Python command line: editing mistake on previous line?

Question

When using python via the command line, if I see a mistake on a previous line of a nested statement is there any way to remove or edit that line once it has already been entered?

e.g.:

>>> file = open("file1", "w")
>>> for line in file:
...     parts = line.split('|')   <-- example, I meant to type '\' instead
...     print parts[0:1]
...     print ";"
...     print parts[1:]

so rather than retyping the entire thing all over to fix one char, can I go back and edit something in hindsight? I know I could just code it up in vim or something and have a persistent copy I can do anything I want with, but I was hoping for a handy-dandy trick with the command line.

-- thanks!

Answer 1

You can't do such a thing in the original python interpreter, however, if you use the last version of IPython, it provides a lightweight GUI (looks like a simple shell, but is a GUI in fact) which features multi-line editing, syntax highlighting and a bunch of other things. To use IPython GUI, run it with the ipython qtconsole command.

Answer 2

Maybe. The Python Tutorial says:

Perhaps the quickest check to see whether command line editing is supported is typing Control-P to the first Python prompt you get. If it beeps, you have command line editing; see Appendix Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution for an introduction to the keys. If nothing appears to happen, or if ^P is echoed, command line editing isn’t available; you’ll only be able to use backspace to remove characters from the current line.