Is there a way to make python become interactive in the middle of a script?

Question

I'd like to do something like:

do lots of stuff to prepare a good environement
become_interactive
#wait for Ctrl-D
automatically clean up

Is it possible with python?If not, do you see another way of doing the same thing?

Answer 1

Use the -i flag when you start Python and set an atexit handler to run when cleaning up.

File script.py:

import atexit
def cleanup():
    print "Goodbye"
atexit.register(cleanup)
print "Hello"

and then you just start Python with the -i flag:

C:\temp>\python26\python -i script.py
Hello
>>> print "interactive"
interactive
>>> ^Z

Goodbye