Setting startup script in PyCharm debugger console

Question

In PyCharm, it is possible to set a script that runs upon opening a new console (through Settings -> 'Build, Execution, Deployment' -> Console -> Python Console -> Starting script).

Is there a way to similarly apply a startup script to the debugger console? I find myself importing the same packages over and over again, each time I run the code.

Answer 1

When you run Python Console inside PyCharm, it executes custom PyCharm script at <PYCHARM_PATH>/plugins/python/helpers/pydev/pydevconsole.py.

On the other hand, when you run PyCharm Debug Console while debugging, it executes custom PyCharm script at <PYCHARM_PATH>/Plugins/python/helpers/pydev/pydevd.py with command line parameter --file set to script you are debugging.

You can modify pydevd.py file if you want (Apache 2 license), but the easier approach would be to create startup script in which you import modules you need, functions and such and import ALL while inside PyCharm Debug Console. This would reduce all your imports to one.

Walkthrough:

Let's create 2 files:

• main.py - Our main script which we will debug
• startup.py - Modules, functions or something else that we would like to import.

main.py content:

sentence = 'Hello Debugger'


def replace_spaces_with_hyphens(s):
    return s.replace(' ', '-')


replace_spaces_with_hyphens(sentence) # <- PLACE BREAKPOINT!

When breakpoint is hit, this is what we have inside scope:

If you always find yourself importing some modules and creating some functions, you can define all that inside startup.py script and import everything as from startup import *.

startup.py:

# Example modules you always find yourself importing.
import random
import time

# Some function you always create because you need it.
def my_imported_function():
    print("Imported !")

Inside Python Debugger Console, use from startup import * as mentioned above and you would see all modules and function inside scope, ready for use.