pyqtconsole 1.3.0
Light-weight python interpreter, easy to embed into Qt applications
Requires Python: <4.0,>=3.9
Keywords: interactive, interpreter, console, shell, autocompletion, jedi, qt

pyqtconsole
===========

|Version| |Python| |License| |Tests|

pyqtconsole is a lightweight python console for Qt applications. It's made to
be easy to embed in other Qt applications and comes with some examples that
show how this can be done. The interpreter can run in a separate thread, in
the UI main thread or in a gevent task.

Installing
~~~~~~~~~~

Simply type::

    pip install pyqtconsole

Or to install a development version from local checkout, type::

    pip install -e .

Simple usage
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following snippet shows how to create a console that will execute user
input in a separate thread. Be aware that long running tasks will still block
the main thread due to the GIL. See the ``examples`` directory for more
examples.

.. code-block:: python

    import sys
    from threading import Thread
    from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication

    from pyqtconsole.console import PythonConsole

    app = QApplication([])
    console = PythonConsole()
    console.show()
    console.eval_in_thread()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Embedding
~~~~~~~~~

* *Separate thread* - Runs the interpreter in a separate thread, see the
  example threaded.py_. Running the interpreter in a separate thread obviously
  limits the interaction with the Qt application. The parts of Qt that needs
  to be called from the main thread will not work properly, but is excellent
  way for having a 'plain' python console in your Qt app.

* *main thread* - Runs the interpreter in the main thread, see the example
  inuithread.py_. Makes full interaction with Qt possible, lenghty operations
  will of course freeze the UI (as any lenghty operation that is called from
  the main thread). This is a great alternative for people who does not want
  to use the gevent based approach but still wants full interactivity with Qt.

* *gevent* - Runs the interpreter in a gevent task, see the example
  `_gevent.py`_. Allows for full interactivity with Qt without special
  consideration (at least to some extent) for longer running processes. The
  best method if you want to use pyQtgraph, Matplotlib, PyMca or similar.

Features
~~~~~~~~

Customizing syntax highlighting
-------------------------------

The coloring of the syntax highlighting can be customized by passing a
``formats`` dictionary to the ``PythonConsole`` constructer. This dictionary
must be shaped as follows:

.. code-block:: python

    import pyqtconsole.highlighter as hl
    console = PythonConsole(formats={
        'keyword':    hl.format('blue', 'bold'),
        'operator':   hl.format('red'),
        'brace':      hl.format('darkGray'),
        'defclass':   hl.format('black', 'bold'),
        'string':     hl.format('magenta'),
        'string2':    hl.format('darkMagenta'),
        'comment':    hl.format('darkGreen', 'italic'),
        'self':       hl.format('black', 'italic'),
        'numbers':    hl.format('brown'),
        'inprompt':   hl.format('darkBlue', 'bold'),
        'outprompt':  hl.format('darkRed', 'bold'),
        'fstring':    hl.format('darkCyan', 'bold'),
        'escape':     hl.format('darkorange', 'bold'),
    })

All keys are optional and default to the value shown above if left unspecified.

Clear console
-------------

A local method, named `clear()`, is available to clear the input screen and reset the line numbering.
Enable it by pushing the method into the available namespace in the console:

.. code-block:: python

   console.interpreter.locals["clear"] = console.clear

Shell commands
--------------

Optionally, commands entered in the console that start with a special character (e.g. '!') will be executed as shell commands.
The output of the command will be printed in the console.
This feature is disabled by default, but can be enabled by setting the ``shell_cmd_prefix`` parameter when creating the console.
For example, on a Linux or macOS system, setting `shell_cmd_prefix='!'` and entering `!ls -l` will list the files in the current directory.

.. code-block:: python

   console = PythonConsole(shell_cmd_prefix=True)

.. code-block:: python

   IN [0]: !ls -l
   OUT[0]: total 16546
           -rw-r--r-- 1 user user      18741 Fen  6  2026  file1.txt
           -rw-r--r-- 1 user user      18741 Feb  6  2026  file2.txt

Prompt String
-------------

By default ``IN [n]:`` and ``OUT [n]:`` are displayed before each input and output line.
You can customize this through constructor arguments:

.. code-block:: python

   # Including the line numbers:
   console = PythonConsole(inprompt="%d >", outprompt="%d <")
   # Or just static:
   console = PythonConsole(inprompt=">>>", outprompt="<<<")

Credits
~~~~~~~

This module depends on QtPy which provides a compatibility layer for
Qt4 and Qt5. The console is tested under both Qt4 and Qt5.


.. _threaded.py: https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/blob/master/examples/threaded.py
.. _inuithread.py: https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/blob/master/examples/inuithread.py
.. _`_gevent.py`: https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/blob/master/examples/_gevent.py
.. _QtPy: https://github.com/spyder-ide/qtpy


.. Badges:

.. |Version| image::    https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/pyqtconsole.svg
   :target:             https://pypi.org/project/pyqtconsole
   :alt:                Latest Version

.. |Python| image::     https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/pyqtconsole.svg
   :target:             https://pypi.org/project/pyqtconsole#files
   :alt:                Python versions

.. |License| image::    https://img.shields.io/pypi/l/pyqtconsole.svg
   :target:             https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/blob/master/LICENSE
   :alt:                License: MIT

.. |Tests| image::      https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/workflows/Tests/badge.svg
   :target:             https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/actions?query=Tests
   :alt:                Test status

Changelog
~~~~~~~~~

v1.3.0
------
Date: 17.02.2026

- migrated from ``setup.py`` + ``setup.cfg`` to ``pyproject.toml``
- dropped official support for Python 3.8 and added 3.13 and 3.14 (no code changes)
- fixed issue with displaying syntax errors for Python 3.13
- fixed issue with multibyte characters (emojis) breaking the input (`#87 <https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/issues/87>`__)
- added optional built-in method to clear all input (`#58 <https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/issues/58>`__)
- added optional escape character to execute system commands (e.g ``!ls -l``) (`#93 <https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/issues/93>`__)
- added option to change the prompt placeholder strings (`#68 <https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/issues/68>`__)
- fixed issues in string highlighting (`#69 <https://github.com/pyqtconsole/pyqtconsole/issues/69>`__)

v1.2.3
------
Date: 19.09.2023

- fixed indentation and autocomplete conflict (#74)
- replaced ``QRegExp`` for compatibility with QT6 (#76)

v1.2.2
------
Date: 18.10.2021

- fixed PyQt warning because of explicit integer type
- fixed jedi autocomplete because of method rename

v1.2.1
------
Date: 17.03.2020

- fix accepting input with AltGr modifier on win10 (#53)


v1.2.0
------
Date: 17.03.2020

- add PySide2 compatibility
- add Ctrl-U shortcut to clear the input buffer
- use standard QtPy package to provide the compatibility layer
- hide the cursor during the execution of a python command
- mimic shell behaviour when using up and down key to go to end of history
- fix crash when closing the interpreter window of the threaded example
- disable excepthook on displaying exception
- write '\n' before syntax errors for consistency

Thanks to @roberthdevries and @irgolic for their contributions!


v1.1.5
------
Date: 25.11.2019

- fix TypeError in highlighter when called without formats


v1.1.4
------
Date: 21.11.2019

- fix AttributeError due to QueuedConnection on PyQt<5.11 (#23)
- fix exception on import when started within spyder (#26)
- fix gevent example to incorporate interoperability code for gevent/Qt (#28)
- fix not waiting for empty line when entering code blocks before applying input (#30)
- fix TypeError during compilation step on python 3.8
- allow user to override syntax highlighting color preferences (#29)
  note that this is provisional API
- automate release process (#34)