[See the end of this file for ** TIPS ** on using IDLE !!] Click on the dotted line at the top of a menu to "tear it off": a separate window containing the menu is created. File Menu: New Window -- Create a new editing window Open... -- Open an existing file Recent Files... -- Open a list of recent files Open Module... -- Open an existing module (searches sys.path) Class Browser -- Show classes and methods in current file Path Browser -- Show sys.path directories, modules, classes and methods --- Save -- Save current window to the associated file (unsaved windows have a * before and after the window title) Save As... -- Save current window to new file, which becomes the associated file Save Copy As... -- Save current window to different file without changing the associated file --- Print Window -- Print the current window --- Close -- Close current window (asks to save if unsaved) Exit -- Close all windows, quit (asks to save if unsaved) Edit Menu: Undo -- Undo last change to current window (A maximum of 1000 changes may be undone) Redo -- Redo last undone change to current window --- Cut -- Copy a selection into system-wide clipboard, then delete the selection Copy -- Copy selection into system-wide clipboard Paste -- Insert system-wide clipboard into window Select All -- Select the entire contents of the edit buffer --- Find... -- Open a search dialog box with many options Find Again -- Repeat last search Find Selection -- Search for the string in the selection Find in Files... -- Open a search dialog box for searching files Replace... -- Open a search-and-replace dialog box Go to Line -- Ask for a line number and show that line Expand Word -- Expand the word you have typed to match another word in the same buffer; repeat to get a different expansion Format Menu (only in Edit window): Indent Region -- Shift selected lines right 4 spaces Dedent Region -- Shift selected lines left 4 spaces Comment Out Region -- Insert ## in front of selected lines Uncomment Region -- Remove leading # or ## from selected lines Tabify Region -- Turns *leading* stretches of spaces into tabs Untabify Region -- Turn *all* tabs into the right number of spaces New Indent Width... -- Open dialog to change indent width Format Paragraph -- Reformat the current blank-line-separated paragraph Run Menu (only in Edit window): Python Shell -- Open or wake up the Python shell window --- Check Module -- Run a syntax check on the module Run Module -- Execute the current file in the __main__ namespace Shell Menu (only in Shell window): View Last Restart -- Scroll the shell window to the last restart Restart Shell -- Restart the interpreter with a fresh environment Debug Menu (only in Shell window): Go to File/Line -- look around the insert point for a filename and linenumber, open the file, and show the line Debugger (toggle) -- Run commands in the shell under the debugger Stack Viewer -- Show the stack traceback of the last exception Auto-open Stack Viewer (toggle) -- Open stack viewer on traceback Options Menu: Configure IDLE -- Open a configuration dialog. Fonts, indentation, keybindings, and color themes may be altered. Startup Preferences may be set, and Additional Help Souces can be specified. --- Revert to Default Settings -- Restore original settings. Not currently implemented - simply delete your .idlerc file. Windows Menu: Zoom Height -- toggles the window between configured size and maximum height. --- The rest of this menu lists the names of all open windows; select one to bring it to the foreground (deiconifying it if necessary). Help Menu: About IDLE -- Version, copyright, license, credits IDLE Readme -- Background discussion and change details --- IDLE Help -- Display this file Python Docs -- Access local Python documentation, if installed. Otherwise, access www.python.org. --- (Additional Help Sources may be added here) ** TIPS ** ========== Additional Help Sources: Windows users can Google on pythlp.chm and zopeshelf.chm to access help files in the Windows help format. The Additional Help Sources feature of the configuration GUI supports .chm, along with any other filetypes supported by your browser. Supply a Menu Item title, and enter the location in the Help File Path slot of the New Help Source dialog. Use http:// and/or www. to identify external URLs, or download the file and browse for its path on your machine using the Browse button. All users can access the extensive sources of help, including tutorials, available at www.python.org/doc. Selected URLs can be added or removed from the Help menu at any time using Configure IDLE. Basic editing and navigation: Backspace deletes to the left; DEL deletes to the right Arrow keys and Page Up/Down to move around Home/End go to begin/end of line Control-Home/End go to begin/end of file Some Emacs or standard Windows bindings may work. Keybindings are selected in the Settings Dialog, look there. Automatic indentation: After a block-opening statement, the next line is indented by 4 spaces (in the Python Shell window by one tab). After certain keywords (break, return etc.) the next line is dedented. In leading indentation, Backspace deletes up to 4 spaces if they are there. Tab inserts spaces (in the Python Shell window one tab), number depends on Indent Width. (N.B. Currently tabs are restricted to four spaces due to Tcl/Tk issues.) See also the indent/dedent region commands in the edit menu. Python Shell window: Control-c interrupts executing command Control-d sends end-of-file; closes window if typed at >>> prompt Command history: Alt-p retrieves previous command matching what you have typed Alt-n retrieves next (These are Control-p, Control-n on the Mac) Return while cursor is on a previous command retrieves that command Expand word is also useful to reduce typing Syntax colors: The coloring is applied in a background "thread", so you may occasionally see uncolorized text. To change the color scheme, use the Settings/Highlighting dialog. Python default syntax colors: Keywords orange Strings green Comments red Definitions blue Shell default colors: Console output brown stdout blue stderr dark green stdin black Other preferences: The font preferences, keybinding, and startup preferences can be changed using the Settings dialog. Command line usage: Enter idle -h at the command prompt to get a usage message. Running without a subprocess: If IDLE is started with the -n command line switch it will run in a single process and will not create the subprocess which runs the RPC Python execution server. This can be useful if Python cannot create the subprocess or the RPC socket interface on your platform. However, in this mode user code is not isolated from IDLE itself. Also, the environment is not restarted when Run/Run Module (F5) is selected. If your code has been modified, you must reload() the affected modules and re-import any specific items (e.g. from foo import baz) if the changes are to take effect. For these reasons, it is preferable to run IDLE with the default subprocess if at all possible.