notepad++ run selected code in python console seamlessly

Question

I often use R to analyze data, and really enjoy Notepad++ along with NppToR. Especially, NppToR enables to run a part of code without much hassle. I just highlight a snippet of R code to run and press F8. Then the code magically runs in R console.

Now, I am required to use python to analyze data. I know that ipython is great to work interactively, but it is always very annoying to copy a snippet of python code and manually paste that into ipython console. Also, indentation is often mixed and thus the entire lines are failed to run. Note that I want to run 'selected' lines of codes, not the entire file.

So I am looking for a program/plugin/macro similar to NppToR, but working with python/ipython console. I have searched the web, but couldn't find such one. Some plugins are nice, but not exactly what I want. For example, Python Script enables extending Notepad++ itself, but not outside. Various other 'Run' extensions enables the entire file to be run in python.

Answer 1

You can customize the editor IPython uses for the edit command, and configure IPython to use Notepad++. IPython 0.11 creates a .ipython/profile_default folder in your user folder (in my case C:/Users/zk/.ipython/profile_default). To configure IPython to use Notepad++ create .ipython/profile_default/ipython_config.py with the following:

c = get_config()
# use DOS style path, C:/PROGRA~2 on my 64-bit system points to C:/Program Files (x86)
c.TerminalInteractiveShell.editor = 'C:\PROGRA~2\NOTEPA~1\NOTEPA~1.exe'
# set editor for Qt Console, if you wish to use that
c.IPythonWidget.editor = 'C:\PROGRA~2\NOTEPA~1\NOTEPA~1.exe'

You can then start up IPython and use the edit command to run Notepad++ from IPython, saving and closing Notepad++ will execute the file in IPython.

If you don't mind installing PyQt4 and pyzmq (and I believe pygments, at least for IPython 0.12-dev), IPython's Qt console works really well (frankly the nicest interactive environment you can get for Python). You can paste directly into IPython and it'll adjust indentation for you (shifting over padded code).