interactive shell debugging with pycharm

Question

I am new to PyCharm. I have been using IDLE for a long time.

It is very convenient to use Python objects after script execution in IDLE. Is there any way to use script objects after its execution with interactive python shell using PyCharm?

For example, we have a 'test' project with one file 'test.py':

a = '123'
print a

after execution we can get the result:

123
Process finished with exit code 0

How can I use string 'a' with interactive shell?

Answer 1

Not mentioned above:

If you want to use a variable during execution, e.g. to when you set a breakpoint and then experiment with calling functions on objects in current scope, PyCharm has an 'Evaluate Expression (Alt-F8)' popup window.

In this window, you can call functions and see the output. Code completion also works. This window also has a "code fragment mode", I am just researching what it means - can you define temporary functions here?.

(I am using PyCharm 3.0.1 Community Edition)

Answer 2

I found to previous answers from Piga-fetta, Games Brainiac and kobejohn useful, but not satisfying. So I here provide a third option:

Loading selected code into the console (my suggestion)

Use Shift + Alt + E to load the selected code or the line in which the cursor is placed into the console and immediately run it. This also have some disadvantages:

• You have to select the whole file if you need to run the whole file.
• The code keeps running even if it encounters an error.

But in return we get a feature that is better than IDLE (in my opinion): Being able to run your code one selection at a time.

Read about it here.

Using breakpoints and Evaluate Expression (Alt-F8) (suggested by Piga-fetta)

This is very useful in big application where we need to debug at certain locations in the code, but not so useful for interactive coding. So this is not what we want.

Using Tools --> Run Python Console (suggested by Games Brainiac and kobejohn)

This is want we want, but is is a bit cumbersome, especially if the the module we want to run is not in the root directory of the project.

Answer 3

I found the best answer in: Interacting with program after execution

Quoting the answer below:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From output of python --help:

-i : inspect interactively after running script; forces a prompt even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal; also PYTHONINSPECT=x

To set interpreter option in PyCharm go to Run|Edit Configuration

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I tried it and it works - simply use "-i" (without quotation marks) as "Interpreter options". Note that if you only change the Defaults in the Run/Debug Configurations, it may not take immediate effect for scripts you've already run before; you will need to edit the configurations of those scripts one by one.

Answer 4

You can simply use the Python Console inside both PyCharm 2 and PyCharm 3. And you can simply import since your project root is already added to your PYTHONPATH:

So let me demonstrate through some screen shots:

1. Making a console.py file in root directory

2. Opening up Python Console inside PyCharm

3. Import variable from console.py file

And there, you have imported your variable successfully.

Answer 5

*update

From your update, I think this SO question provides at least one perfect answer.

Let me write it here a little more step by step than the answer I linked.

• Tools --> Run Python Console
• import your script import myscript (without .py) (if you want a short name, use import myscript as m
• (you may need to run main() if you have an if __name__ == '__main__' block)
• as in your question, a is available in myscript.a
• if you want to, run the script again with myscript = reload(myscript)

---

*original

In PyCharm 3.0 you can do the following:

• Tools --> Run Python Console
• Tools --> Open Terminal (from which you can start python or do whatever)

Is that what you are looking for? If not, please try them and let me know how that is different from what you want.

Answer 6

A further alternative is to simply use the same command that Spyder uses to "interactively" run a script:

>>> runfile('myscript.py')

Then you can open the variable explorer for the interactive console and rerun the script by running the above command again. Very similar to the Spyder workflow. All the other above methods will leave you with an interactive console prompt but not the option to open a variable explorer so if you are looking for that kind of feature, try the above.