[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I am just getting started with Python, and I think I may be thinking > about it wrong. I'd like to be able to work interactively with some > code that I've got in a file. The only interpreted language I have much > experience with is Tcl/Tk, and in that I would use "source file.tcl" in > the console to load my source. Is there a similar command in python? I > know I can run my file as a script, but since I'm just experimenting > with how the language works, I want to have more flexibility to be able > to interactively check the contents of variables and define one piece > at a time. Am I missing something obvious, or am I not thinking about > Python properly? > Yes. If your code is in "mycode.py" then start up the interactive interpreter and enter
import mycode at the ">>>" prompt. You will now find that names you have defined in the mycode module can be referred to as mycode.this, mycode.that and so on, allowing you to interactively play with the features of you module. A related technique (possibly acceptable for interactive testing but definitely *not* recommended for production use) is from mycode import * which puts the names directly into the importing module's (that is to say the interactive interpreter's) namespace and allows you to refer to them directly as this, that, and so on. This interactive design is one on the Python programmer's secret weapons, as it makes it so easy to try things out and be sure you have got your Python correct. regards Steve -- Steve Holden +44 150 684 7255 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC www.holdenweb.com PyCon TX 2006 www.python.org/pycon/ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
