pygnurl 0.6.1

ctypes-based Python wrapper for GNU Readline

pygnurl is a ctypes-based Python wrapper for GNU Readline intended to be used as a drop-in replacement for Python’s built-in readline module. It is currently intended for Windows (as Python on Windows comes without a readline module by default) and Mac OS X (as its readline module is implemented using libedit, not GNU Readline).

pygnurl works with 32- and 64-bit Python 2 and 3.

Requirements

pygnurl dynamically loads a Readline library, so you need a version matching the architecture of your Python interpreter (not necessarily your system).

More information on where to get Readline can be found on the Readline home page:

http://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html#Availability

Windows users can get a pre-built 32-bit Readline DLL from:

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/readline.htm

Quick Start Guide

Set the PYGNURL_LIB environment variable to the filename of your Readline library. This will be loaded using the shared library search order rules of your system.

pip install pygnurl
python
>>> import rlcompleter
>>> import readline
>>> readline.parse_and_bind('tab: complete')
>>> r<tab><tab>

If you set the PYTHONSTARTUP environment variable to a Python file, it will be run every time you start the interpreter. An example startup file giving tab completion and saved history is provided in pygnurl/scripts/startup.py. You can point the environment variable directly at this file, or you can copy it elsewhere and modify it to suit your needs.

Motivation

pygnurl aims to provide full GNU Readline support across all platforms with no compilation overhead. Any pre-built Readline library should be able to be dropped in with no code modifications. If necessary, version- or platform-specific compatibility fixes can be implemented in Python, not C.

Development

For source code, questions and bug reports, visit the GitHub repository:

https://github.com/evanunderscore/pygnurl

Alternatives

readline - Part of the standard library. Python on Mac OS X may implement this using libedit instead of GNU Readline and must be configured accordingly.

pyreadline - A python implmentation of GNU readline.

gnureadline - The standard Python readline extension statically linked against the GNU readline library.

rl - Alternative Python bindings for GNU Readline.

	Platforms	Library	Interfaces
pygnurl	Any	Dynamic	Subset
readline	Unix-like	Static	Subset
pyreadline	Windows	Pure Python	Subset
gnureadline	Unix-like	Static	Subset
rl	Unix-like	Static	All

Known Bugs

• ANSI color codes in the IPython terminal are not able to be printed. As a workaround, the codes are stripped and a plain prompt is displayed instead.

• libreadline6 from MinGW lags behind one keystroke when using the arrow keys. This appears to be related to the Readline callback interface.