In gdb, you can interrupt(pause) the program by C-c and resume.
Can you do this in pdb?
No, python2's pdb doesn't support this, but you add this code to your program as a workaround:
def debug_signal_handler(signal, frame):
import pdb
pdb.set_trace()
import signal
signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, debug_signal_handler)
Related questions:
Based on this bug report it might be fixed in Python 3.
In 2.x Ctrl-C will throw a KeyboardInterrupt, which is typically unhandled by the program, and will put the debugger into 'post-mortem' mode. You cannot continue where you left off.
I don't know if there's some other way to do what you are describing.
This now seems to be supported, based on what was predicted in jwd's answer.
With Python 3.8, hitting Ctrl+C pauses execution, after which you can step through code & navigate up/down the execution stack using the commands listed here: