-gthread, -qthread, -wthread, -pylab

Only ONE of these can be given, and it can only be given as the first option passed to IPython (it will have no effect in any other position). They provide threading support for the GTK, QT and WXWidgets toolkits, and for the matplotlib library.

With any of the first three options, IPython starts running a separate thread for the graphical toolkit's operation, so that you can open and control graphical elements from within an IPython command line, without blocking. All three provide essentially the same functionality, respectively for GTK, QT and WXWidgets (via their Python interfaces).

Note that with -wthread, you can additionally use the -wxversion option to request a specific version of wx to be used. This requires that you have the distributions.

If -pylab is given, IPython loads special support for the matplotlib library (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net), allowing interactive usage of any of its backends as defined in the user's .matplotlibrc file. It automatically activates GTK, QT or WX threading for IPyhton if the choice of matplotlib backend requires it. It also modifies the %run command to correctly execute (without blocking) any matplotlib-based script which calls show() at the end.

-tk

The -g/q/wthread options, and -pylab (if matplotlib is configured to use GTK, QT or WX), will normally block Tk graphical interfaces. This means that when GTK, QT or WX threading is active, any attempt to open a Tk GUI will result in a dead window, and possibly cause the Python interpreter to crash. An extra option, -tk, is available to address this issue. It can ONLY be given as a SECOND option after any of the above (-gthread, -qthread, -wthread or -pylab).

If -tk is given, IPython will try to coordinate Tk threading with GTK, QT or WX. This is however potentially unreliable, and you will have to test on your platform and Python configuration to determine whether it works for you. Debian users have reported success, apparently due to the fact that Debian builds all of Tcl, Tk, Tkinter and Python with pthreads support. Under other Linux environments (such as Fedora Core 2), this option has caused random crashes and lockups of the Python interpreter. Under other operating systems (Mac OSX and Windows), you'll need to try it to find out, since currently no user reports are available.

There is unfortunately no way for IPython to determine at runtime whether -tk will work reliably or not, so you will need to do some experiments before relying on it for regular work.

To the best of my knowledge, this limitation is imposed by the Python interpreter itself, and it comes from the difficulty of writing portable signal/threaded code. If any user is an expert on this topic and can suggest a better solution, I would love to hear about it. In the IPython sources, look at the Shell.py module, and in particular at the runcode() method.

Most options can also be set from your ipythonrc configuration file. See the provided examples for assistance. Options given on the commandline override the values set in the ipythonrc file.

All options with a [no] prepended can be specified in negated form (-nooption instead of -option) to turn the feature off.

-h, --help

Show summary of options.

-autocall <val>

Make IPython automatically call any callable object even if you didn't type explicit parentheses. For example, 'str 43' becomes feature, '1' for 'smart' autocall, where it is not applied if there are no more arguments on the line, and '2' for 'full' autocall, where all callable objects are automatically called (even if no arguments are present). The default is '1'.

-[no]autoindent

Turn automatic indentation on/off.

-[no]automagic

Make magic commands automatic (without needing their first character to be %). Type %magic at the IPython prompt for more information.

-[no]autoedit_syntax

When a syntax error occurs after editing a file, automatically open the file to the trouble causing line for convenient fixing.

-[no]banner

Print the intial information banner (default on).

-c <command>

Execute the given command string, and set sys.argv to ['c']. This is similar to the -c option in the normal Python interpreter.

-cache_size|cs <n>

Size of the output cache (maximum number of entries to hold in memory). The default is 1000, you can change it permanently in your config file. Setting it to 0 completely disables the caching system, and the minimum value accepted is 20 (if you provide a value less than 20, it is reset to 0 and a warning is issued). This limit is defined because otherwise you'll spend more time re-flushing a too small cache than working.

-classic|cl

Gives IPython a similar feel to the classic Python prompt.

-colors <scheme>

Color scheme for prompts and exception reporting. Currently implemented: NoColor, Linux, and LightBG.

-[no]color_info

IPython can display information about objects via a set of functions, and optionally can use colors for this, syntax highlighting source code and various other elements. However, because this information is passed through a pager (like 'less') and many pagers get confused with color codes, this option is off by default. You can test it and turn it on permanently in your ipythonrc file if it works for you. As a reference, the 'less' pager supplied with Mandrake 8.2 works ok, but that in RedHat 7.2 doesn't.

Test it and turn it on permanently if it works with your system. The magic function @color_info allows you to toggle this interactively for testing.

-[no]confirm_exit

Set to confirm when you try to exit IPython with an EOF (Control-D in Unix, Control-Z/Enter in Windows). Note that using the magic functions @Exit or @Quit you can force a direct exit, bypassing any confirmation.

-[no]debug

Show information about the loading process. Very useful to pin down problems with your configuration files or to get details about session restores.

-[no]deep_reload

IPython can use the deep_reload module which reloads changes in modules recursively (it replaces the reload() function, so you don't need to change anything to use it). deep_reload() forces a full reload of modules whose code may have changed, which the default reload() function does not.

When deep_reload is off, IPython will use the normal reload(), but deep_reload will still be available as dreload(). This feature is off by default [which means that you have both normal reload() and dreload()].

-editor <name>

Which editor to use with the @edit command. By default, IPython will honor your EDITOR environment variable (if not set, vi is the Unix default and notepad the Windows one). Since this editor is invoked on the fly by IPython and is meant for editing small code snippets, you may want to use a small, lightweight editor here (in case your default EDITOR is something like Emacs).

-ipythondir <name>

The name of your IPython configuration directory IPYTHONDIR. This can also be specified through the environment variable IPYTHONDIR.

-log|l

Generate a log file of all input. The file is named ipython_log.py in your current directory (which prevents logs from multiple IPython sessions from trampling each other). You can use this to later restore a session by loading your logfile as a file to be executed with option -logplay (see below).

-logfile|lf

Specify the name of your logfile.

-logplay|lp

Replay a previous log. For restoring a session as close as possible to the state you left it in, use this option (don't just run the logfile). With -logplay, IPython will try to reconstruct the previous working environment in full, not just execute the commands in the logfile. When a session is restored, logging is automatically turned on again with the name of the logfile it was invoked with (it is read from the log header). So once you've turned logging on for a session, you can quit IPython and reload it as many times as you want and it will continue to log its history and restore from the beginning every time.

Caveats: there are limitations in this option. The history variables _i*,_* and _dh don't get restored properly. In the future we will try to implement full session saving by writing and retrieving a failed because of inherent limitations of Python's Pickle module, so this may have to wait.

-[no]messages

Print messages which IPython collects about its startup process (default on).

-[no]pdb

Automatically call the pdb debugger after every uncaught exception. If you are used to debugging using pdb, this puts you automatically inside of it after any call (either in IPython or in code called by it) which triggers an exception which goes uncaught.

-[no]pprint

IPython can optionally use the pprint (pretty printer) module for displaying results. pprint tends to give a nicer display of nested data structures. If you like it, you can turn it on permanently in your config file (default off).

-profile|p <name>

Assume that your config file is ipythonrc-<name> (looks in current dir first, then in IPYTHONDIR). This is a quick way to keep and load multiple config files for different tasks, especially if you use the include option of config files. You can keep a basic IPYTHONDIR/ipythonrc file and then have other 'profiles' which include this one and load extra things for particular tasks. For example:

1) $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc : load basic things you always want. 2) $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc-math : load (1) and basic math-related modules. 3) $HOME/.ipython/ipythonrc-numeric : load (1) and Numeric and plotting modules.

Since it is possible to create an endless loop by having circular file inclusions, IPython will stop if it reaches 15 recursive inclusions.

-prompt_in1|pi1 <string>

Specify the string used for input prompts. Note that if you are using numbered prompts, the number is represented with a '\#' in the string. Don't forget to quote strings with spaces embedded in them. Default: 'In [\#]: '.

Most bash-like escapes can be used to customize IPython's prompts, as well as a few additional ones which are IPython-specific. All valid prompt escapes are described in detail in the Customization section of the IPython HTML/PDF manual.

-prompt_in2|pi2 <string>

Similar to the previous option, but used for the continuation prompts. The special sequence '\D' is similar to '\#', but with all digits replaced dots (so you can have your continuation prompt aligned with your input prompt). Default: ' .\D.: ' (note three spaces at the start for alignment with 'In [\#]').

-prompt_out|po <string>

String used for output prompts, also uses numbers like prompt_in1. Default: 'Out[\#]:'.

-quick

Start in bare bones mode (no config file loaded).

-rcfile <name>

Name of your IPython resource configuration file. normally IPython loads ipythonrc (from current directory) or IPYTHONDIR/ipythonrc. If the loading of your config file fails, IPython starts with a bare bones configuration (no modules loaded at all).

-[no]readline

Use the readline library, which is needed to support name completion and command history, among other things. It is enabled by default, but may cause problems for users of X/Emacs in Python comint or shell buffers.

Note that emacs 'eterm' buffers (opened with M-x term) support IPython's readline and syntax coloring fine, only 'emacs' (M-x shell and C-c !) buffers do not.

-screen_length|sl <n>

Number of lines of your screen. This is used to control printing of very long strings. Strings longer than this number of lines will be sent through a pager instead of directly printed.

The default value for this is 0, which means IPython will auto-detect your screen size every time it needs to print certain potentially long strings (this doesn't change the behavior of the 'print' keyword, it's only triggered internally). If for some reason this isn't working well (it needs curses support), specify it yourself. Otherwise don't change the default.

-separate_in|si <string>

Separator before input prompts. Default '.

-separate_out|so <string>

Separator before output prompts. Default: 0 (nothing).

-separate_out2|so2 <string>

Separator after output prompts. Default: 0 (nothing).

-nosep

Shorthand for '-separate_in 0 -separate_out 0 -separate_out2 0'. Simply removes all input/output separators.

-upgrade

Allows you to upgrade your IPYTHONDIR configuration when you install a new version of IPython. Since new versions may include new command lines options or example files, this copies updated ipythonrc-type files. However, it backs up (with a .old extension) all files which it overwrites so that you can merge back any custimizations you might have in your personal files.

-Version

Print version information and exit.

-wxversion <string>

Select a specific version of wxPython (used in conjunction with -wthread). Requires the wxversion module, part of recent wxPython distributions.

-xmode <modename>

Mode for exception reporting. The valid modes are Plain, Context, and Verbose.

- Plain: similar to python's normal traceback printing.

- Context: prints 5 lines of context source code around each line in the traceback.

- Verbose: similar to Context, but additionally prints the variables currently visible where the exception happened (shortening their strings if too long). This can potentially be very slow, if you happen to have a huge data structure whose string representation is complex to compute. Your computer may appear to freeze for a while with cpu usage at 100%. If this occurs, you can cancel the traceback with Ctrl-C (maybe hitting it more than once).

This feature allows you to evalutate dynamically the state of your code, operate with your variables, analyze them, etc. Note however that any changes you make to values while in the shell do NOT propagate back to the running code, so it is safe to modify your values because you won't break your code in bizarre ways by doing so.