Question

I’m attempting to colorize my python interpreter to help visually separate text noise.
So if I start interactive python it gives me plain text. I can do this:

import sys

sys.ps1 = "\033[0;34m>>> \033[0m"
sys.ps2 = "\033[1;34m... \033[0m"

However if I exit the interpreter and go back in the values revert to their default, which isn’t surprising in the slightest. My question is how would I save these values and use them as the default?

Answer 1

If the environment variable PYTHONSTARTUP is defined when Python starts (in interactive mode), Python will read and execute that file. Look at the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section of this document for more information.

So if you put your sys.ps1 commands into ~/.pythonrc.py and pointed PYTHONSTARTUP at that file…

export PYTHONSTARTUP=~/.pythonrc.py

…you would be all set.

You may also want to check out ipython, which is a Python interactive interpreter with all sorts of fancy features and customization possibilities.