I have been trying to get TAB to do something else than inserting a tab while at the (pdb) prompt.
What I have in mind is triggering autocomplete such as in here or here, but the tab key doesn't do anything else than adding tabs to pdb.
So with:
(pdb)var + tabKeyPressed
I'd want to get:
(pdb)variable
instead of:
(pdb)var[ ]
The iPython is third-party solution for this problem. Sometimes you can only rely on vanilla Python. I found 2 solutions for it.
Per-shell solution - usage module 'rlcompleter':
$ python3
Python 3.4.3 (default, Sep 14 2016, 12:36:27)
[GCC 4.8.4] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import pdb
>>> pdb.set_trace()
--Return--
> <stdin>(1)<module>()->None
# press tab - but nothing
(Pdb) str.
*** SyntaxError: invalid syntax
(Pdb) --KeyboardInterrupt--
(Pdb) c
>>> import rlcompleter
>>> pdb.Pdb.complete=rlcompleter.Completer(locals()).complete
>>> pdb.set_trace()
--Return--
> <stdin>(1)<module>()->None
(Pdb) str.
str.__add__( str.__getattribute__( str.__name__ str.__text_signature__ str.isdigit( str.rfind(
str.__base__( str.__getitem__( str.__ne__( str.__weakrefoffset__ str.isidentifier( str.rindex(
str.__bases__ str.__getnewargs__( str.__new__( str.capitalize( str.islower( str.rjust(
str.__basicsize__ str.__gt__( str.__prepare__( str.casefold( str.isnumeric( str.rpartition(
str.__call__( str.__hash__( str.__qualname__ str.center( str.isprintable( str.rsplit(
str.__class__( str.__init__( str.__reduce__( str.count( str.isspace( str.rstrip(
str.__contains__( str.__instancecheck__( str.__reduce_ex__( str.encode( str.istitle( str.split(
str.__delattr__( str.__itemsize__ str.__repr__( str.endswith( str.isupper( str.splitlines(
str.__dict__ str.__iter__( str.__rmod__( str.expandtabs( str.join( str.startswith(
str.__dictoffset__ str.__le__( str.__rmul__( str.find( str.ljust( str.strip(
str.__dir__( str.__len__( str.__setattr__( str.format( str.lower( str.swapcase(
str.__doc__ str.__lt__( str.__sizeof__( str.format_map( str.lstrip( str.title(
str.__eq__( str.__mod__( str.__str__( str.index( str.maketrans( str.translate(
str.__flags__ str.__module__ str.__subclasscheck__( str.isalnum( str.mro( str.upper(
str.__format__( str.__mro__ str.__subclasses__( str.isalpha( str.partition( str.zfill(
str.__ge__( str.__mul__( str.__subclasshook__( str.isdecimal( str.replace(
(Pdb) c
>>>
System-wide solution - usage file ~/.pdbrc
$ cat ~/.pdbrc
import rlcompleter
pdb.Pdb.complete=rlcompleter.Completer(locals()).complete
$ python3
Python 3.4.3 (default, Sep 14 2016, 12:36:27)
[GCC 4.8.4] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import pdb
>>> pdb.set_trace()
--Return--
> <stdin>(1)<module>()->None
(Pdb) str.
str.__add__( str.__getattribute__( str.__name__ str.__text_signature__ str.isdigit( str.rfind(
str.__base__( str.__getitem__( str.__ne__( str.__weakrefoffset__ str.isidentifier( str.rindex(
str.__bases__ str.__getnewargs__( str.__new__( str.capitalize( str.islower( str.rjust(
str.__basicsize__ str.__gt__( str.__prepare__( str.casefold( str.isnumeric( str.rpartition(
str.__call__( str.__hash__( str.__qualname__ str.center( str.isprintable( str.rsplit(
str.__class__( str.__init__( str.__reduce__( str.count( str.isspace( str.rstrip(
str.__contains__( str.__instancecheck__( str.__reduce_ex__( str.encode( str.istitle( str.split(
str.__delattr__( str.__itemsize__ str.__repr__( str.endswith( str.isupper( str.splitlines(
str.__dict__ str.__iter__( str.__rmod__( str.expandtabs( str.join( str.startswith(
str.__dictoffset__ str.__le__( str.__rmul__( str.find( str.ljust( str.strip(
str.__dir__( str.__len__( str.__setattr__( str.format( str.lower( str.swapcase(
str.__doc__ str.__lt__( str.__sizeof__( str.format_map( str.lstrip( str.title(
str.__eq__( str.__mod__( str.__str__( str.index( str.maketrans( str.translate(
str.__flags__ str.__module__ str.__subclasscheck__( str.isalnum( str.mro( str.upper(
str.__format__( str.__mro__ str.__subclasses__( str.isalpha( str.partition( str.zfill(
str.__ge__( str.__mul__( str.__subclasshook__( str.isdecimal( str.replace(
(Pdb) c
>>>
Notes:
Tested only on the Python 3.4
OS - Linux Mint
Based on https://reminiscential.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/python-enable-auto-complete-in-a-pdb-session/