Lost in pudb command line area

Question

I'm starting to use pudb for Python debugging. It comes up fine, and I can step through, and it stops at breakpoints I put into code with pudb.set_trace(). So far so good. The main problem I'm having is this:

If I hit ^X to get to the command-line pane, I can type executable lines or variable names, like running interactive Python, but the slightest typo (or experiment in search of other commands, or request for help()) lands me in a state I can't recover from. Even Control-c (as claimed at https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/appendix.html#tut-interac) just shows up as "^C" and does nothing.

For example, if I type "help()", it prints some Python (not pudb) help, redisplays "help()" in yellow, and then I'm dead in the water. Backspace won't affect the "help()" that's displayed, and ^H just gets displayed as caret + H -- until I hit return, when it seems to be appended to "help()" as literal backspaces, since I can make part of all of "help()" disappear. I can type anything after "help()", but I always get:

SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing

followed by a redisplay of what I had typed. How do I "clear" this state and get back to the normal command line, short of quitting my terminal program?

Using Terminal on Mac OS X 10.9.5, though I can also try Linux.

Answer 1

Your description points not to a problem with pudb but rather to a problem with behaviour of Backspace on the Terminal you're using.

Please try changing this behaviour so it's sending the proper Backspace. This could be helpful: http://fredericiana.com/2006/10/16/fixing-backspace-and-delete-for-ssh-in-os-xs-terminalapp/

Then, you should be able to enter pudb's full screen Python interpreter by '!' and leave it by Control-D.

A "small" Python command line inside pudb's interface can be accessed by Control-X and you can leave it by Control-X. In this one you have three other shortcuts which also let you manipulate the command line: Control-V - insert new line and Control-N/Control-P to browse command line history. If any of these is not working it's rather an issue with the way the Terminal treats these shortcuts and not in the way pudb does.