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Friday, September 16th, 2005

Useful Commands for Python Debugging

As explained in the Python Library Reference documentation, command-line debugging in python is made possible by the pdb module.

I like using it this way:

python -m pdb myscript.py

Once you’re in the debugger, the following commands were most useful.

h(elp): show me some help

w(here): print the current stack trace (where is the code now?)

u(p) and d(own): navigate up/down within the stack heirarchy

s(tep): run current line of code, stopping within sub-functions

n(ext): run current line of code, stopping at next line in the current function (aka step over)

b(reak): specify a breakpoint

c(ont(inue)): run until you hit a breakpoint

l(ist): show the source code surrounding the current line

p <expression>: print the contents of an object <expression>

q(uit): quit the debugger and your program

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