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Help is available in a standard IPython shell via the help command or by using the ? character. For example, for help on the built-in sum function, either of the below commands in an IPython shell could be used.
In [1]: help(sum)
Help on built-in function sum in module builtin:
...
In [2]: sum?
Signature: sum(iterable, start=0, /)
Docstring: ...
I want to have the same functionality in an ipdb debugger. One enters an ipdb debugger by placing the below code at the location for a debug breakpoint.
from ipdb import set_trace
set_trace()
However, once inside the ipdb debugger the Help functions no longer work.
ipdb> help(sum)
*** No help for '(sum)'
ipdb> sum?
*** SyntaxError: invalid syntax
ipdb>
Help in IPython shell and ipdb debugger
The below command represents a way to print a docstring inside the ipdb debugger, however this is not exactly the same functionality as help(sum) and sum? in the IPython shell.
ipdb> print(sum.__doc__)
How then do I get the same help functionality in an ipdb debugger that exists in the IPython shell?
723
IPython has another way to start a debugger. You don't need to modify the source code of any file as we did before. If you run the %run -d filename.py magic command, IPython will execute the filename.py file and put a breakpoint on the first line there. It's just as if you would put the import ipdb; ipdb.
It's easy to set a breakpoint in Python code to i.e. inspect the contents of variables at a given line. Add import pdb; pdb. set_trace() at the corresponding line in the Python code and execute it. The execution will stop at the breakpoint.
Debug code in Jupyter notebooksSet the breakpoints in the selected cell and press Alt + Shift + Enter for Windows or ⌥⇧↩ for macOS. Alternatively, you can right-click the cell and select Debug Cell from the context menu. The Jupyter Notebook Debugger tool window opens.
It looks like you can preface it with a ! (which is short for exec)
ipdb> !help(sum)
Help on built-in function sum in module builtins:
sum(iterable, start=0, /)
Return the sum of a 'start' value (default: 0) plus an iterable of numbers
When the iterable is empty, return the start value.
This function is intended specifically for use with numeric values and may
reject non-numeric types.
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