Question

I’m using Python in Terminal on Mac OSX latest. When I press enter, it processes the code I’ve entered, and I am unable to figure out how to add an additional line of code e.g. for a basic loop.

Answer 1

In the python shell, if you are typing code that allows for continuation, pressing enter once should not execute the code…

The python prompt looks like this:

>>>

If you start a for loop or type something where python expects more from you the prompt should change to an elipse. For example:

>>> def hello():
or
>>> for x in range(10):

you the prompt should turn into this

...

meaning that it is waiting for you to enter more to complete the code.

Here are a couple complete examples of python automatically waiting for more input before evauluation:

>>> def hello():
...    print "hello"
...
>>> hello()
hello
>>>
>>> for x in range(10):
...     if x % 2:
...         print "%s is odd" % (x,)
...     else:
...         print "%s is even" % (x,)
... 
0 is even
1 is odd
2 is even
3 is odd
4 is even
5 is odd
6 is even
7 is odd
8 is even
9 is odd
>>>

If you want to force python to not evaluate the code you are typing you can append a “\” at the end of each line… For example:

>>> def hello():\
...     print "hello"\
... \
... \
... \
... 
... 
>>> hello()
hello
>>> hello()\
... \
... \
... 
hello
>>> 

hope that helps.