IDLE(1)

💖 IDLE — the manual page, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, so this is the man page for idle — the Integrated DeveLopment Environment for Python, aka the lil buddy that comes with Python and lets you type code at it like it's a group chat. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

IDLE — An Integrated DeveLopment Environment for Python 🐍💅

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🎀 SYNTAX 🎀

like, here's how you summon her:

idle [ -dins ] [ -t title ] [ file ...]

idle [ -dins ] [ -t title ] ( -c cmd | -r file ) [ arg ...]

idle [ -dins ] [ -t title ] - [ arg ...]

three whole moods. pick ur fighter. 🫶

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so this page is a brief rundown of the idle command — it was written for Debian specifically bc the original program literally doesn't ship a manual page. no cap. if you want the real lore, go poke around in IDLE's help menu, that's where the good stuff lives. 📖✨

IDLE is an Integrated DeveLopment Environment for Python. she's built on Tkinter, which is Python's bindings to the Tk widget set. her features are 100% pure Python (iconic), multi-windows with multiple undo, Python colorizing, a Python shell window subclass, and a debugger. and she's cross-platform — meaning she works on literally every platform where Tk is installed. main character energy fr fr. 👑

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -h — print this help message and dip. that's it, that's the whole job. 👋
• -n — run IDLE without a subprocess. (check Help/IDLE Help for the deets, bestie — the manual page isn't gonna spill the tea.)

the next ones are gonna override the IDLE 'settings' configuration, so watch out 👀:

• -e — open an edit window. ✏️
• -i — open a shell window. 🐚

and these ones imply -i and will open a shell for you:

• -c cmd — run the command in a shell, or
• -r file — run script from file.
• -d — enable the debugger. 🐛
• -s — run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP before anything else. (order matters, she's particular)
• -t title — set title of shell window. give her a name, she deserves one 💖

heads up: a default edit window will be bypassed when -c, -r, or - are used. no edit window for u, sorry not sorry 🙈

also: [arg]* and [file]* get passed to the command (-c) or script (-r) in sys.argv[1:]. that's the vibe check on arguments. 💫

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

idle open an edit window or shell depending on IDLE's configuration.

idle foo.py foobar.py edit the files, also open a shell if configured to start with shell.

idle -est "Baz" foo.py run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP, edit foo.py, and open a shell window with the title "Baz".

idle -c "import sys; print sys.argv" "foo" open a shell window and run the command, passing "-c" in sys.argv[0] and "foo" in sys.argv[1].

idle -d -s -r foo.py "Hello World" open a shell window, run a startup script, enable the debugger, and run foo.py, passing "foo.py" in sys.argv[0] and "Hello World" in sys.argv[1].

echo "import sys; print sys.argv" | idle - "foobar" open a shell window, run the script piped in, passing '' in sys.argv[0] and "foobar" in sys.argv[1].

literally so many ways to run her and every single one is valid 💜

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

python(1).

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🍓 AUTHORS 🍓

Various. (yes, that's the whole credit. mysterious. we stan. 🧚)

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aww and that's a wrap!! 🥺 this lil page is from the General Commands Manual and it's dated 21 September 2004 — a certified classic, still serving looks. go forth and IDLE, bestie. slay. 💅✨🌸