Get code entered so far in Python interpreter session

Question

Is there a fast, convenient way to get all the code typed into the python interpreter so far? E.g., if I type this into the interpreter:

Steven$ python
Python 2.7.5 (default, Mar  9 2014, 22:15:05) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 5.0 (clang-500.0.68)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print "hi"
hi
>>> a = [1,2,3]
>>> for e in a:
...   print e
... 
1
2
3
>>> print "bye"
bye
>>>

I would like to get these lines:

print "hi"
a = [1,2,3]
for e in a:
  print e
print "bye"

@PadraicCunningham, no, just the source code typed in so far, like in the example output — Steven, Mar 04 '15 at 01:09
do you want the commands saved or to output them from the session? — Padraic Cunningham, Mar 04 '15 at 01:12
@PadraicCunningham ideally I would like them output to a file, e.g., out.py — Steven, Mar 04 '15 at 01:13
the dupe should have all you need. The second answer is nice if you are on a unix system — Padraic Cunningham, Mar 04 '15 at 01:26

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 04 '15 at 01:23

6

You can use the readline module.

Python 2.7.5 (default, Nov  3 2014, 14:26:24) 
[GCC 4.8.3 20140911 (Red Hat 4.8.3-7)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print "hi"
hi
>>> a = [1,2,3]
>>> for e in a:
...     print e
... 
1
2
3
>>> print "bye"
bye
>>> import readline
>>> readline.write_history_file('history.py')

File history.py will contain your history including the last 2 lines:

$ cat history.py
print "hi"
a = [1,2,3]
for e in a:
    print e
print "bye"
import readline
readline.write_history_file('history.py')

answered Mar 04 '15 at 01:23

mhawke

84,695
9
117
138

This works, but for some reason spaces in the output file show up as "\040". Easy enough to fix, but do you know how to prevent this from happening in the first place? – Steven Mar 04 '15 at 01:55
This seems to be an OSX libedit thing. Sorry, I don't know of a simple preventative fix for it. You could write your own save function that iterates over the available history and replaces `'\040'` with space. – mhawke Mar 04 '15 at 03:06
Does `'\040'` show up when you reload the history file with `readline.read_history_file()`? – mhawke Mar 04 '15 at 03:07
Super easy - it just plain works. TNX – SDsolar Nov 20 '17 at 00:44
can you make it so it only gets this particular sessions history ? This printed 3 or 4 past executions of history. – John Sohn Sep 30 '21 at 13:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '15 at 01:09

0

The %history magic function should do it for you.

In [1]: l = [1,2,3]

In [2]: %history
l = [1,2,3]
%history

If you find you do this often consider using an ipython notebook.

answered Mar 04 '15 at 01:09

dranxo

3,348
4
35
48

This is what I would do myself, but it's worth mentioning that not everyone uses IPython. – DSM Mar 04 '15 at 01:10
ah, did not notice he was in non-i python. – dranxo Mar 04 '15 at 01:12
I get a syntax error when using this – Steven Mar 04 '15 at 01:16
right, it's a command in ipython (a very common python interactive interpreter https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12370457/what-is-the-difference-between-python-and-ipython ). I haven't used the bare bones interpreter in a long time. – dranxo Mar 04 '15 at 01:22
fwiw: if you are in ipython, you can save your history to a file with the -f parameter, eg %history -f hist.py – dranxo Mar 04 '15 at 01:25
this does not work in standard python. – John Sohn Sep 30 '21 at 13:38

Get code entered so far in Python interpreter session

2 Answers2