peepshow

Provides following utilities for debugging Python applications:

• show - lightweight function that prints name and value of your variable(s) to the console.
• peep - featured, interactive interface for data inspection.

Resources

• Documentation: https://gergelyk.github.io/peepshow
• Repository: https://github.com/gergelyk/peepshow
• Package: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/peepshow
• Author: Grzegorz Krasoń
• License: MIT

Installation

Install peepshow package:

pip install peepshow

PeepShow uses clear, vim, man commands which are available in most of Linux distributions. Users of other operating systems need to install them on their own.

Built-Ins

If you expect to use peepshow often, consider adding peep and show commands to Python's built-ins and enabling except hook. Edit either {site-packages}/sitecustomize.py or {user-site-packages}/usercustomize.py and append the following:

import peepshow
import builtins
builtins.peep = peepshow.peep
builtins.show = peepshow.show
builtins.peep_ = peepshow.peep_
builtins.show_ = peepshow.show_
peepshow.enable_except_hook(consider_env=True)

Breakpoint

It is also possible to invoke peep() as a result of calling built-in function breakpoint(). To enable such behavior use PYTHONBREAKPOINT system variable:

export PYTHONBREAKPOINT=peepshow.peep

Compatibility

• This software is expected to work with Python 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and compatible.
• It has never been tested under operating systems other than Linux.
• It works fine when started in a plain Python script, in ipython or ptipython.
• In these environments like interactive python console, in pdb and ipdb, peep and show cannot infer names of the variables in the user context, so they need to be provided explicitly (e.g. use peep_ and show_).

Usage

show

Running this script:

x = 123
y = {'name': 'John', 'age': 123}
z = "Hello World!"

# show all the variables in the scope
show()

# or only variables of your choice
show(x, y)

# you can also rename them
show(my_var=x)

# use 'show_' to specify variable names as a string
show_('x')

# expressions and renaming are also allowed
show_('x + 321', zet='z')

will result in following output:

x = 123
y = {'age': 123, 'name': 'John'}
z = 'Hello World!'
x = 123
y = {'age': 123, 'name': 'John'}
my_var = 123
x = 123
x + 321 = 444
zet = 'Hello World!'

peep

Try running the following script:

x = 123
y = {'name': 'John', 'age': 123}
z = "Hello World!"

# inspect dictionary that consists of all the variables in the scope
peep()

# or inspect variable of your choice directly
peep(x)

# use 'peep_' to specify variable name as a string
peep_('x')

When interactive interface pops up:

• Hit ENTER to see list of available variables.
• Type 10 and hit ENTER to select y.
• Hit ENTER again to see items of your dictionary.
• Type dir and hit ENTER to list attributes of y (excluding built-ins).
• Type continue and hit ENTER to proceed or type quit and hit ENTER to terminate your script.

Note that all the commands have their short aliases. E.g. quit and q is the same.

For more help:

• Type help and hit ENTER to see list of available commands.
• Type man and hit ENTER to read the manual, hit q when you are done.

excepthook

Before running your script, set environment variable PYTHON_PEEP_EXCEPTIONS to 1. Now run the script and see what happens when an exception is raised.

Development

# Preparing environment
pip install --user poetry  # unless already installed
poetry install

# Testing with coverage
poetry run pytest --cov peepshow --cov tests

# Rendering documentation
poetry run mkdocs serve

# Building package
poetry build

# Releasing
poetry version minor  # increment selected component
git commit -am "bump version"
git push
git tag ${$(poetry version)[2]}
git push --tags
poetry build
poetry publish
poetry run mkdocs build
poetry run mkdocs gh-deploy -b gh-pages

Donations

If you find this software useful and you would like to repay author's efforts you are welcome to use following button: