Hi, Sometimes it just helps to see what's going on, so I've been trying to write a tool to examine what names are pointing to what objects in the current scope.
This still has some glitches, like not working in winpython or the command line, I get a 'stack not deep enough' error. I haven't tested it on linux yet either. It could be something with my python install.(?) Anyway, here's the source with an example output. I'm still not sure what to call it. Pnames stands for printnames, but if you think of something better let me know. Some things I think will be good is shortening long output such as lists and dictionaries to '[...]' or '[:] or a few chars at the beginning and end with '...' in the middle. I think it's important to keep the output short and readable. Any suggestions would be apreciated. :) Ron IDLE 1.1.1c1 ==== No Subprocess ==== >>> [globals] __builtins__ --> <module> __doc__ --> <docstring> __file__ --> C:\Python24\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw __main__ --> <module> __name__ --> __main__ g --> 45 glist --> ['a changed', 'list'] <-- test2:a h --> 45 idlelib --> <module> pnames --> <function> sys --> <module> test1 --> <function> test2 --> <function> test2.at1 --> [True] <-- test2:aaa [test1] t --> ['altered'] <-- test2:w [locals:test2] a --> ['a changed', 'list'] <-- globals:glist aaa --> [True] <-- globals:test2.at1 w --> ['altered'] <-- test1:t Paused >>> #---start--- # pnames.py """ A utility to print the value of variables for debugging purposes. To use: import prnames and insert prnames.prnames() in the program where you want to examin names. Pressing any key will continue. Author: Ronald Adam """ import sys if __name__ is not '__main__': import __main__ def pnames(): """ View """ objdict = {} # Collect references to object. namelist = [] # List of names and values by frame. n = 1 name = None while name!= 'runcode': # Move up in the frames to gather name data. # until the application global frame is reached. name = sys._getframe(n).f_code.co_name if name != 'runcode': # This keeps it out of idle's name space. namelst = [name,[]] namespace = sys._getframe(n).f_locals keys = namespace.keys() # Get all the names in this frame. for k in keys: try: trash = objdict[id(namespace[k])][name] except: try: objdict[id(namespace[k])][name]=[k] except: objdict[id(namespace[k])]={name:[k]} else: objdict[id(namespace[k])][name].append(k) namelst[1].append((k,namespace[k],id(namespace[k]))) #namelist.append(namelst) #try: attribs = None try: attribs = namespace[k].func_dict except: pass if attribs: for att in attribs: attname = k+'.'+att try: trash = objdict[id(attribs[att])][attname] except: try: objdict[id(attribs[att])][name]=[attname] except: objdict[id(attribs[att])]={name:[attname]} else: objdict[id(attribs[att])][name].append(attname) namelst[1].append((attname,attribs[att],id(attribs[att]))) namelist.append(namelst) n += 1 # Now print what we collected. namelist.reverse() # Reverse it so we have globals at the top. tab = 0 for gname, group in namelist: # Sort it. def sortnocase(stringlist): tupleList = [(x[0].lower(), x) for x in stringlist] tupleList.sort() return [x[1] for x in tupleList] group = sortnocase(group) if gname == chr(63): # Idle uses this as name as app-globals. gname = 'globals' if gname == namelist[-1:][0][0]: gname = 'locals:'+gname # Indicate locals group. print '%s[%s]'%(' '*tab, gname) tab += 1 for name, obj, objid in group: # Print the varable name print ' '*tab,name,'-->', # Remove & replace a lot of clutter as we print it. # List other names pointing to mutable objects. if name == '__doc__': obj = '<docstring>' if 'module' in str(obj): # These remove clutter obj = '<module>' # More probably needs to be if 'function' in str(obj): # done here. obj = '<function>' # Print the object print obj, # Print the other names pointing to # the object. obj2 = '' if type(obj) not in [int, str, float, bool, tuple] \ and obj not in [True, False, None]: for obj in objdict[objid].keys(): name2 = objdict[objid][obj] n = 0 if len(name2): for name3 in name2: if obj == chr(63): obj = 'globals' if name3 != name: if n>0: obj2 += ', ' if obj != gname: obj2 += obj+':'+name3 else: obj2 += name3 n += 1 if len(obj2)>0: obj2 = '<-- '+obj2 print obj2 raw_input( 'Paused') def test1(): global g t = g t = [9] test2.at1 = [True] test2(t) def test2(w): a = glist aaa = test2.at1 test2.at1[0] = True a[0] = 'a changed' w[0] = 'altered' pnames() if __name__ == '__main__': # Make a few globals to see. g = 45 h = g glist = ['just a','list'] # Put an attribute on a function # to find. test2.at1 = 25 # Run test function. test1() #---end--- -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list