Library for building powerful interactive command line applications in Python
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.. image :: https://github.com/prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit/raw/master/docs/images/logo_400px.png
prompt_toolkitis a library for building powerful interactive command line applications in Python.
Read the
documentation on readthedocs_.
NOTICE: prompt_toolkit 3.0
Please notice that this branch is the
prompt_toolkit3.0 branch. For most users, it should be compatible with
prompt_toolkit2.0, but it requires at least Python 3.6. On the plus side,
prompt_toolkit3.0 is completely type annotated and uses asyncio natively.
Gallery
ptpython_ is an interactive Python Shell, build on top of
prompt_toolkit.
.. image :: https://github.com/prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit/raw/master/docs/images/ptpython.png
More examples_
prompt_toolkit features
prompt_toolkitcould be a replacement for
GNU readline_, but it can be much more than that.
Some features:
bracketed paste_.
fish shell_.)
Feel free to create tickets for bugs and feature requests, and create pull requests if you have nice patches that you would like to share with others.
Installation
::
pip install prompt_toolkit
For Conda, do:
::
conda install -c https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge prompt_toolkit
About Windows support
prompt_toolkitis cross platform, and everything that you build on top should run fine on both Unix and Windows systems. Windows support is best on recent Windows 10 builds, for which the command line window supports vt100 escape sequences. (If not supported, we fall back to using Win32 APIs for color and cursor movements).
It's worth noting that the implementation is a "best effort of what is possible". Both Unix and Windows terminals have their limitations. But in general, the Unix experience will still be a little better.
For Windows, it's recommended to use either
cmder_ or
conemu_.
Getting started
The most simple example of the library would look like this:
.. code:: python
from prompt_toolkit import promptif name == 'main': answer = prompt('Give me some input: ') print('You said: %s' % answer)
For more complex examples, have a look in the
examplesdirectory. All examples are chosen to demonstrate only one thing. Also, don't be afraid to look at the source code. The implementation of the
promptfunction could be a good start.
Philosophy
The source code of
prompt_toolkitshould be readable, concise and efficient. We prefer short functions focusing each on one task and for which the input and output types are clearly specified. We mostly prefer composition over inheritance, because inheritance can result in too much functionality in the same object. We prefer immutable objects where possible (objects don't change after initialization). Reusability is important. We absolutely refrain from having a changing global state, it should be possible to have multiple independent instances of the same code in the same process. The architecture should be layered: the lower levels operate on primitive operations and data structures giving -- when correctly combined -- all the possible flexibility; while at the higher level, there should be a simpler API, ready-to-use and sufficient for most use cases. Thinking about algorithms and efficiency is important, but avoid premature optimization.
Projects using prompt_toolkit_
Special thanks to
Pygments_: Syntax highlighter.
wcwidth_: Determine columns needed for a wide characters.
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