Use

ipdbx exports functions to access the IPython debugger, which features tab completion, syntax highlighting, better tracebacks, better introspection with the same interface as the pdb module.

Example usage:

import ipdbx
ipdbx.set_trace()
ipdbx.set_trace(context=5)  # will show five lines of code
                           # instead of the default three lines
                           # or you can set it via IPDB_CONTEXT_SIZE env variable
                           # or setup.cfg file
ipdbx.set_trace(pretrace='/useful/debug/tools.py')  # can be set via IPDB_PRETRACE
                                                   # env variable. pretrace also
                                                   # accepts the same type of args
                                                   # as ipdbx.run(), ipdbx.runcall()
                                                   # and ipdbx.runeval()
ipdbx.pm()
ipdbx.run('x[0] = 3')
result = ipdbx.runcall(function, arg0, arg1, kwarg='foo')
result = ipdbx.runeval('f(1,2) - 3')

Patching sys.breakpointhook to call ipdbx when calling breakpoint():

import ipdbx
import sys
sys.breakpointhook = ipdbx.set_trace

# You can also call set_trace with default arguments, likewise:

from functools import partial
sys.breakpointhook = partial(ipdbx.set_trace, context=30, pretrace='/my/favourite/things.py')

[ipdb]
context=5
pretrace=./file.py

context=5
pretrace="import inspect"

$ bin/ipdbx mymodule.py

from ipdbx import launch_ipdb_on_exception

with launch_ipdb_on_exception():
    ...

Issues with stdout

Some tools, like nose fiddle with stdout.

If you use a tool that fiddles with stdout, you should explicitly ask for stdout fiddling by using ipdbx like this

import ipdbx
ipdbx.sset_trace()
ipdbx.spm()

from ipdbx import slaunch_ipdb_on_exception
with slaunch_ipdb_on_exception():
    ...

Development

ipdbx source code and tracker are at https://github.com/giladbarnea/ipdbx.

Pull requests should take care of updating the changelog HISTORY.txt.