I tried to do it on my computer (win XP). I put an extra line in PyShell.py
#! /usr/bin/env python import os import os.path import sys import string import getopt import re import socket import time import threading import traceback import types import exceptions # test sys.modules['__main__'].__dict__['os'] = os import linecache Then when I start idle I get IDLE 1.1.1 >>> dir() ['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__name__'] >>> So I don't see 'os' Do you see 'os' on your computer. If yes, what could be the difference? Bob -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list