Commands for breakpoints in a .pdbrc file

Question

I'd like to save the commands for a breakpoint in a .pdbrc, something like:

b 81 
commands 1 
pp foo.attr1 
pp foo.attr2 
end 
b 108 
commands 2 
pp bar.attr1 
pp bar.attr2 
end 

This would automate setting the environment for the debugging session. However, this does not work with python -m pdb script.py, because at the line commands 1, the pdb prompt starts and asks me for the commands for the first breakpoint, ignoring what I wrote in .pdbrc; further, it raises a NameError after I type end at the pdb prompt, because of foo.attr1, foo.attr2 and even end. The same happens for the rest of the breakpoints, so I end up with them set but not their commands.

What would be the correct way to do this? Is it even possible?

Answer 1

You probably don't want this set every time you use pdb anywhere. My recommendation would be to set up an alias, such as:

alias setup_myproj b 81;; commands 1;; pp foo.attr1;; pp foo.attr2;; end

Then you can run setup_myproj when appropriate.

Answer 2

My first thought was that the command must be defined on one line:

commands 1;; pp foo.attr1;; pp foo.attr2;; end;;

However, it appears that this will only work at the prompt, and you will incorrectly get:

Usage : commands [bnum]
        ...
        end

if you place the line above in a .pdbrc

Looking at pdb.py it appears that the author does not properly handle defining commands in a pdbrc.

I personally would just temporarily place the print lines in the code I was debugging while using pdbrc to save the breakpoints of interest to get around this.