iPython History Cheat Sheet

Flags for the history command

hist -n -- print line numbers
hist -g -- print history for your past sessions (not just the current one)

hist -f filena­me.py -- writes history lines to filena­me.py
hist -l 10 -- will limit output to last 10 lines
hist -g timeit -- will filter lines that contain the string "­tim­eit­"
hist -u -g timeit -- same as filter, but will only print unique lines
hist -o -n -- also print outputs

Note:T­yping history?? in iPython will give you similar info.

Syntax:hist -n 1/

hist -n 1/20 - means one session back, and 20th input line
hist -n 2/20 - means two sessions back, and 20th input line

Using hist -n 20 (i.e. without the sign) defaults to the current ipython session.

Syntax:rerun <hi­story refere­nce>
rerun 20 will execute line 20 of the current session
rerun ~1/20 will execute line 20 of the previous session
rerun 88-90 will execute lines 88,89, 90 of history

Syntax:recall <hi­story refere­nce>
1. recall 42 -- will recall line 42, and give you the prompt for editing
2. recall myfunc -- will recall the most recent line containing myfunc, withe the same effect.

Hitting enter after the edit will execute.

Syntax:save filena­me.py <hi­story refere­nce>
1.save mymodu­le.py 22-40 25 -- Saves lines 22-40, 25 to file mymodu­le.py
2.save -a -- will append

Syntax:hist -g <reg exp>
hist -g func1 -- will list all history lines containing "­fun­c1"
hist -gn func1 -- same thing. adds line numbers

Syntax: edit <hi­story refere­nce>
edit 24 28 47 - loads the lines in order, in your configured ipython editor

Summary : Ipython allows you to edit both your past inputs, as well as past command outputs - so you if you want to avoid retyping this is handy. The built-in list variable "­_oh­" contains all your output history.

Syntax : "edit _oh[<l­ine-num of output histor­y>]­"

use "edit _oh[16­5]" to open output line 165 in your editor.

Example --

In [ 165 ] : def myfunc():
print "­hel­lo"
....
In [200] : edit 165 # opens line 165 in editor we made changes to that func w/o saving it to a file
out[200]: def myfunc()\n print "­hel­lo" \n
....
...
In [210]: edit _oh[200] # loads the func in editor


Syntax : edit <fu­ncn­ame>

Example - An inline function is defined intera­cti­vely, and then edited.


In [1] : def myfunc()
print "­hel­lo"

In [2] edit myfunc


Use the %macro command to create a macro from multiple history lines.

Example (lines 10 and 11 ) from history are as follows :
10: x=1
11: somefu­nc(x)

You can create a macro as follows :

In [20]: %macro my_macro 10-11

Now typing my_macro will execute those lines.