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How to execute multi-line statements within Python's own debugger (PDB)

Asked 2011-05-11T16:01:28.657
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So I am running a Python script within which I am calling Python's debugger, PDB by writing:

import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace()

(iPython's version of PDB, though for the matter I don't think it makes a difference; I use it for the colored output only).

Now, when I get to the debugger I want to execute a multi-line statement such as an if clause or a for loop but as soon as I type

if condition:

and hit the return key, I get the error message *** SyntaxError: invalid syntax (<stdin>, line 1)

How can one execute multi-line statements within PDB? If not possible is there a way around this to still executing an if clause or a for loop?

python debugging multiline pdb
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I don't know if you can do this, that'd be a great feature for ipdb though. You can use list comprehensions of course, and execute simple multi-line expressions like:

if y == 3: print y; print y; print y;

You could also write some functions beforehand to do whatever it is you need done that would normally take multiple lines.

answered 2011-05-11T16:18:28.180

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