run python command line interpreter with imports loaded automatically

Question

I would like to play around in the python interpreter but with a bunch of imports and object setup completed. Right now I\'m launching the interpreter on the command line and do

Answer 1

I think I know what you want to do. You might want to check IPython, because you cannot start the python interpreter without giving the -i option (at least not directly). This is what I did in my project:

def ipShell():
    '''Starts the interactive IPython shell'''
    import IPython
    from IPython.config.loader import Config
    cfg = Config()
    cfg.TerminalInteractiveShell.confirm_exit = False
    IPython.embed(config=cfg, display_banner=False)
# Then add the following line to start the shell
ipShell()

You need to be careful, though, because the shell will have the namespace of the module that the function ipShell() is defined. If you put the definition in the file you run, then you will be able to access the globals() you want. There could be other workarounds to inject the namespace you want, b̶u̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶g̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶e̶.

EDIT

The following function defaults to caller's namespace (__main__.__dict__).

def ipShell():
    '''Starts the interactive IPython shell
    with the namespace __main__.__dict__'''
    import IPython
    from __main__ import __dict__ as ns
    from IPython.config.loader import Config
    cfg = Config()
    cfg.TerminalInteractiveShell.confirm_exit = False
    IPython.embed(config=cfg, user_ns=ns, display_banner=False)

without any extra arguments.