Using IPython object? in ipdb

Question

IPython provides handy object inspection tool, by writing object? to REPL.

Can this be accessed in ipdb? It doesn't seem to be available as built-in command.

Currently I see the help gives out just the standard pdb help:

ipdb> help

Documented commands (type help <topic>):
========================================
EOF    bt         cont      enable  jump  pdef    psource  run      unt
a      c          continue  exit    l     pdoc    q        s        until
alias  cl         d         h       list  pfile   quit     step     up
args   clear      debug     help    n     pinfo   r        tbreak   w
b      commands   disable   ignore  next  pinfo2  restart  u        whatis
break  condition  down      j       p     pp      return   unalias  where

The code for the object inspector is at [`IPython.core.oinspect`](https://github.com/ipython/ipython/blob/master/IPython/core/oinspect.py). A quick grep in the `ipdb` source for `oinspect` doesn't yield any results though, so it looks like it's not exposed in `ipdb`. — Lukas Graf, Sep 22 '14 at 13:02

Russell Burdt · Answer 1 · 2016-11-08T16:42:12.703

Object inspection in the IPython shell prints the docstring and other information. The ipdb debugger can print the docstring, which is part of what IPython object inspection is doing. Just type

ipdb> print(object.__doc__)

For example, to inspect the built-in sum function

ipdb> print(sum.__doc__)
sum(iterable[, start]) -> value

Return the sum of an iterable of numbers (NOT strings) plus the value
of parameter 'start' (which defaults to 0).  When the iterable is
empty, return start.
ipdb>

This is most of the way to what happens in the IPython shell

In [5]: sum?
Docstring:
sum(iterable[, start]) -> value

Return the sum of an iterable of numbers (NOT strings) plus the value
of parameter 'start' (which defaults to 0).  When the iterable is
empty, return start.
Type:      builtin_function_or_method

In [6]:

Another alternative is to just embed an IPython shell as a debug breakpoint. This is nice but I've not found a way to cleanly exit when such a debug breakpoint is embedded in a loop.

from IPython import embed
embed()  # debug breakpoint

An even better approach that I just learned about is to use ! in ipdb, then things work the same as in the IPython shell.

ipdb> !help(sum)
Help on built-in function sum in module builtins:

sum(iterable, start=0, /)
  Return the sum of a 'start' value (default: 0) plus an iterable of numbers

  When the iterable is empty, return the start value.
  This function is intended specifically for use with numeric values and may
  reject non-numeric types.

ipdb>

Using IPython object? in ipdb

1 Answers1