the longer these sequences are - i often find myself scrolling
> around (or even searching) in the terminal window, trying to find the
> bit of output i am interested in.
>
> imo, it would be great if pprint had a parameter 'max_len' or so that
> reduces output of every sequence to a maximum and inserts something
> like '...' to indicate truncation, e.g.
> {'my key': ['my list item 01',
>            'my list item 02',
>            'my list item 03',
>            'my list item 04',
>            'my list item 05',
>            'my list item 06',
>            'my list item 07',
>            'my list item 08',
>            '...',
>            'my list item 10',]}
>
> somewhat comparable to the '...' already printed when a structure is
> more deeply nested than you want to know right now.

Agreed, this would be a useful feature. I've reimplemented something
like pprint a few times and always had to implement this truncation
feature. If you or someone can contribute a patch that would be much
appreciated!

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)